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Despite hours of effort, so far I am unable to mount a 1.5-2 cm thick (measured when dry) cowskin on the hembra of my LP fiberglass bongos. The bongos were made in 1993 and have the original comfort curve rims. The manufacture's replacement head is LP264A.

When the cowskin is soaked and pliable, it expands to about 3-3.5 cm thick. Given the clearance between the rim and the outer circumference of the hembra, my conclusion is that the head is just too thick and will not fit. On the other hand, perhaps I am failing to apply some technique that you more experienced hands can supply.

I love the sound of the cowskin on the hembra of my Gon Bops California series bongos. Perhaps I am wasting my time trying to mount a similar head on my LP fiberglass hembra. I welcome your comments and suggestions and thank you in advance.

Sounds like a really thick skin that may have been soaked a little too long.
I have a technique that might help you if the problem you are having is getting
that second lug in the rim loops, which always seems to be the hardest.

Get some wire and loop that around the rim loop. You can then put the lug into this loop of wire
you just made. Then you can tighten the lug and pull the rim down to get the remaining lugs into
place. Finally you can cut the wire and put the last lug in.

I have pictures in this thread.
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3227&hilit=new+technique

I hope you have some good pliers, because pulling that thick skin with the lugs in place is going
to be tough.

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Leedy2

Thank you for your reply to my post.

With all due respect to your opinion that only goat skin should be used on bongos ( of which I was aware from your other postings), my original post was not trying to spark a debate on which species of animal skin is best for bongos. I may not have communicated effectively the real intent of my post.

What I am trying to find out is whether the LP original comfort curve rims from the early 1990s (not the current Comfort Curve II rims) have such a close or tight tolerance with the drum shell that only an extremely thin skin will fit (regardless of what species of animal or synthetic material is used for the head). Even more helpful will be if someone on this forum knows that the skin must be less than so many millimeters or centimeters in thickness to fit an LP bongo with original comfort curve rims.

thanks

Craig

If you're having trouble pulling the skin through the rim once you have it centered on the counter hoop you can try lacing the skin on the counter hoop so that it's effectively tied on, going back and forth tie the skin by lacing the edges together in a cross wise pattern. then you can put the rim on the skin , cut the laces and start working the skin down to where you can connect the lugs to the hoop, cut and let dry. Here's some links to some pics of how folks do this. I would imagine once the skin dries it will fit fine.
PC

http://www.goatskins.com/rehead/soakhead.html

http://hawkdancing.com/Wooddrum/mountinghead.html

pcastag

very interesting! Thanks

Craig

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My understanding is that kip hide is a baby calf.
PC

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Not to take away from your credibility, but I've had lots of folks tell me that kip is young calf, just like slunk is from couw fetus. Here's a dictionary definition.

kip or kipskin 2 (kɪp, ˈkɪpˌskɪn)

— n
the hide of a young animal, esp a calf or lamb

[C16: from Middle Dutch kipp; related to Middle Low German kip, Old Norse kippa bundle]

kipskin or kipskin 2

— n

[C16: from Middle Dutch kipp; related to Middle Low German kip, Old Norse kippa bundle]

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So did you get the skin on yet?

The last time we tried that on LP Gen II's with traditional rims the skin ring wouldn't allow clearance. I'm not remembering this perfectly, but if I still had my welding machine (the welder is the guy standing next to the welding machine:-) I would have ran home, cut the ring and changed the size in a flash.

Problem solved!

Because of the conical shape of the bongo, the lower the head is mounted the more clearance there is between the rim and the drum. Accordingly, I mounted the head extremely low and, after the head was properly mounted all the way around, I started pulling the head and rim up to a proper playing position. As the head was losing moisture through the mounting process it was also getting thinner, helping me pull the rim up to a proper playing height. It was a lot of work and we will see how it turns out. I do think this particular head was too thick to mount at the proper playing height in the first instance.

I realize this particular technique will only work on conical shaped bongos, not on congas. The conga gets wider as you mount the head lower.

Thanks to everyone for sharing your knowledge and providing your suggestions. I have learned some valuable information.

Craig