Hola Amigos,
I have a '49 Leedy kit with single-flange hoops and modern Remo heads on it, but am experiencing some significant buzzing between the bottom of the single-flange hoop and the top of the metal hoop on the head. At first I thought the buzzing was from the lugs, so I went ahead and packed them, but no dice.
Funny thing is that it is only happening on my 13" rack tom and not the 16" floor tom. Has anyone else experienced this buzzing? Any clever solutions out there?
You should pull the buzzing head and lay the shell edge down on a perfectly flat surface,like a glass table top to make sure the edge is truly flat.Or maybe the rim is bent/warped slightly.
It's very common for the old single flange hoops to be out of whack, warped & distorted. Apart from checking the straightness of the bearing edge, you might check the hoop itself. It's not easy to true a round object. You might try just shifting/rotating it to another position to see if the buzz goes away.
Out of my league on this one but... just wondering out loud, in light of having the edges recut or finding replacement rims for this particular kit which both sound like challenges... could you put some dampening around the hoop on the head.... say go around once with some electrical tape or maybe loosen it up and pinch some Moon Gel in four spots around the hoop or a couple dabs of silicon on there between the rim and the head hoop.... just something to kill the vibration...
Yeah that's a total rig but I'm just tossing it out there.
> between the bottom of the single-flange hoop and the top of the metal hoop on the head
If you're under-tensioning the hoop/head then yes, that can happen. But if there is good contact between the hoop and head, there shouldn't be any room/space for buzzing to happen. Crank it down until the hoop is in good contact with the head rim. Then tune it up.
Aaron, check the bottom lip of the single-flange carefully. Look for any spots where it may be pushed in, or raising the hoop so that it causes the hoop not to make good contact with the head rim. Lay the hoop on a flat surface... that may be the problem. Easy fix to bend it back to flat.
Unusual place for a buzz to happen...
John
Thanks for the replies/suggestions, Fellas. I swapped top and bottom hoops and even tried a different head...but yeah...I'm pretty sure the hoops are not so perfectly flat anymore.
Also...now that the bearing edge has been mentioned...that might be where the buzz is coming from...between the bearing edge and the head. The heads were used Ambassadors..so maybe the seat from the previous shell is a bit wide or something. I'll try a new head or put the original calfskin back batter on.
Thanks for making me think a little harder!
