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I have these old Star bongos and I want to tuck a new head onto the metal flesh ring. I've tucked conga heads but I've not done one of these.....it's sewn around the metal ring. Has anyone here replaced a bongo head and stitched it ....and what is the best way to tackle this?

Years back I had a Ludwing set of bongos
and when I replaced and mounted the heads
I just did it the traditional way, tucked heads.
I did not stitched anything.

Ya - that's what I thought. The heads are thin enough to easily wrap around the very thin metal flesh hoop. The stitching looks factory - thread of some kind = white - and it looks like it help to hold the hide in place until seated and then the hide was trimmed close to the treaded area. I'll give it a try without the thread. Just thought I'd ask in case there was a 'special' way to do these thin headed bongos with the tiny metal flesh-hoops.

Gary

Kona wrote:Just thought I'd ask in case there was a 'special' way to do these thin headed bongos with the tiny metal flesh-hoops.

Thin heads, you hit the nail right on the head.
It should be a fairly easy job to mount the heads.
Good luck.

Are you really sure that you actually want to play that bongó, Kona?
As far as I am concerned, it is the type I would not like to play due to questionable build quality
( sharp-edged rims, weak tuning meachanism etc.)
I just wondered if reskinning is really useful for reasons other than nostalgia.
No offence meant, but to that bongó looks like the typical drumset player´s
instrument who like the same tuning wrench for all his drums....

No offense, give that bongo to a child and buy a decent one.

I'm just now getting to the job of putting a new head on the drum. Yes, the drum is mostly for nostalgia/history etc. I have expensive bongos and I do know the difference. The finish is cheap too but man does it sparkle! I have many sparkle kit drums that cost $1000's and this little guy lights up the room and holds its own in the sparkle department.
I'd love to get it up and running and be able to play it a bit. Or I might just use it for a Christmas decoration. Either way, it would be nice to breath new life into it. Every drum is great in my view...from the lowly cheaply made to the very expensive. I've rescued a few neglected drums over the years and it feels good to do that. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I love all my drums...they're pretty darn

Cheers,
Gary

I got the head on without sewing it. I used a bit of crazy glue - it seems to be working. I will let it dry and trim it.

As far as sound goes in a drum I found that the bearing edges (hoops too)/ heads and thickness of wood make the critical difference in a drum. All things being equal - shell (wood) thickness and size...it's the edges, hoops, heads - and tuning [/b[b]] of course - that make the most difference a drums sound. The average person would not be able to tell the difference between Maple and most any other wood....given the drum has the same edges/hoops/thickness of wood (plys) and heads. IMHO and experience.

These little inexpensive cheaply made bongo drums sound pretty good and the party folks I hang with would not know the difference between these and a high quality drum.....they just want to dance

This is something like a 1960s kit drummers bongo.
Nothing serious though... Yeah, for party folks that might be alright.
What a shame it sits on those very pretty and decent Valjes.

Mike wrote:What a shame it sits on those very pretty and decent Valjes.

What do you mean "what a shame"? I have a drum with with 6 drum kits and dozens of other drums and congas, bongos and timbales. I set them there for a quick photo op...nothing more.

Thats what Ringo played - he ain't no slouch. I've fixed up a lot of those over the years. They are fun to play. Ludwig has a lot of new/old-stock 6" & 8" plastic heads. Last time I bought some I believe they were $11 each. There are also some good quality Ludwig pre-mounted thin skin heads but they cost a lot more. 6 & 8 is a pretty standard size for that type of bongo.

Kona wrote:

Mike wrote:What a shame it sits on those very pretty and decent Valjes.

What do you mean "what a shame"? I have a drum with with 6 drum kits and dozens of other drums and congas, bongos and timbales. I set them there for a quick photo op...nothing more.

I meant that partly tongue-in-cheek.
It is only that this kind of bongó looks much
different to a "real" bongó to me.Just not
my pair of shoes.
In the classical department I have encountered
those bongo types with very sharp bearing edges, mostly
played by guys with sticks or even soft mallets as
they did not want to hurt their hands because they do not know
about the proper strokes in the first place...

Haven't heard em ... no opinion re: sound.

But the sparkle finish ... soooo retro and cool.

If they sound like overinflated basketballs they'd still have major cool mojo goin on.

Nostalgia is one thing... Practicality/usable is another.

I would destroy that bongo within the first song if I were playing it with one of my bands.

caballoballo wrote:No offense, give that bongo to a child and buy a decent one.

Agreed.

ABAKUA wrote:Nostalgia is one thing... Practicality/usable is another.

I would destroy that bongo within the first song if I were playing it with one of my bands.

caballoballo wrote:No offense, give that bongo to a child and buy a decent one.

Agreed.

Someone has to speak out the truth