S-Hoop SH106 10" Drumhoop 6-hole

It took a very long to understand what is the problem with this rim. This is the story concerning my 10x10" inch 7 ply tom. Other toms were a bit easier:

1) I fitted this first to resonant side of the drum and tuned accurately. It took some time to tune it but I got it finally OK.
2) I replaced this to batter side as well. Then I noticed resonant side was not OK anymore so I had to tune it again.
3) I started playing. Pitch was still perfect after some 10 minutes.
4) I continued playing about 45 minutes until the sound was completely awful and choked.
5) I needed to loose both heads completely to get the heads tuned again.

I proceeded this scenario twice. I Replaced new heads both times. I checked them and checked even the bearing edges which are perfect and made less than year ago. Then I noticed following issues that, I think, explains the nightmare:

- S-hoop won't float at all. The mating surface is cone shaped. It is not flat like in my original triple shaped flanges. This creates strong forces between the 7 mm thick drum body and the rims which are also very stiff.
- The cause for going completely out of the pitch was the thing I played some strong rimshots. Screws on the other side very suddenly really tight and loose on the opposite side. So the rim setting on the drum is not stabile due to cone shape. It creates a fight between my strong drum bodies and cannot thus stand powerful rimshots. That makes it also difficult to tune.

This hoop is worth serious consideration. Combines the properties of triple flanged and die-cast. It darkens the tone of the drum, but doesn't dry it out too much, and gives a great rim shot/click sound. It also seems to hold it's tuning a little better, as it's a lot more robust. Looks great, really neat and satisfying construction, with some weight to it and a nice logo sticker. The best thing though is how it feels when it's struck with rim shots. It honestly feels like hitting butter. The fact that it protects your bearing edges is just a plus; because us drummers really shouldn't be doing that in the first place, right?