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re-using skins

PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 8:10 pm
by blavonski
Hello peoples,

I was wondering what the general scuttlebutt is for recycling slightly used Conga skins to put on Bongos?

And if I were to do that, is it simply the same process of soaking the prefitted Conga skins in water for the appropriate time, and then mount them on the Bongó? Or, will soaking a prefitted skin do them damage?

I ask, because, I may have the chance to get a couple of LP Waterbuffallo Congas skins that were hardly used for very little dough, and I thought of maybe using one for the Hembra on my Bongó.

All thoughts and opinions on that issue are most welcome.

Good vibrations,
blavonski

Re: re-using skins

PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 8:56 pm
by Anonimo
POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

Re: re-using skins

PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:06 pm
by jorge
The nice thing about reusing conga skins on bongos is that the skin is usually really played out and sounds dead on the conga. This gives it a really nice dry sound on the bongo hembra without having to break it in on the bongo. Breaking in a conga skin on a bongo hembra can take many months or years because it is usually thicker than a normal bongo skin. If you use an almost new conga skin, you will have to break it in on the bongo and may have to put up with excessive overtones for quite a while before it sounds the way you like it. If they are cheap like you say, and you have the time and money, give it a shot, Skins are more art than science, so it is possible that those skins may sound great right away. Or not. A water buffalo died for those skins, so if you can find a way to not waste them, so much the better.

Re: re-using skins

PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 7:44 am
by Psych1
NO! Get a good goat and/or cow skin the right thickness and be done with this.

There are a lot of barely used LP water buffalo conga, and bongo, skins around for cheap and for good reasons.

Re: re-using skins

PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 11:05 am
by blavonski
Psych1 wrote:NO! Get a good goat and/or cow skin the right thickness and be done with this.

There are a lot of barely used LP water buffalo conga, and bongo, skins around for cheap and for good reasons.


Ok! My eyes and ears are open!

So, what would be the recomended right thicknes Goat=?/ Cow=? :?:


Muchos gracias,
BlaVonSkI

Re: re-using skins

PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 12:01 pm
by Anonimo
POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

Re: re-using skins

PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 1:26 pm
by Psych1
Agree with Leedy2 on the skin thickness.

Also agree with Jorge - don't waste the old LP buffalo skin. A good thing to do with them is soak the conga skin, remove the old skin ring for future use, roll the old skin up very tight and when dry give it to a dog - makes a great chew.

Re: re-using skins

PostPosted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:42 am
by blavonski
Thanks for your replys!

I play every day, except Sunday and as I mentioned previously to Mike, I'm gonna play these factory Marathon heads for another coupla months and see how they move. But due to them, especially the Hembra being so uneven, with fatty deposits in someplaces,(Photo in Previous post: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6851&p=67815#p67802), I'm eventually going to mount new skins. And according to Leedy's (I'm assuming all purpose 80 weight) paper calculation, that would be... 1mm for Macho and 1,5 for Hembra.

I didn't buy those Conga heads that I asked about and it's a good thing, because I don't have a dog, I don't even know any body with a dog, in spite of Berlin being the european city of dogs. But, I digress.

I'll be in touch when the complicated process of changing the skins is underway :shock: for, most likely, much needed advice.

Muchos Gracias,
Blavonski