HEADS WITHER IN CERTAIN WEATHER????

[RelientKngOdrums]

do they? from time to time i will leave my drums in their cases in my car over night during summers and winters.... will this effect the heads or the tuning in any way? i can't say i have really noticed much of a difference when i take them out... but i'm wondering if anyone else had a different experience

[AndyDierker]

Short answer: yes.

Temperature affects your heads a little bit - it even affects your shells. They're made of mylar, and it's a pretty resilient material, but temperature will take its toll on almost anything. A lot of the stuff you hear about temperature change in heads is usually in reference to calf-skin heads, which are still used on lots of drums (particularly orchestral and latin percussion).

But seriously, leaving your drums in your car is bad news, especially in cases, and especially in summer. They're like little ovens. It's bad for wraps AND lacquers.

[Mark Schlipper]

wood is especially susceptable to weather changes.  mylar is less prone to problems, but the heat especially can mess with 'em.

[Louis Russell]

I would not leave my drums in the car, especially in the summer where temperatures can skyrocket.  The wood and metal parts will expand and contract at different rates, the glue may break down (especially after repeated cycles) under high temps and the wood just basically hates extreme changes.  The heads will not be damaged as much being mylar, but may sound a lot different until they return to their normal operating temp.  That is one reason that if you play outdoors, make sure your drums remain in the shade or the tuning will change drastically.

[marker]

Mylar heads are pretty much bombproof that way.  I wouldn't be concerned.

The drums themselves, however can be damaged by real high temperatures, especially wraps.

[RelientKngOdrums]

thanks for replies thus far guys... i'm glad in hearing this that i've only left them in my car once... and lucky in it being right in the middle of hot and cold.. just cool.

the obvious thing to do then... is to simply leave ur cases inside by the door and ready to be loaded then. but is this ok? will keeping the drums in the cases in your home hurt the heads or drums in any way? i would guess not... but i'm not sure

[Mark Schlipper]

will keeping the drums in the cases in your home hurt the heads or drums in any way?

only if youre home is unnaturally cold or hot.

id say drums can be generally just fine between 40-80 degrees.  more or less and they may get testy.

[Roger Beverage]

Other than the effects of heat on drum shells, varying climactic conditions have little or no effect on mylar and kevlar, but, those same changes in conditions can affect the way that you hear.  Dense, humid air is lless conducive to the transmission of sound, particularly the higher freqencies and overtones that contribute to a particular tuning.  
I used to encounter this during pipe band competitions, using drums that were entirely plastic and metal, yet a crisply tuned drum would sound different by mid afternoon that it did in the morning.