HARMONICS IN MY CONGAS

... all the messages not related to the above forums have to be posted here: Thanks!

Postby davizuno » Thu Aug 04, 2005 7:21 pm

i have bought 2 pearl fiberglass congas 2 days ago and i'm starting to tuning it but it sound some harmonics in the 10" and in the 11"

why?? too tension on the heads? not enough tension? CAN SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!

how many tension must have the heads have???


THANKS!!!
davizuno
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2005 6:59 pm
Location: spain

Postby ralph » Wed Aug 10, 2005 7:53 pm

what do you mean by harmonics, overtones?
If so, this maybe due to many different reason, uneven tightening of lugs, or maybe the skins need changing, or with fiberglass drums, you are going to get an overtone pretty much guaranteed...not much you can do about that, that is if we are talking about ringy overtones....
User avatar
ralph
 
Posts: 434
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 7:42 pm
Location: NC

Postby twiggd » Wed Aug 24, 2005 4:27 am

Davizuno and Ralph,

Greetings from CA. When I bought my Congas, (Meinel), the natural hide heads were dead. I put Evan's sinthetic heads on and really opened up the sound. It, was if the drums came to life. It's worth the $40.00US per head.

God Bless,

David :cool:
User avatar
twiggd
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 5:05 am
Location: Camarillo

Postby gilbert » Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:39 am

twiggd wrote:Davizuno and Ralph,

Greetings from CA. When I bought my Congas, (Meinel), the natural hide heads were dead. I put Evan's sinthetic heads on and really opened up the sound. It, was if the drums came to life. It's worth the $40.00US per head.

God Bless,

David :cool:

i had the same problemon my Meinl mongo santamaria congas
i replaced the skins with the Remo Nuskyn ,i have now the best sound i could wish for
User avatar
gilbert
 
Posts: 172
Joined: Sat Nov 22, 2003 6:18 pm
Location: lebanon

Postby JohnnyConga » Wed Aug 24, 2005 3:53 pm

I find it so interesting that "natural" heads aren't working for the younger players...for me it will always be natural....i just wonder if the "water buffalo" skins there using just aren't good enough or dont they know the best skin comes from the stomach area of the animal. I do find the new natural skins a bit too thin, hence the overtones....i would recommend using "mule" if you can get them...."plastic" sounding drums just dont do it for me..."JC" Johnny Conga.... :D
User avatar
JohnnyConga
 
Posts: 3825
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2001 7:58 pm
Location: Ft. Lauderdale,Fl/Miami

Postby ABAKUA » Thu Aug 25, 2005 3:15 am

JohnnyConga wrote:...for me it will always be natural......"plastic" sounding drums just dont do it for me..."JC" Johnny Conga.... :D

Image

:D


I agree 100%.
User avatar
ABAKUA
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3189
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:59 pm
Location: Earth

Postby gilbert » Thu Aug 25, 2005 9:04 am

i brought some good skins from cuba(thick) but my problem is that the country i live in has a changing weather and alot of humidity so when playing my tuning changes thats why i am using synthetic skins
User avatar
gilbert
 
Posts: 172
Joined: Sat Nov 22, 2003 6:18 pm
Location: lebanon

Postby JohnnyConga » Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:54 pm

I find that if u use "baby powder' on the heads, will keep the humidty "out" of the skins.. It's what tabla players use and u know how hot it can get in India....try it and tell me if it works..."JC" Johnny Conga... :D
User avatar
JohnnyConga
 
Posts: 3825
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2001 7:58 pm
Location: Ft. Lauderdale,Fl/Miami

Postby ralph » Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:26 pm

if you buy new lp's, meinl's etc... you are sure to get a weak skin...with a good cow skin or mule skin it will improve the sound without a doubt the only thing to keep in mind is that with lp's and such, a mule skin may be to strong, and may ruin the hardware or shell...i personally feel the the synthetic heads have an okay sound, but this is no comparison (to a real natural skin), also in terms of tucking your own skins, and such..i believe that is a valuable thing to learn, and alot of percussionist skip this alltogether, for pre fab skins or already mounted skins...



Edited By ralph on 1124998051
User avatar
ralph
 
Posts: 434
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 7:42 pm
Location: NC

Postby Thebreeze » Sun Sep 02, 2007 6:41 am

Davizuno...You probably know by now that the skins are the focal point of the whole subject of the overtones. Before you change your skins, I would try the following...You know that foam that you find inside road cases for instruments? I would try to get a strip of it or whatever other foam of that type that is available about an inch or more thick and long enough to go around the inside belly of your drum, then tape it temporarily and try it. I had some fiberglass congas that I did that too and it took away most of the overtones. You will have to experiment a little until you find the right thickness that will work for your drum, but remember, too much will take away the resonance. Since this is a cheap method, you will have nothing to lose if you decide to change your skins later on. But even with different skins you will always have overtones to an extent on fiberglass.
Thebreeze
 
Posts: 610
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2007 10:13 pm
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Postby burke » Sun Sep 02, 2007 11:10 pm

Then there is always the cool low tech solution I learned from this forum of a cross of "duct" (or gaffer tape for the theatre types) on the underside of the skin. Used it on my macho Evans skin on my bongos and on my cheap fibreglass Aspire requinto.

Definately helped the overtones.

Darrell
Burke
burke
 
Posts: 753
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2004 2:50 pm
Location: Nova Scotia

Postby Whopbamboom » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:19 am

Concerning the use of gaffers tape... I've never actually done this, but I have a couple drums that this may help on. So I have to ask:

1) Is gaffer's tape really the same exact thing as duct tape? Hardware stores don't seem to know what I mean when I ask for gaffer's tape.

2) Will the tape just fall off the bottom of a natural skin when oil gets applied to the topside of the skin?
Whopbamboom
 
Posts: 588
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 8:02 pm

Postby burke » Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:23 am

I'm pretty sure they are both the same thing. Mine cerrtainly never fell off and I put lanolin on (a natural skin) at least once.

However a caution!!! I've never tried to take it off a synthetic skin which is plastic and (I think) a laminate. In that case once its on its probabily on for good. In the case of my Evans macho - it was going to work or be replaced anyway - so no risk for me. It reduced the ringing enough for my taste.

Anyone else ever put tape on a synthetic - or more important - taken it off. I've only done half the proceedure.
Burke
burke
 
Posts: 753
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2004 2:50 pm
Location: Nova Scotia

Postby tactikal » Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:07 am

* Gaffer/Gaffa/Gaff tape is not the same as duct tape. There are similarities, as they can both be cotton-based tapes but proper Gaffer tape is designed to leave very little residue when removed whereas duct-tape is not.

I don't think either would leave much on the underside of a skin... although it has to be said that on finer quality leathers (ladies shoes) I've seen Gaffer tape pull chunks off.
tactikal
 
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:10 am
Location: Australia

Re: HARMONICS IN MY CONGAS

Postby nobleway » Wed Nov 26, 2008 1:03 pm

by harmonics do you mean ringing? I can definitely hear ringing from my new meinl and it's a sound i'd like to minimize. i figured the rim was vibrating from the strikes.
nobleway
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:48 pm
Location: Washington, DC

Next

Return to Miscellanea

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests