That is an interesting question as to when clear heads became available. I am fairly sure they were around by 1970.

As to coated heads as a reso, it tends to darken the sound a bit and reduce sustain as well which are often characteristics associated with a vintage sound. Usually if I have a client that is looking for a vintage or vintage-like tone, I generally start with coated heads too and bottom. Depending on the player and situation it may be a single ply or double ply batter.

thanks for the reply! do you have any tuning preferences when going for a more vintage sound/using coated on both sides? I've been considering doing it for a while...thanks

In 1956, Chick Evans invented the plastic drumhead. Plastic drumheads made from polyester are cheaper, more durable, and less sensitive to weather than animal skin. In 1957, Remo Belli and Sam Muchnick together developed a plastic head (also known as Mylar) leading to the development of the Remo drumhead company.

Interesting question and sorry i can`t help you with an answer.But i do know my 1967 Rogers kit came with coated heads top and bottom.I tend to agree with tnsquint about clear bottoms coming into play about 1970 or so.

Wayne

Man I'm bad. I thought the question was when did plastic heads come out.

I think that was someplace else.

I believe Clear Heads were first introduced around the same time as the Clear Acrylic kits. Early 70's..

Cheers

John

The "vintage" sound is subjective to say the least. Today, when I hear guys that appear to be looking for a vintage sound, they are usually looking for a very low tuning, dark, warm sound. Not necessarily the concert tom sound of the 70's though. That dark, warm sound does conjure up a vintage vibe. On the other hand, most of the pop/rock music recorded in the 60's was recorded on drums that were pitched higher as most of the guys playing that music were former jazz players or learned from players of that idiom. Of course there was jazz music at the time as well. So all of those sounds, as varied as they may be, would be considered vintage as well.

I suppose one might consider a vintage tone to be dark, warm and not quite the sustain that we now have available with modern drums with sharper edges. That dark, somewhat muted tone might apply across the tuning range. To your point, I would use the aforementioned coated heads batter and reso and either tune with both heads at the same pitch or, more often for me anyway, the reso head a minor third or more higher than the batter. Usually it is a minor third or a perfect fourth above the batter. Then it is a question of what tuning range you want. I would start with the lowest pitch you can get from the batter head and then work the overall pitch of the drum up a little at a time, maintaining the relationship between batter and reso, to dial in the sound you might be looking for. If you are doing this on a modern kit with 45 degree edges or double 45 edges, then some judicious muffling may be in order as well. Not much, but just a touch to help replicate that round over bearing edge sound. On larger drums, a little muffling on the bottom head can work wonders.

As with all things percussion, experiment and, if it works....do it.