Best replacement skin for "macho"

[Isaac]

Hi Manny,

Your Macho Mule Skin is on the way...

ISAAC

[Isaac]

Thank You guys for
your appreciation and kind words.
I just want everyone's drums to sound as good
and authentic as possible. It's something I'm passionate about.
Sitting up close, watching and listening to Mongo's sound left an indelible
mark on me. Maybe one day I'll
snap out of it! (LOL) but I hope not.

~ ISAAC

[blango]

Traditionally, horse is used, and for the macho, it is the best type of skin, for my ear. I know of several pro's who use horse.

With all due respect to Cali and Isaac, who uses mule on their macho?

I dont know of a pro player who uses mule on his macho.

Tony

[caballoballo]

Blango the world pro derives from, a Profession is an occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences). Thinking that way I do have education or training in music from The Escuela libre de musica in P.R and from private instructors like Raul Berrios inventor of clave 3 & with Tito De Gracia one of the best Timbaleros worldwide. To me a pro player is one whos primary source of income comes from the music he plays or record. So I am not a pro player in that way because my profesion is working for the federal goverment as a Level 2 nondestructive inspection craftsman or more simple an Aircrtaft structural inspector, that is my primarily source of income not music. Down here in Puerto Rico we use Goat,Cow or Mule,the first time I heard about horse skin was at the Gonbops web page.


On the other side of the coin I have been playing since I was 14 years old now 49 & use mule or Cow on my Bongos, music is a part time for me, also I gig regurlarly with a Salsa band (giging tomorrow night ). Now, what is my qualification ? Newbie, amateur or pro. Or to you a pro is somebody who has been endorse by one of the mass producers and has to use the junk they make ?



Edited By caballoballo on 1187728754

[yambu321]

CABALLOBALLO,
THAT WAS VERY WELL PUT!

NOW ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS GET A REAL JOB,
BECAUSE (NDI'S) DON'T REALLY DO ANY WORK! HEHEHEHEHHE.
THEY JUST SHOW UP LIKE A WAITER, AND SAY: LIQUID DYE PENETRANT? EDDIE CURRENT, OR?
HEHEHE, IT'S COOL BRO, I'M JUST CLOWNING YOU.

I'M AN OLD SCHOOL AIRCRAFT MEACHANIC,
AND AS YOU ALREADY KNOW,
WE DO GET TO HAVE ALOT OF FUN! :p :laugh:

CHARLIE "EL COQUI" VERDEJO



Edited By yambu321 on 1187729370

[blango]

A pro to me is anyone who is regularly paid to play. I didnt mean to offend anyone. I was hoping to hear names of pro's we all know who use cow or mule on thier macho.

Nice to know what you use in PR. I bet when you try horse, you will like it.

Anthony Carillo and Orestes Vilato use horse, i know.... at least when i saw them play. (05, 07)

Mule, cow, horse are all fine, goat is not, but the post is 'what is best' for the macho. If mule is best, why dont players on the west coast use it more? that was my question. If there are top players on the east coast that are using mule or cow, id like to know. I just want to make sure we all get good information.

There are many people new to the tradition on this board, and id love for them to get helpful information, so they can then pass on the tradition to others.

Tony

[caballoballo]

Yambu,Aja ,asi que tu sabes. It all depends on the type of Aircfcraft that you work with, F15 have a lot of Radiography,F16 a lot of eddy current,and ultrasound, C130s has a littler of everything. Sometimes you busy sometimes you not. I was once in a Base where they had about 75 F15 & 16 plus the transient A/C.

May be I got too agresive on that post,I means no offense. I think anybody who has play in the pass or present and seat in a band ,conjunto or group to play is a pro in his own category. Una vez tuve un problema con un DJ Italiano que decia que sabia de salsa,le pregunté si el venia a dar clases a la casa del trompo. Este año tuve que pichar y cachear pues Trabaje en el Puerto Rico salsa congress como DJ y tambien toque con la banda la misma noche. El trabajo arduo tocando en los Clubes locales rindio su fruto esa noche. Enviame tu dirreccion pa' enviarte algo en vivo de la banda donde toco.



Edited By caballoballo on 1187730470

[Tonio]

Where does one get horse skin? From Charlies' post (or was that a personal call we had?)about the horse skin sounds interesting. But Charlie is now using mule?

Any time I have seen Anthony Carillo, he had LP w/ buffalo. I never had the chance to see Mongo in person w/ a bongo. Otherwise video, pictures are hard to tell. Sometimes I think its easier to tell by the sound.
Gio uses LP w/ buffalo too no?

T



Edited By Tonio on 1187736388

[109-1176549166]

Tonio,

Before I ordered my mule skin from Isaac, I inquired from the Gon Bops dealer I got my bongos from. The dealer owner called DW/Gon Bops and got back to me later. Guess what price DW/Gon Bops supposedly quoted him? $120!!! I don't easily get mad, but this is simply outrageous!!! No way will I ever pay that much for a friggin' bongo skin!!! :angry: :angry: :angry:



Edited By mjtuazon on 1187821519

[caballoballo]

Blango and other members of the forum. I like to apologize if I offended anybody on my reply. I guess the whole question was misunderstood. Tuazon,yes I agreed with you. With $120 you could buy a Matador Bongó in e-bay. Tomorrow I am taking the Moperc to Timbas del Valle so he can replace the Hembra head(steer) for a thick Cow skin, the steer skin is very old
and need to be replace,he got all the tools plus a whole bunch of skins to choose from.

Tonio,endorse players have to use the equipment supply by the companies including those type of skins.Down here I know a few endorse by Lp,they get free instruments but they have to use them as they come.

We as pros in our own category can buy whatever we want.

[Tonio]

Caballo, Yes I know that the in demand pro in limelight are endorsed. Sometimes to the point that the endorsing company thinks they own the musician.
I was questioning Blango about the horse skin-assumed as being flat not mounted. I never heard of getting horse skin until Gon Bops Ca started using them -much like yourself.
I will never buy another premounted skin. I prefer to mount them myself.

Manny-that is outrageous!! And I suppose its takes a month to get :angry:

T

[109-1176549166]

Hi Manny,

Your Macho Mule Skin is on the way...

ISAAC

Isaac,

Just got my JCR macho mule skin today! I got it within a very reasonable space of time. Many thanks!

I immediately took it out of the box and looked at it. It looks very promising already--soundwise and durability-wise. This will be my first attempt to installed unmounted skins. Not to worry, I have enough how-to emails available. And I'm quite handy with my hands.

I'll report to everyone how it goes and how it sounds.



Edited By mjtuazon on 1187821856

[Mike]

I can only say that mule is truly unique on macho as it provides the sound I have always been looking for.
Two thumbs up to Isaac!
Plus it´ll last long I guess (as long as you don´t leave it cranked up).
Martillo, slaps, open tones, finger smears, all is well with mule.

[buckoh]

I'd like to add a couple of cents worth here. There is no such thing as real lemon oil. It is mineral oil with lemon scent added. Think of how many lemon skins they would have to press to get the oil. It would be very expensive. Folks like to put it on furniture to clean it and "feed the finish". Unless its a non coelescing oil finish such as raw linseed oil, you can't feed it because a finish is a sealer. Therefore you are wiping a petroleum based product on that will evaporate and leave a film that will collect dust. When you reapply, you are dissolving the film and wiping away the old dirt and leaving a new film. Nothing wrong with that, just unnecessary. On furniture it will leave fingerprints. Stay away from Pledge or similar products due to the silicone in them . It will interfere with any refinishing or scratch repair. It probably won't hurt any heads. I've never used anything on bongos or congas. Regarding the muleskin heads, I had 2 on my bongos(20 year old Meinl top of the line rubberwood) and 2 on my congas, A 10 3/4 inch DelCielo and an 11 3/4 inch Meinl rubberwood Floattune (that belonged to Bill Summers). At first I liked them but after about 8 months I couldn't get the bongos to sound right. I tightned them waaay down but they wouldn't stay in tune. I finally went back to the Fiberskyns but the Macho just blew out. I'm now looking for some X-ray film. I used it before the Fibreskyn and liked it. Same problem on the DelCielo, so I went back to an LP 'Hand Picked 'steerhide that I mounted myself 4 years ago and its not as responsive as it used to be. These mules were mounted in August of '06. I don't know if its the high humidity here in eastern North Carolina or what. I didn't take it up with Issac because I don't think the skins were defective. I just got a Remo Jimmy Morales 11 inch conga w/Nuskyn and sat in with a funk /jazz band(http://www.bigricksoul.com) last Sat. using that as my quinto. They all liked it and it was alot easier on my hands.I'm thinking of selling my DelCielos (10", 10 3/4", & 12 1/2") and getting either Isla or Moperc, whichever is the sawn staved, not bent. Everybody on this forum speaks highly of them and they are pretty! Or, possibly some JCRs from Isaac, of course! He is a great guy and I look forward to meeting him and hearing him play. Buck

[bongosnotbombs]

I've got some x-ray film I have used for macho's, it works well, and is not hard to mount. I guess thats one advantage those Nuskyn whatevers have, premounted..

the x-ray will fit any size macho though, you have to mount it, easier to mount than skin..

Both Moperc and Isla's saw their conga staves, there are a couple threads in the
conga set section, can't go wrong with either, Mopercs have a more conventional hardware set up than Islas, both use different woods.

Moperc makes bongos Isla doesn'nt.

Saw some JCR's at class today, awesome!



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1189909887