by Chtimulato » Tue Oct 17, 2017 10:20 am
Hi. The answer can vary... Depends on how you play, how you tune / detune your drums, where you live (dry or damp climate), where you store the drums, and how you treat them...
Some djembe players have to replace the skin every 6 months. Some make them last two years.
FYI, I got an LP Valje bongó I bought in 1988, and the hembra still has the original skin, whereas I changed the macho skin at least 5 or 6 times. And the only skin that ever ripped for me in some 35 years music playing was precisely the macho skin of this drum, but not because of me : I had to pick up someone before a gig we did in a bar, where we allready had prepared the instruments, and as I came back,the skin was ripped, and nobody knew anything, nor had seen anything. And it's not a kind of sleeping beauty resting in some case, I play them regularly.
If you happen to rip a skin, maybe you have reached the tuning "point of no return" you seemed to be experimenting.
Just my two cents.
Have a nice day.