Requinto skin thickness: what´s your preference?

[Mike]

I would like to know which skin thickness you prefer on
a requinto (9.75 to 10").

I am in two minds if I should replace the 5.5mm thick mule skin
on my Delaporte, it is a thick skin, a bit hard to play, but yields good tone and slap.

Apart from skin type, what would be the other members´ preferences?

Thin, i.e. 2.5mm or even less
Medium appr.3mm
or
Thick?

[bongosnotbombs]

Depends a lot on your hands and who is going to play your drums. For myself I like 3mm or close to 3mm in cow, but a lot of people I play with don't have hands quite as strong as mine, so my requintos have thinner than that, but they still sound great. Actually I'm starting to lean towards thinner now for the sharper sounding slaps. I think the tendency towards the thicker skins is to muffle any ringing, none of my quinto drums ring at all so I'm liking slightly thinner skins that are on the medium side now too.

But I'm not a fan of mule, so I don't put that on any of my drums. Seems like mule on a quinto, you better have some strong hands.

[msb501clave]

I would like to know which skin thickness you prefer on
a requinto (9.75 to 10").

I am in two minds if I should replace the 5.5mm thick mule skin
on my Delaporte, it is a thick skin, a bit hard to play, but yields good tone and slap.

Apart from skin type, what would be the other members´option?

Thin, i.e. 2.5mm or even less
Medium appr.3mm
or
Thick?

5mm is crazy thick. almost 1/4 inch a 9 inch 10 inch drum @ 2.5-3mm is fine... some even choke with 3mm ( just under 1/8 inch)

[Mike]

Thanx so far, Geordie and Mike.

Yes I also find it inconsistent too have a requinto skin
that is almost twice as thick as a skin on a #2 or tumba...
So I am planning to install an almost 3mm thick skin
on that Delaporte requinto of mine which can take some high-pitch tuning for sure.
BTW it is a cow skin directly imported from Cuba by a fellow of mine, and
I am really looking forward to mounting that skin.
Presumably the tone will not be as choked as it is now, what would be quite nice.

[No.2-1820]

Here's a pic of my Matt Smith requinto, hopefully you can gauge the thickness from the photo. This is hands down the most successful union of a drum and a skin that I've experienced. This is a mule skin. I just always want to play this drum, nice deep open tones when tuned low, clear, cutting, bell like tones when tuned higher. When the rest of my drums find their perfect mate like this I will be a happy man !

Barrie

[Mike]

Yep, I guess the skin in that photo might well be around 2.5mm or slighty thicker,
which is just the perfect thing I believe.
I have only just mounted the nice dark Cuban cow skin on this lazy Sunday afternoon,
and I hope it will turn out to be right cuero for this superquinto. Thickness is appr. 3mm
maximum after drying.

N.B.: THese pics were taken before the final trimming.

[bongosnotbombs]

That's a heck of a skin there. Rough and funky. Let us know how it sounds.

[msb501clave]

ROUGH and funky indeed- A few things to watch as well. It no doubt had some added " breakdown" so just watch for anything yellow or green growing in that white spotty & grey patchy area... but i bet that thing will be a nice soft felling skin.

[Mike]

Haha, rough and funky, yes, as I said, a souvenir from Cuba...
It might some slight sanding when the skin has dried.
What do you mean by "added breakdown" Mike? Was there
some kind of weird treatment?
Hopefully it will be a nice and soft feeling, well-sounding skin indeed,
as it is not too thick and can resonate freely.
The previous owner obviously had liked the monster-thick skin.
The mule skins on my other Delaporte congas are awesome, not too thick
and they sound incredible.

[Mike]

Here is a little update of the diamond in the rough.
I sanded the skin a little and applied a thin layer of oil
in the warm sunshine afterwards.
The skin sounds and feels very nice now , the requinto
really sings, still a not too long sustain, i.e. hardly any ringing
without being choekd at all. A perfect complement not only
to the other Delaporte congas, but to my Gon Bops mahoganies as well.

[Ernesto Pediangco]

Depends a lot on your hands and who is going to play your drums. For myself I like 3mm or close to 3mm in cow, but a lot of people I play with don't have hands quite as strong as mine, so my requintos have thinner than that, but they still sound great. Actually I'm starting to lean towards thinner now for the sharper sounding slaps. I think the tendency towards the thicker skins is to muffle any ringing, none of my quinto drums ring at all so I'm liking slightly thinner skins that are on the medium side now too.

But I'm not a fan of mule, so I don't put that on any of my drums. Seems like mule on a quinto, you better have some strong hands.

I agree with bongonotbombs on this issue, let your hands be the judge on the ergonomics of how it feels and your ears judge the sound you like depending on your application to the music style & environment you are playing in. I prefer a 10" real quinto ( tuned 5 notes above my lead conga which is tuned to middle C on piano & the tumba at G below mid C. I can continue down scale at same interval when adding a deep tumba or re tune it all to be melodic rather than quinto a fifth above mid C. I like my drums able to cut through Salsa and other styles of music but sound very traditional in tone. ( Thinks of Mongo Santamaria & Ray Barretto drum tones ) The only plastic heads I like are the NuSkins from remo that are thicker & tucked onto skin wires like hides are ~ not thin heads glued into aluminium channel rims. Sadly most quintos are not built to withstand the high torque tensions of highly tuned quintos. If a hard ware design can handle true quinto tunings, then they should be fine on congas etc. Most hard wares out there are not well designed. they are simply looking like conga parts ! The same is true of quinto shells. Thin shells can self destruct / crack etc under the tension.

[No.2-1820]

"I like my drums able to cut through Salsa and other styles of music but sound very traditional in tone".

I've been trying to form that sentence for years.. Thanks !!!

Barrie

[lphoenix]

Glad I saw this post! This is an eye-opener for me, because I've never played a requinto with a thick skin, and I wouldn't want to either. Requinto for me is all about flying up and out above the drivers and it just must have extreme sharp slaps and hot bright tones or what exactly is the point? I'll have to keep this in mind as I'm looking for a used requinto (maybe new but not made in Thailand) and after my two-month-long experience putting a new head on a dumbek, I'd prefer to not re-skin a drum anytime soon!