Got a set of Goatskin heads. Swapped one out on my 14 floor. I tried a side by side with calf, fiberskyn, (several mylars), and this goatskin.

Gotta tell ya, the goat plays well. MAJOR tone and warmth. Great resonance from the drum. It gives off a very nice warm sustain. It's got a toughness that I wasn't expecting. They took the time to ensure a spine cut. That's adds serious durability to any animal head. I had played a set of these prior and felt they were a bit on the thin side. This 14 is fairly thick. It sits on that Luddy 14 floor nicely. It also blends very well with the 12 calf. The two of them just work. It plays like a cool jazz set should play.

The goat plays VERY much like the calf. I was both shocked and impressed. I honestly did not expect them to be this similar. With all good science, being right is not the goal. Truth is paramount. In this case, I was wrong in my assumptions...but pleased.

The goat doesn't work for a reso head...at all.

So, what have we learned...

Batter heads - Calf good. Goat good. Fiberskyn not so good.

Reso's are pretty much left to the Luddy med or thin coated heads. They seem to work better than the others. Clear heads give out too much of a plastic vibe for my taste. The coated calms that down quite a bit.

The new Skyntone heads just didn't cut it as resos either. Excellent batters, though.

I enjoyed this little experiment quite a bit. It's not that I had never played skins, it's just that I had never done an in depth analysis of them. I searched all over the internet and never found anything worth watching on this subject.

Hope you enjoyed this and learned something from it. It was costly and very time consuming, but all in all ... cool.

Now try that goat on a snare and give us a review. I just fixed the 18" earthtone I was using on my little Gretsch kit. I glued a piece of thin deer skin on the backside. The patch came out great, just a bit hard so I turned the head so the beater does not hit in the same spot. I am currios to see how the earthtones hold up as a tom batter, the one I have didn't last all that long. Great job, thanks for doing all that work.

Done and done. I swapped it out on a Slingy snare that was wearing calf. It performs wonderfully. The goat really adds a bit of ring to the snare. The calf has a tendency to take some of the natural ring and crack out of it. The goat put it back and kept the warmth. I'm as surprised as you! Wasn't expecting that. I popped a 14 calf back onto my 14 floor to go with the calf on my 12 for my little mutant jazzer. It blends a bit better now. Can't beat calf for the toms of a jazz kit. Unbelievable.

I think that this particular goat is a thicker head than they would normally ship out. As I stated previously, it's a spine cut and is tough. I'll play it on the snare for a half a year and see what happens. It seated very quickly. LOVE it for the snare. Please don't hate me, but I actually like it better than the calf on this snare. It gives it just a bit more bite and I really like that. It didn't remove any warmth. So cool.

Very cool! Ok, where did you get the earthtone? I thought they stopped making them.

A very cool forum member stepped up to help me out. Ain't it always the case. When you can't rely on anyone else to do the job, turn to the drummer.

I'll try to put together a vid of the drums again. We'll see what time allows.

forgive me for skimming the five pages. does anyone have any recomendation for keeping the drum moist is water an option? I tried petroleum with water mix and it kinda just greased it so I added more water. oh, it's a goatskin drum that's pretty thin. any thoughts?

I could give you some ideas although I am no authority on this. You don't say what sort of drum it is ... hand drum? Moist is probably not the best word for what you want as that dampens the sound a lot. This is usually done with a damp cloth on hand drums that are not tunable (e.g. allen key or rope) if the skin has gone too tight. If it is too slack on a drum like this placing it a safe distance from a heat source and keeping an eye on it until it has tightened to what you want is good (careful not to overdo it) Goatskins are a bit different depending on where they originate from. African ones are a bit drier producing a higher tone - good for djembe. Others like Irish have more natural oils and a bit thicker making the sound warmer. The skin will always sound better through time and on a hand drum the skin takes in oils from your hands over time. I personally don't like the sound of a new drum skin and always moisten it - protects the leather and makes it sound warmer. Important to keep around the bearing edge supple so it won't dry out and tear under tension. You could get a drum skin conditioner like the one Ace Bodhrans make which is totally natural and applied to the underside of the skin. Liquid leather oil is good applied wiped on thinly with a cloth once (shouldn't need to do it again) Apply to the underside and bearing edges to keep playing surface cleaner. Works for me anyway and improves the sound. Oil will remain in the leather when applied - water is temporary and will evaporate.