Mesh-head EDrum bulletproofing suggestion

[skippy]

I've been playing Hart mesh-head EDrums for a couple of years now, and I've finally found a solution to a problem that haunts a lot of mesh-head users. This seems to apply whether the kit is Roland, Hart, Pintech, or some other type.

The problem is that heavy-handed drummers like me tend to abrade through the mesh kick dum head with the pedal beater. It contacts the head in the same area every time, and there's always a little sliding motion involved. This leads to the mesh grinding away and eventually failing- just like a regular Mylar head will fail.

The normal answer for acoustic drums is to stick a leather or even Kevlar beater patch on the head. This works great on Mylar heads, but none of the commercial products will really stick to the polypropylene mesh heads in heavy use: not enough contact area on the rough mesh, and too much stretch when it is tensioned. They peel from the edges and fall off witin an hour.

It took a couple of years, but I finally found an adhesive that will penetrate the mesh without damaging it, remain decently flexible, and stick a beater pad to it so that it will stay for a decent amount of time. I tried Shoe Goo, and several of the other silicone and urethane adhesives with no luck. They'd either get hard, crack, and peel, or they'd never stick at all, or their solvents would attack the mesh and cause it to fail prematurely.

I finally tried Valco-Cincinatti HV-350, which is a $2/tube automotive sealant and weatherstrip adhesive, and hit paydirt. It never cures down hard, and is flexible enough to "give" as the head is tensioned without allowing the pad to start to peel at the edges.

To use it, I took the adhesive and worked it through the head from the back side, to assure that the mesh was completely saturated with the glue front-to-back. I then backed it up with some saran wrap as a release layer, and flipped it over and stuck the beater pad on from the front. I then weighted the head/glue/pad stack to make sure that the pad stayed in intimate contact with the head and adhesive as everything cured.

I've put about 50 hours on the head/pad now, and that's where the old unprotected heads used to blow through. This one is still going strong. You can find this goop at most major auto parts stores... If you punch out your mesh kick heads too quickly, give this a try! Other weatherstrip adhesives might work as well, but try them on a junk head first: the ones that use MEK as the primary solvent will just dissolve the head mesh. This one is the first I've found that sticks to the mesh without partially dissolving it.

[mikeh]

Good post!!