The TRUTH About Coffee-Can Method Of "Holeing" Kick Drum Reso Heads

S

stevieb

Just another guy, really.
Having a big vent hole in one's kick drum reso head is a fairly common thing. There was some banter about using a coffee can to melt/cut the hole in another thread a while back- some wondered about it, some said they liked it, some said they hated it. Well, I have a kick-drum head that was split, almost to the ring, and figured, what the heck- now's a good time to check this method out.

I removed the head- didn't want to damage the hoop or shell- and brought it and a large. empty coffee can into my kitchen. Put the can, open side down, on the largest burner of the stove, and the head on a cheap rug on the floor. Turned the burner on, and waited 'till the can began to smoke :eek: Using a towel, I inverted the can on the head, and just let it sit there, the only force being it's own weight. The can cooled too much to completely cut/melt the hole, so I had to do it again. The split was very long, so I repeated the process and cut another hole at the other end of the split. This time, I pressed down on the can, and it cut through the first time. Had to do a third on the split section between my two holes, and this time I got the can a little too hot and it scored the rug. Glad I used the cheapie rug!

Contrary to other reports, the cut was fast and easy, with very little black soot on the hole. I am talking almost NO black marks- I had to look carefully to find them. The edge is only slightly rough to the touch, but again not noticeable to the eye. This was my very first time doing this- I was about as noob as one can get at this. Compared to a pre-holed head, the hole is smaller, but not too small. With the triple hole, one would have no difficulty putting a pillow or mic inside one's kick drum.

So, if somebody tells you this method sucks, I'd bet they have never actually tried it. So little "technique" is involved that virtually anybody could pull it off- if someone flubbed this, they got issues!:D
 
Pics or it didn't happen.

I've never done it, but I've seen heads after it was done and they were messy. I'm gonna keep recommending that people use a port ring and razorblade/xacto knife. No heat, no burns, no coffee, no cans, no mess, and you get a protected pro looking hole that won get split by mics going in and out.
 
I've done it but I used a small soup can. The size of the hole is quite important on the resulting sound, and I liked my bass drum as it sounded but wanted just a bit more attack. I opted for a hole just large enough for a mic. Keeping it small will help keep the bass drum sounding more like it did before the hole.

I just put the can (w/o label or glue) on the stove and waited awhile. Then I grabbed it with a pot holder and slowly pushed it down into the drumhead (removed from drum) at the location I had marked. It had a little bit of the melted plastic around the edge, but I just picked that off and cleaned it up with a blade. It was easy, fast, and cheap, which isn't supposed to be possible.

NOTE: I did this on a black single-ply stock resonant head. The results might not be as pretty with a lighter head color, 2-ply heads, different head materials, etc...
 
I knew you would be skeptical, Greg!:) Pics or no, it did, indeed happen- I would suggest you go one better than pics from me and try it yourself. No doubt somebody could flub this by making a mess of it, but it was very easy to get good results- and I did it on a white, single-ply head. I once cut a hole in a 2-ply head, and that was something of a PITA- the hot-can method probably would have been much easier.

The heat melts the plastic, so you have a very small protective "ring" at the edge- I don't think it will split or "travel" across the face of the head.

chawps said:
I've done it... It was easy, fast, and cheap, which isn't supposed to be possible.
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:laughings:
 
You usually get advised to do it outside on the sidewalk, but it always seems to work well for anyone I know. I won't do it myself since anytime I buy a reso head, the local store offers to cut any size hole for free anyway. They use a fancy tool you can buy for $5 or $6; Drum Os HSC Drum Head Hole Cutter at zZounds, but if I can get it cut free every time, and I buy maybe one or two heads every few years, the Scrooge in me says let the store do it.
 
stevieb said:
I knew you would be skeptical, Greg!:) :
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I am skeptical. Everyone talks about how great this stupid internet method works, yet no one posts pics, and the ones I have seen in person looked like shit. I don't doubt that it can work though and it's very plausible that the drummers I've seen try this are just stupid. I just don't see the point when it takes 5 seconds to use a razor and you don't even have to remove the head. Maybe if you laid off the coffee you won't be too jittery to cut a round hole with a knife. ;)

Not to mention that most modern reso kick heads comes with reinforced holes already in them anyway.
 
Well, okay, damnit, here are your stinkin' pictures!:D

First one will show you what you want to see- I wish I had put a piece of white paper behind the hole so you could see the contrast better, but I think it shows the minimum of black soot that is actually there.

Perhaps there are faster methods- my reason for starting this thread is just to show that this method works. No doubt there are different methods- "several paths up the mountain," but this one works, too. I think one does not have to remove the head for the hot-can method- I did because the tear went so close to the rim that I knew I would damage something if I tried it with the head on the drum.

"Stupid drummers?" Isn't that a redundancy?:p

Lay off the coffee? :eek: NEVER!!:D

Oh, something else I learned that same day- lacquer thinner is good for removing stuff silk-screened on the drum heads by the maker- stuff like "Pearl" if you now have a DW endorsement, or "First Act" if you don't want to be embarrased.:o (A friend of mine has a First Act kit I scored for $40 for him- he's pleased as punch with it- but he certainly replaced the cymbals.)
 

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Well that's really pretty good. Thanks for the pics. None of the ones I've seen looked that clean. Well done.


You did essentially kill that head though. Too much material is gone. For those of you trying this: Make one hole just big enough to fit a mic if you want the head to still act as a resonant head.
 
Greg_L said:
Well that's really pretty good. Thanks for the pics. None of the ones I've seen looked that clean. Well done.


You did essentially kill that head though. Too much material is gone. For those of you trying this: Make one hole just big enough to fit a mic if you want the head to still act as a resonant head.
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Wish14 said:
Oh my.

What a big hole you have.
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The head was split that length, I basically used it for "hole practice." If I'd had to, I would have swiss-cheesed the thing.

Love the Mickey.
 
And stevieb, I hope I didn't offend you with any of my posts. I was just having some fun...that is a "big" hole!!!! :)

You did an awesome job on cutting out the circles....the edges were very clean. Thanks for sharing the pics and how you did it. That was great.

Thank you.

For others that will attempt this in the future, I would use a smaller can. I think a cambells soup sized can would would be best to start with and go bigger as needed for your mic situation.

I would take Greg's recommendation first though, and just buy a port ring.

But that's just me.
 
Offend me? Heavens, no! All good fun... well, actually, the Mickey thing was right on the edge...

I KEED! :D
 
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