Renewal of the skins
There comes a time when one must upgrade. Software, wardrobe, vehicle, drum skins. The little elbow in the ribs that sets each in motion differs, but eventually the time to renew arrives. For me, the visit of a musician during Earth Hour pushed me to this weekend’s project.
I’m a retired drummer. I still bang on pillows and desktops, but the torch has been passed to two of “the boys”. One by education, the other by avocation; two more beatkeepers in a world where so many need the music to walk by. When “Lache” suggested that a skin change would improve the tone, I agreed and started shopping.
Now, there are lots of stores that sell heads on the ‘Net, but it’s increasingly difficult to get oddly shaped parcels across the long border without spending far too much for shipping and handling. I decided to support the local merchant class and we set off this evening for a local music store. There, we tred carefully among the dozens of drums and cymbals and cowbells and sticks, until the specialist took us in tow and explained the intricate world of the “skin”.
In an earlier life, I knew of only one brand: Remo WeatherKing. With time, the market has grown, and after a demonstration of various mylar thicknesses and tonal variations and surface textures we chose a packed set of four Evans heads. All different in size, all destined to the same end; to be victims of a heavy, repeated beating.
Sometime tomorrow we’ll set up a work area, carefully remove and store the older skins and place and tune the new ones. I expect the noise level to rise as a result, but nothing in life is free.
