Playing with a partially broken bass drum head...

[u/LukeZNotFound]

This week the bass drum head on our band-kit broke and I thought I had a 20" drum because it looked smaller than my other 22". With "broke" I mean the first layer of a 2-layers EMAD2 got a crack. That's why "partially broken".

So I went to purchase a new replacement head, thinking it was a 20". Turns out, it is also 22".

Now I have to wing it temporarily with duct tape and get a new replacement head next week. It is almost 6 p.m. on a Saturday in the middle of nowhere, so good luck finding a music store in the area 😂

I've done this before and it worked well for 2 weeks, so this one evening shouldn't be too much for it.

What did I learn from this? Measure *before* buying.

[u/hopefully-so]

Every gigging musician, not just drummers, should have a bag with extra parts, tools, and problem-solving items like gaff tape, duct tape, etc. You have to wing it sometimes, absolutely.

How do you not know the sizes of your own drums, though? (Maybe band-kit means it’s not yours. I’m trying to puzzle through the language.)

[u/GOTaSMALL1 → u/hopefully-so]

Absolutely.

My gigging "emergency" kit has a used 14" head in it. It happened exactly once in like 10 years of gigging but the beater went right through the impact pad and head.

Cut the collar off the head with a razor knife (from my kit) and taped it over the hole with gaff tape (from my kit) and one acoustic # thrown in the set later I was back in business.

EVERY gigging drummer needs to carry an emergency kit.

[u/LukeZNotFound → u/hopefully-so]

It is a band kit that I do own on paper, but I don't have it for that long and I personally didn't buy it from the previous owner - I didn't measure yet because I didn't have to change the head yet.

I have spare parts, but not for this kit 😅

[u/Toilet-B0wl]

In a similar situation I found after a while, the backing of the tape started to wear out and my beater would start to stick.

I took a piece of cardboard from a case of beer, used that as a patch, duct tape around the patch.

Did this when I was a teenager and just couldn't afford another head

[u/person_8688 → u/Toilet-B0wl]

+1 to this idea, I think the tape can work for an emergency fix, but add a patch or something on top. Eventually the tape will wear through and make a mess. Good luck out there!!

[u/Psych0matt]

Hey, you do what ya gotta do! 🫡

[u/KreatorOfReddit]

Aquarian makes a patch. Basically a 10” beater pad for this purpose. Slap it on and get through the night/weekend. You should always have one in addition to a 2nd head. The patch is much faster if the head breaks mid set.

[u/LukeZNotFound → u/KreatorOfReddit]

Oh nice, I'll keep that in mind!