Calfskin- the REAL deal

[Tedly Nightshade]

Anybody else using calfskin heads out there?

If you haven't done a direct comparison lately, you may be missing out big time.....

I know, you never tune your drums, or do something like tune the bass drum just until the ripples flatten out, once a year....

Try putting a plastic head on a conga drum, and then let's talk!

 

I have at the moment a 32x20 birch bass drum with Remo heads, and a 24x10 Ludwig&Ludwig thin shell single tension bass drum with old best quality calfskin heads.

 

The Ludwig&Ludwig 24x10 with calf sounds just as powerful, deep and punchy as the 32x20 with plastic!

And both kick any plastic 24 around the block a couple times.

 

The calf heads will take a lot more tension and still put out a deep pitch, which helps tremendously. The 32 is about the size of plastic-headed bass drum necessary to put the heads at powerful tension and still get a nice 40-60 hz tone, but at some volume.

 

Imagine if your snare drum head was as floppy as your bass drum head probably is, and you get the idea of how much punch and power is related to head tension.

 

The best quality of calfskin heads are still available today, and lesser qualities (still infinitely better than plastic, with the possible exception of snare side heads, as it's hard to get calf thin enough) are less expensive and more available. Or you can mount your own if you want to save some dough and learn a classic drum skill.

Calf will last indefinitely if you don't do anything too stupid (not too many of us are marching in the rain, I hope...).

 

If you haven't tried calf recently, you have no idea what your missing.

Do yourself the favor of a lifetime and see what drums have been about for the past 10,000 years and more.

 

The "convenience of plastic" is roughly analogous to the convenience of a plastic fantastic lover blow-up doll.

Unless you live in a really really humid place... in which case a little resistance heating and you're stylin'.

 

Ted