Evans Drum Heads

Evans Drum Heads actually hold claim to the title of being the first company to invent the synthetic drumhead back in 1956. Chick Evans sold his company to Bob Beals in 1959 and the rest is history! Evans heads were huge suppliers to Gretsch drums in the 1960s and many heads from that era with the Gretsch logo came from the Evans head factory. Today, Evans remains one of the most innovative, quirky producers of drum heads – and we like them a lot!

A Little Bit of History for You!

For all you history buffs out there who love to be knowledgeable on this type of stuff, it came to the attention of Bob Beals back in 1987 that it was time for the design of drum heads to have a major overhaul.

For years and years, modern drum heads were mostly constructed of polyester films secured at their edges in various ways. Remo Belli inserted the edges of his heads into a channel shaped metal hoop which was then filled with a resinous bonding material, thus bonding the head to the channel. Now although this type of construction was pretty successful, it wasn’t without its problems.

For a start, many heads failed because of the resin releasing from the hoop under heavy playing, especially from touring drummers. Because of the simple channel shaped construction of the hoop, only the bonding force between the resin and the hoop holds the resin in place. If that bond fails, it’s game over in an instant!

Another problem with simple ‘U’ shaped channels is that there’s only a relatively small area for the average drum hoop to sit on. In addition, the joint between the two ends of the hoop on traditional drum heads has always been a weak spot with attempts to reinforce it done by crimping a reinforcing strip onto the butting ends of the inside wall of the channel. These crimped metal strips often failed to add enough strength to the joint and often buckled under tension.

The Story to Date

To cut a long story short, Beals managed to ‘reinvent the wheel’ and get a patent out of his new take on the construction of the drum head. Bringing us right up to date, Evans now have their ‘Leve 360’ design boasting easier tuning and higher durability for 21st century drummers!

*BEFORE YOU BUY* We do not keep every Evans head in stock and some heads may incur a short ordering time. If you are on a tight deadline and cannot wait a short ordering time, please contact us first before placing your order.