Question on synthetic heads - Will Remo NuSkyn 7" fit my Afro bongos?

[Mike]

Hola bongoceros,

I´ve got a question. I would like to mount a synthetic head on my Afro Elite Bongos and I´m wondering which head by Remo will fit. With Conga syths I´ve heard there are sometimes problems.
My Bongo macho is 7", but will Remo NuSkyn 7" fit? ???
What about 6,75" or even other heads, e.g. Fiberskyn?

Any help and advice is deeply appreciated. Thanks!

[Mike]

Well, I kind of tried to help myself. I brwsed the REMO online catalogue and it said that the 7" Nuskyns and Fiberskyns as well fit to the PEARL ELITE bongos.
And I thought, man :;): is PEARL not somehow the same as previous AFRO ?
So I guess it should fit. But to make sure: Is there any out- and input from the sunny Sunday world out there?
Seems like everybody´s out barbecuing

[caballoballo]

Mike, Do not go for the Nuskin,the sound is very dull with lack of projection. Fyberskin is what I was using on my Bongos before I went back to natural skin. The crimp type Fyberskin will fit without any problems but if you decide to go for the new tucket version of the fyber,take your crown to the store to see if it fits.

[Mike]

Thanks, I will give Fiberskyn a try.
Apart from the sometimes problematic tonal qualitites I was also wondering if the synthetics are durable enough? I mean there´s a lot of pull and tension on the head...
But the advertisements (REMO etc.) always say they stay in tune and will stand the tension... ???

[caballoballo]

Mike , I have use them for a long period of time & only once they failed,was a really old one,may be the first one I bought. If you are going to use it on the Macho is no problem but for the Hembra I will not use it,a good thick natural skin will do a better job.

[zwar]

ho mike

i got nuskyn on my remo bongos, both hembra and macho.
the macho projects very good in medium and high pitch. hembra is ok if pitched high enough. advantage of the nuskyn is you have better effect when pressing with thumb and beat with other hand.
fiberskin and nuskyn both are strong enough, easily compare with thick natural skins.

greets

zwar

[Mike]

Hello Caballoballo and zwar!

Well, I´m going to use synthetic haed only on mache, because the natural skin on the 9" hembra is thick and sounds fantastic.

I´m still in two minds whether to put on fiberskyn or nuskyn. I got an article in STICKS (German drum magazine), that nuskyn would reduce higher tones and I interpret this as up to the point of deadening.... What I find is that a macho should project well and lively overtones are welcome - pretty much in opposite to what I like in congas :;):

So that sounds more like an argumentation towards fiberskynnies, because they do not seem to cut the overtones as much as nuskyns do...

All in all , caballoballo, your statement

Fyberskin is what I was using on my Bongos before I went back to natural skin.

makes me wonder a bit about the sense of my whole project.... ???
But there are quite a few good reasons, especially for the macho. The constant tuning and detuning of natural skins can get on your nerves!

Thanks for your input anyways!



Edited By Mike on 1177947312

[caballoballo]

Mike, You need to detune your Bongo Macho even while using a synthetic head,why,because the tension apply to the shell eventually will cause damage. Talking about going back to natural skin, the sound of the mule skin on a Macho shell is just something else (opentones, slaps, ect ) a lot better than the plastic sound. I have and old Valje which I use to rehearsal (don't care to much about him) that one has Fyberskin on both shells, now the ones I use to gig (Moperc & El Piernas) both have natural skins, only take a few turns to get the sound to the point of pleasing me. Sound acoustics varies from club to club so tunning is always different.

[bongosnotbombs]

X-ray film sounds better than the synthetic heads.
It is used extensively in Cuba!
I like it too, and x-ray is much cheaper..

[Mike]

You´re right, the best price for a 7" fiberskyn is 59,-€ here (which is ok i guess).
On the other hand: Having mounted a fiberskyn, you have got a spare hoop (or completely mounted skin) as a reserve... and that might come in handy, I think.
I have no experience in mounting x-ray whatsoever.
These days doctors do the MRT thing so you don´t get anything for bongos ...

Well, and sure: natural hide is always the real thing...
I wonder if Isaac has got mules for bongos, too.



Edited By Mike on 1178005936

[Thomas]

Hi Mike!
Yes, Isaac has mules for bongos as well.
On my LP gen2 I use mule on the hembra and nuskin on macho and on my meinls I use x-ray on macho and nuskyn on hembra (but I don't use them for gigs).
For my personal taste x-ray and fiberskyn for macho is too bright, so I prefer the nuskyns (but some time ago I played some jcr bongos with mules on them and they sounded great when cranked up very high). And on hembra I prefer the mellow sound of mule.
But as you can see, different players have different tastes, so in the end it depends on you!
The cheapest way for the macho is x-ray film, but a bit tricky to mount!
All the best,
Tom!

[Mike]

Hola bongoceros!

Tomorrow I´ll try to convince my local dealer to order both a fiber- and a nuskin for my macho so that I can try out which fits under the rim better.

Thanks for the numerous inputs, as a merely Trevor Salloum-trained bongo player I appreciate every useful advice.
(I swallowed his two books, Bongo playing and Beyond the basics, both of which I found highly useful)
Sadly enough, there aren´t many bongo teachers around here.... Not really...Neither conga or any other percussion teacher

[Mike]

WOW!
I´ve decided on a tucked Remo Fiberskyn for the macho and it´s fantastic. In high pitch it´s exactly the crisp tone I was looking for plus it really feels good on the hands. I also tried out the Nuskyn but the tone was a disappointing.
So I´ve got my first synthetic skin after all...

[caballoballo]

Vaya Mike, Glad that you found your prefered tone. I told you Nuskin was dull,I wasted about $70 dollars on a set ,result = same dissapointed sound, I still have them somewhere around the house. They may become handy to keep nuts & bolts while working on the car.