Calf Head Show and Tell with Rick Dior

Here is a video about the calf heads I use. Hopefully this will answer most of the questions I get about the videos I post with the jazz drums I use that have calf heads. The previous calfskin video I produced can be watched here:
• Gretsch Drum Maintenan...
This video shows you how I put the heads on and tune them up on my Gretsch Centennial drum set.
Some good videos for calf skin tucking can be found here:
• Tutorial: "Tuck Yourse...
• Tucking A Calfskin Sna...
• How to hand tuck a cal...

[@nahuelhandpan]

Señor, no puedo ser suficiente agradecido, por éste material!!!
Ha sido en el momento preciso.
Sabré decirle, uno persona es "dueña"/"dueño" de sus silencios / "no decir" y presa de sus palabras (14.15),
Le oi decir que "debería hacer un vídeo respecto a cierto tema, la confección de un parche! Y es ahí, dónde me abuso de su nobleza y le hago el pedido personal, de mostrarme / mostrarnos su artesanía manual de ese 34 pulgadas ENORME !!!
Y como Usted lo ha dicho, en su "época de conciertos" sepa también, por favor, exhibir como suena su bombo! Gran casa (12.51)
Sucede que deseo fabricar mis propios parches!
Saludos desde Buenos Aires Argentina. (Capital del tango y el bombo de murga Jajajjaja)
Por más y más nuevos proyectos

[@kevintaylor791]

Have you tried one from Bovid Percussion in Canada? That guy (Ryan) makes hand tucked heads with a welded, solid aluminum hoop. His furry bass reso heads are works of art.

[@PL-oc7vn]

Hi Rick, first thank you for all your effort in your videos, they thought me a lot as a college jazz student.
For drumheads unfortunately my budged is not enough for real calfheads so I am considering some of the faux calf ones, have you had any experience or thoughts on them by any chance? Heads like remo fiberskyn, skyntone, evans calftone... greetings from far Belgium!

[@matthewmore6893]

I have a bunch of 14 and a metal 13 rim off a remo. How do I rewrap the 14 hide to fit on the 13. Thank you

[@robertphillips2492]

Rick I just purchased an earthtone calf head and mounted it on one of my 14” snare drums. First impressions are: it’s loud, with a strong fundamental but very boingy and needs a lot of muffling which I don’t want to do for a jazz drum. Also, even though I’ve got it tensioned medium high, it kinda sounds like it’s tuned too low. Any thoughts? I wonder if it’s a little thick? Have you ever sanded calf heads down underneath? Etc

[@rickdior]

Hi Robert
Unfortunately, calf heads can be hit or miss these days and it sounds like you might have gotten a bad one. You can try muffling it with a small piece of leather. Do not use moon gel as this will stain the head. Remember that the weather really affects these heads so you will have to retune quite often. You will need to release the tension after you are done playing for the day or you risk stretching it out too much. I do not sand my heads. Try tightening it up more than you think is normal and see what happens. Remember that calf heads react much differently than plastic so you will need to learn how to tune and maintain them.

[@belroi]

Very interesting, Rick. I have some calfskin bass drum heads and they are quite taut and therefore high pitched *before* they're installed on my bass drum. Any idea how I could lower the pitch?

[@rickdior]

Hi Lee
Take a damp cloth and wipe the head. Do not overwater! that will release the tension.
You should do this after they are on the drum so that you can adjust the tension if you go too far.

[@belroi]

@@rickdior Thanks so much. Will try this!

[@belroi]

@@rickdior Hi Rick. Another question if I may. Dampening the heads with water worked for that recording session but on a session a few days later the heads had returned to the high tuning (and again were high tuned before any pressure was added by the lugs). Maybe it's just a case of repeating the process each time. Or I wonder if I could use a Vaseline or something so that the lower tension remains over time. Is there anything you'd recommend for this? Many thanks.

[@glpxt]

I didn't know that calves that big even exist. Are you sure these are not elephant skins?

[@ericjett8097]

You must not be too familiar with how big a calf is up until the point is considered an adult