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Anyone play a vintage drum with calfskin heads Last viewed: 2 hours ago

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From larryz

I have and don't care for them. Kind of squishy and takes more work to play. Plus it's also kind of gross :)

Gross? Are your leather shoes gross? Leather jackets? Leather car seats or leather recliners? What do you think leather is make out of? Drums have had skin heads for millennia. Mylar heads have only be around for 60 years or so. If the skin heads you played were kind of squishy and took more work to play then they probably weren't tuned correctly. Calfskin heads need to be constantly retuned to compensate for humidity. Its a real pain, which is why almost everyone plays on mylar heads, but mylar doesn't sound the same.

Mark
BosLover
Posted on 9 years ago
#11
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I do like calfskins on the right drum. This RK just sounds so damned good with calf top and bottom that I have never bothered with modern heads. It does require periodic tuning, but damn, it has that sound and feel.

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Posted on 9 years ago
#12
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And another shot of the logo on the batter...

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Posted on 9 years ago
#13
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From BosLover

Gross? Are your leather shoes gross? Leather jackets? Leather car seats or leather recliners? What do you think leather is make out of? Drums have had skin heads for millennia. Mylar heads have only be around for 60 years or so. If the skin heads you played were kind of squishy and took more work to play then they probably weren't tuned correctly. Calfskin heads need to be constantly retuned to compensate for humidity. Its a real pain, which is why almost everyone plays on mylar heads, but mylar doesn't sound the same.

In short to some people, YES.

As it happens I don't like using CS heads generally. But I do use them on the front of my RK BD (because the Slingerland logo is so cool) and I have in the past on my Gretsch BD's too.

A few years ago, it was an occasion where I had my Gretsches in a bar gig. A punter asked me about the kit (I think it was during the set break). As we discussed the kit I pointed out the vintage CS head. Vintage! I never commissioned that head, it had come on my RB's. He went mad at me despite that. Vegan.............

40's Slingerland Radio King WMP
60's Ludwig Downbeat Silver Spark
70's Ludwig Super Classic White Marine
60's Gretsch RB Champaigne Spark
70's Rogers Big R Black
90's Sonor Hilite (Red maple)
00's DW Collectors Broken Glass
00's DW Jazz Series Tangerine Glass
10's DW Collectors (Acrylic) Matt Black Wrap
10's PDP Concept Wood Hoop kit (Maple)
Proud ambassador of the British Drum Company
Posted on 9 years ago
#14
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Meat is Murder to many people.

Would you (well you couldn't but) consider a head made from human skin? That's how they feel about it.

40's Slingerland Radio King WMP
60's Ludwig Downbeat Silver Spark
70's Ludwig Super Classic White Marine
60's Gretsch RB Champaigne Spark
70's Rogers Big R Black
90's Sonor Hilite (Red maple)
00's DW Collectors Broken Glass
00's DW Jazz Series Tangerine Glass
10's DW Collectors (Acrylic) Matt Black Wrap
10's PDP Concept Wood Hoop kit (Maple)
Proud ambassador of the British Drum Company
Posted on 9 years ago
#15
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From geckobeats

Meat is Murder to many people.Would you (well you couldn't but) consider a head made from human skin? That's how they feel about it.

I find this concern about using calfskin heads rather bizarre. We (most of us in this country, anyway) eat meat. We use the hides of cattle for lots of uses, including shoes, clothing and seating among others. We eat veal which comes from a calf and use calfskin leather for many products, including expensive gloves. We hunt and kill animals for sport. We buy beef, chicken, pork, lamb and other meats already slaughtered by someone else and nicely packaged so we don't have to do the dirty work. We have shows on nightly TV which graphically depict autopsies on a regular basis.

Drums were originally hollowed out logs and anything else that would resonate, but for thousands of years, and even today, drums have been using animal skins and hides. The great drummers of the '20s, 30s, 40s, and even into the 50s always used calfskin heads. That's what Gene Krupa was playing on in Benny Goodman's Sing Sing Sing? And those are the heads that Louis Bellson, and Buddy Rich used in the '40s. All the great drummers in all the great bands during the big band era played on calfskin.

When I started playing in the late '50s calfskin was still in considerable use and was mainly abandoned because mylar heads were more practical and cheaper. not because they sounded better. They were stronger, more easily available and held their tuning because they were unaffected by humidity. I, like most other drummers, started to use them because of the convenience, not the sound. The difference in sound quality was obvious, but the cost, availability, and convenience of mylar won the day. For the last 60 years head manufacturerers have be experimenting with their products to make a mylar head that looks and sounds more like calfskin. That the reasoning behind Fiberskin heads and Aquarian antique heads. But none of them sound like the real thing. Many prefer the sound of mylar because that's what they are used to hearing. Many if not most of the international drums used in World Music have heads made from animal skins. For drummers today to be squeamish about calfskin heads seems very odd to me.

You seem to pride yourself on your vintage kits, of which you have many. You also have a 1940's Radio King. Can I assume you have calfskin heads mounted on it so you can hear it as intended when it was new?

By the way, the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights were all written on Parchment which is animal skin. Just saying. Cool Dude

Mark
BosLover
Posted on 9 years ago
#16
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Very well stated that calfskins are all that were available during the really vintage drum period. What I love is brushes on calf.

Anything pre 1960 calfs way to go.

Creighton

Nothing special here but I like them.
Posted on 9 years ago
#17
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From Creighton

Very well stated that calfskins are all that were available during the really vintage drum period. What I love is brushes on calf. Anything pre 1960 calfs way to go.Creighton

Brushes on calfskin are terrific, but unfortunately relatively few drummers today have developed good brush skills, or even own wire brushes. And yes. I agree, if someone owns pre '60s drums because they want a truly authentic vintage sound, they're not getting it unless they're also using calfskin heads. I'm sure some will argue that point, but calfskin sounds different than mylar, and calfskin heads were what everyone used until 1957 or so.

Mark
BosLover
Posted on 9 years ago
#18
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From BosLover

I find this concern about using calfskin heads rather bizarre. We (most of us in this country, anyway) eat meat. We use the hides of cattle for lots of uses, including shoes, clothing and seating among others. We eat veal which comes from a calf and use calfskin leather for many products, including expensive gloves. We hunt and kill animals for sport. We buy beef, chicken, pork, lamb and other meats already slaughtered by someone else and nicely packaged so we don't have to do the dirty work. We have shows on nightly TV which graphically depict autopsies on a regular basis. Drums were originally hollowed out logs and anything else that would resonate, but for thousands of years, and even today, drums have been using animal skins and hides. The great drummers of the '20s, 30s, 40s, and even into the 50s always used calfskin heads. That's what Gene Krupa was playing on in Benny Goodman's Sing Sing Sing? And those are the heads that Louis Bellson, and Buddy Rich used in the '40s. All the great drummers in all the great bands during the big band era played on calfskin. When I started playing in the late '50s calfskin was still in considerable use and was mainly abandoned because mylar heads were more practical and cheaper. not because they sounded better. They were stronger, more easily available and held their tuning because they were unaffected by humidity. I, like most other drummers, started to use them because of the convenience, not the sound. The difference in sound quality was obvious, but the cost, availability, and convenience of mylar won the day. For the last 60 years head manufacturerers have be experimenting with their products to make a mylar head that looks and sounds more like calfskin. That the reasoning behind Fiberskin heads and Aquarian antique heads. But none of them sound like the real thing. Many prefer the sound of mylar because that's what they are used to hearing. Many if not most of the international drums used in World Music have heads made from animal skins. For drummers today to be squeamish about calfskin heads seems very odd to me. You seem to pride yourself on your vintage kits, of which you have many. You also have a 1940's Radio King. Can I assume you have calfskin heads mounted on it so you can hear it as intended when it was new?By the way, the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights were all written on Parchment which is animal skin. Just saying. Cool Dude

Well there you are, people don't like it. I can't help that. Wether that's drummers or just people out there. Fur coats will start a similar debate too. Hunting, industrial slaughter, people out there hate it as much as meat eaters don't care or even love it.

If an artist is Vegan and doesn't want to use any sort of animal product then that's ok by me. I suppose this extends to stringed instruments too with the use of Gut?

Anyway No I don't use Calfskin heads. I took them off my RK's. The kit came complete with RK stamped logo's on them top and bottom. I don't want to destroy them. I have only left the front BD head in place for cool factor. The MT sounded really good but the FT was a bit afro souvenir drum sounding, might of needed a new one possibly.

I actually prefer to use modern heads on the drums for general playing, that deep mahogany tone is still absolutely shining through. But if I was paid enough to recreate that genuine 40's sound I would use them, or order some new ones I guess.

As for the parchment, It's incredible that your countries history is preserved in it's original form. I guess ancient texts like our Magna Carta is parchment(edit: Just checked and it's on Sheepskin parchment). This is from my home town, check this out. The guy was hung then a book bound from his own skin to detail the trial, execution and subsequent decimation of his body.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/blog/john-horwood-book/

I'm originally from Hanham and lived in the Bedminster area of Bristol for years near where he was tried and executed!!

edit: Just remembered in our city centre we have the Hatchett Inn. A layer of it's front door is made from human skin. Now painted/tarred over etc as it's been there for centuries. However there are still inflections of hair in the surface!!! Her's a quick link.

http://www.strangestbooks.co.uk/page%2017.html

http://www.bristolpubs.co.uk/the-hatchet-inns-door-which-has-a-strange-storey-attached/

40's Slingerland Radio King WMP
60's Ludwig Downbeat Silver Spark
70's Ludwig Super Classic White Marine
60's Gretsch RB Champaigne Spark
70's Rogers Big R Black
90's Sonor Hilite (Red maple)
00's DW Collectors Broken Glass
00's DW Jazz Series Tangerine Glass
10's DW Collectors (Acrylic) Matt Black Wrap
10's PDP Concept Wood Hoop kit (Maple)
Proud ambassador of the British Drum Company
Posted on 9 years ago
#19
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I use Earthtone on my progressive jazz kit--an absolute ideal sound to my ears!

Posted on 9 years ago
#20
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