Holiday Mule Joy...!
Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 5:50 pmWell, I provided the contact info for L&H Percussion, and my wife took it from there....So this year I found mule skins under our tree.
Had some time off over the holidays, so I wasted no time mounting them on my Conte's. Huge improvement over the stock water buff skins. Also, Michael of L&H was great help with questions, and skin expertise etc. He even threw a very nice bell beater in the box.... Thanx so much Michael!!!
I did the conga first... skin in the tub for 4 hours... and then mounted & trimmed it with little trouble. I have mounted djembe heads before, but had never done congas. I was looking forward to the ease of tuning lugs rather than pulling rope!!
It was a bit difficult to set the second rod in the crown, but after a bit of struggle, the rest went in easily. I did not use rod extensions of any kind.... just my weight on the crown enough to set the rod. I let it dry for three days, with a quarter turn each day to eliminate the sagging which started to show up.
After the conga was dry, and I realized the great results I had, I jumped on the tumba. A little more struggle to set the second rod on the tumba, and I pulled the skin with vice grips a little tighter before trimming (resulting in a shallower set than the conga... lesson learned) but otherwise, same positive results.
Had some time off over the holidays, so I wasted no time mounting them on my Conte's. Huge improvement over the stock water buff skins. Also, Michael of L&H was great help with questions, and skin expertise etc. He even threw a very nice bell beater in the box.... Thanx so much Michael!!!
I did the conga first... skin in the tub for 4 hours... and then mounted & trimmed it with little trouble. I have mounted djembe heads before, but had never done congas. I was looking forward to the ease of tuning lugs rather than pulling rope!!
It was a bit difficult to set the second rod in the crown, but after a bit of struggle, the rest went in easily. I did not use rod extensions of any kind.... just my weight on the crown enough to set the rod. I let it dry for three days, with a quarter turn each day to eliminate the sagging which started to show up.
After the conga was dry, and I realized the great results I had, I jumped on the tumba. A little more struggle to set the second rod on the tumba, and I pulled the skin with vice grips a little tighter before trimming (resulting in a shallower set than the conga... lesson learned) but otherwise, same positive results.
