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Hello, I recently acquired an older CP conga which has a split across the cowhide head and obviously needs to be replaced. Otherwise the drum is solid.

Im interested to try to mount a new head on this drum myself, rather than buying an off the shelf pre-formed head. Im interested to do this myself for varying reasons.

1. Id like to experiment using different head materials, starting with synthetic materials. (probably ending up with cowhide, bison or mule hide). The goal is to experiment with the different sounds.

2. It would be a good opportunityto learn to mount these different style heads.

3. Im struggling to find a guaranteed proper replacement head off the shelf. The drum measures 9.25" from center of bearing edge to center of bearing edge. A little smaller than ive been able to find available in a pre-formed head.

4. Im curious to see if i can save a few bucks doing it myself.

The drum has an ez soft strike style of rim, which pulls down against a steel ring which has the drum head material looped over it. The original head (cowhide) had wide stitching which held the hide in place on the ring.

Ive replaced a few heads over the years, but never one of these where the head is sewn around the ring. I imagine that most of the purpose of the stitching is to hold the loose/wet hide in place during the initial mounting process of the hide to the ring and pre-forming of the heads shape at the factory, and that the stitching really does not serve much purpose after the hide has dried around the ring and the ez rim is clamping against the hide. In my opinion, the dried cowhide is pretty stiff stuff and when dry it seems to conform around the ring pretty tight even with out stitching. Ill admit...I 'could' be under estimating the need for the stitching on a dried cowhide head assembly.

I imagine that there would be a trial and error process in where to apply stitching on a wet hide, considering i need to leave enough screw thread length on the lugs so that i can tension the head after it has dried.

If/when i attempt to mount synthetic material in this manner, will the act of poking the film with a needle during stitching cause the material to tear during tensioning? Or would a thin bead of hot melt glue from a glue gun work better in this case? Maybe i dont need to stitch/glue the synthetic film around the ring, considering im not wetting the material like i would a cowhide head? Maybe the ez rim will pinch the film around the ring good enough? Or would it slip when tensioned if i dont attach it?

Comments?

Any recommendations for a synthetic film to try? What material? What thickness? Where do i get it?

Sorry for all the questions. Inquisitive minds need to know!!!

Thanks.

The sewn on heads are an indication of a lame crown rim design that tends to warp from being to thin to begin with. This is not necessary to sew the head on. The head itself should be of sufficient & proper thickness to hold its moulded shape to the * Skin Wire . These entry level drums are not up to the demands of the tuning tensions. These are usually just a cheap version of a conga drum, looking like a conga drum but rather than designed w/ appropriate parts, they use the cheapest & lightest hard wares & uses the lowest grade of Bison heads which are not very good to begin with as the tearing of the heads makes obvious. The crown may be the weak link in mounting a new head. If it is not rigid & straight, it will not secure the head to the skin wire with enough bite to keep the herd from moving from its original molded shape on the skin wire. I suggest you tuck a head & then sell the drum set & up grade to a larger sizes of at least a 11" conga & 12" tumba ( true conga sizes, not these diminutive sizes ). I also recomend using a traditional rim instead of the thin metal comfort style ones. The cost of upgrading your small drums is not a good idea though. UPGRADE to REAL congas ! Save your self the frustration, time & cost of trying to fix a flawed designed drum.

Yes, now that you explain it in those terms, i can see why they feel a need to sew the head onto the ring.

So, there is really no use putting an effort (or the money for a piece of cowhide,) into this drum? Because the rim will deform and allow the head to slip?

Regarding the diminutive size and the perceived musical worth.

It seems that the trend is to play big deep congas.. while i love the sound of a big tumba, (ive got a 12" valje and an 11.5" matador) to mix in some higher pops from a requinto or 'ricardo' has a certain ear appeal.