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Posted:
Thu Aug 04, 2005 7:21 pmby davizuno
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!!!
Posted:
Wed Aug 10, 2005 7:53 pmby ralph
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....
Posted:
Wed Aug 24, 2005 4:27 amby twiggd
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 
Posted:
Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:39 amby gilbert
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
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
Posted:
Wed Aug 24, 2005 3:53 pmby JohnnyConga
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.... 
Posted:
Thu Aug 25, 2005 9:04 amby gilbert
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
Posted:
Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:54 pmby JohnnyConga
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...
Posted:
Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:26 pmby ralph
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
Posted:
Sun Sep 02, 2007 6:41 amby Thebreeze
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.
Posted:
Sun Sep 02, 2007 11:10 pmby burke
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
Posted:
Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:19 amby Whopbamboom
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?
Posted:
Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:23 amby burke
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.
Posted:
Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:07 amby tactikal
* 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.
Re: HARMONICS IN MY CONGAS
Posted:
Wed Nov 26, 2008 1:03 pmby nobleway
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.
