G-horns Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 I need to muffle some smaller bass drums for the local middle school. I'm planning on using foam weather-strip material that is usually used on airconditioner installations. Because the drums are small and the logo goes almost to the rims, I need to put this material inside the head using double-stick tape or some sort of adhesive. Any comments or suggestions welcome, since I'm really a brass guy. TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tito Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 Use 3M 77 Adheseive Spray. Should be $17 - $20 a can, but incredibly useful stuff. Just spray a small circle on to the head where you want the weatherstripping, spray some on the weatherstripping, wait a minute, then stick the stripping on the head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-horns Posted September 3, 2009 Author Share Posted September 3, 2009 Use 3M 77 Adheseive Spray. Should be $17 - $20 a can, but incredibly useful stuff. Just spray a small circle on to the head where you want the weatherstripping, spray some on the weatherstripping, wait a minute, then stick the stripping on the head. If I'm going around the whole head perimeter, should I spray the whole circle or just put a "spot" between lugs or something like that? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenorsForWorldDomination Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 Does the school have the budget to buy Remo Powermax heads? You seriously don't need any muffling with these heads. At Grenadiers, we used to use contact cement to lay foam down on the inside of the shell, just enough to touch the heads when they were on the drums under tension. From trial and error, we knew exactly what amounts and what widths to use from drum to drum. This way the foam is always in there, it isn't falling off the heads in the heat and you never have to worry about it again. Head change after head change the foam is always there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Matczak Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 Does the school have the budget to buy Remo Powermax heads? You seriously don't need any muffling with these heads. Powermax heads are absolutely THE best way to go,..................forget the foam, Please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 What he said - if you can afford them, the pre-muffled heads are *definitely* the way to go. We've used Powermax's for a while, and are quite happy with the "out of the box" muffling they provide. Hey, one less thing to worry about. Honestly, though, if you can't afford it, there are several schools of thought on foaming the shells / heads. Some folks do it on the outside (easier to get to in a pinch), and honestly, even if it does overlap the sponsor logo, so what? It's only one drum. Some folks do the inside of the head, which gives that nice clean head look. Others prefer gluing the foam to the inside of the shell so that it'll last though multiple heads. I know Yamaha has a beginners guide to bass tuning / foam that might help, and the Illini drumline had a *great* article about it on their website a few years back (don't know if it's still there anymore). I may have it saved, I can send it if you like. Thanks, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-horns Posted September 3, 2009 Author Share Posted September 3, 2009 Budget??? What budget?? This is middle school and they came within hours of not having a marching band this year for scheduling reasons. If we ever replace the heads, we'll definitely look at pre-muffled products. I'm actually going to do all 4 basses, and they all have the school logo on them. We need the identification so people don't confuse the kids with the (ahem!) high school band. Since we use easy pitched bass parts (unlike our high school band that has all the basses in unison), we have to reduce the ringing and I know this will help. I did some online searching and yes, the Illini article is still there. I'm going with adhesive on the inside of the shell but I'm going to mask the bearing surface with painters tape so I don't have a problem with the head getting stuck to the drum. Thanks to all who offered advice and support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highpitch_83 Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 I need to muffle some smaller bass drums for the local middle school. I'm planning on using foam weather-strip material that is usually used on airconditioner installations. Because the drums are small and the logo goes almost to the rims, I need to put this material inside the head using double-stick tape or some sort of adhesive. Any comments or suggestions welcome, since I'm really a brass guy.TIA What sizes specifically? Indoor or Outdoor application? (or both?) On a 14" or 16" you may just want to stretch some fabric across the head and trim it back once you get the head on the shell... we used this last winter on our top 2 basses (with remo Ambassador bass heads) and it sounded great indoors and out! (buy a white bed sheet set at WALMART for $10 and you have plenty to go around) ------------------- Side Note: I'm shocked by how many people are recommending Powermaxes! We tried them for a winter and went through 3 heads per drum before the season was over (that's right 15 heads in 4 months)! Switched back to ambassadors (top 2) & emperors (bottom 3) and no issues since. Maybe the quality control has improved since they were introduced? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 Side Note:I'm shocked by how many people are recommending Powermaxes! We tried them for a winter and went through 3 heads per drum before the season was over (that's right 15 heads in 4 months)! Switched back to ambassadors (top 2) & emperors (bottom 3) and no issues since. Maybe the quality control has improved since they were introduced? Yikes! Maybe so - we bought 22/24/26/28 and had no issues with them at all. Well, except for the one that our creative director broke when a stand punched through it... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 So....stuffing a pillow into the drum is out?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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