Deer rawhide

[Uber Jalemon]

Hello

I live near Montréal and I'm new to conga and djembe : beginner level. I have been lurking here a bit and this is my first post

Some hunter friends of mine learning of my new passion have decided to give me their deer skin for my drums. But I'm not sure wether they would be put to better use on a conga, djembe ? maybe for dunun? I'm told that once ready to use they would be more like thick to extra thick goat skin. What do you think ? Any experience with deer skin? Maybe I Should forget about using them as drum heads?

Thank you for your time

[zaragenca]

The Deer is categorically the family of the 'Chivo',(Goat)..it goes with the territory you just try it is not good,it was provited to you for free anyway.Dr. Zaragemca

[pavloconga]

Hey,
Might be worth a try. In Ghana, West Africa they use antelope skin on the kpanlogo drums. Has a nice sound. Deer and antelope are related animals.

If the skin is thin - better for djembe.
If thick - try the conga.

Here in Australia some of the drummers have experimented with Kangaroo hide on djembe and dundun.

regards
Pavlo



Edited By pavloconga on 1191971895

[Uber Jalemon]

thank you

[Sakuntu]

Uber, Check this past thread out about deer hide

http://www.congaplace.com/cgi-bin....er+skin

[Uber Jalemon]

Uber, Check this past thread out about deer hide

http://www.congaplace.com/cgi-bin....er+skin

thank you Sakuntu, it look promising for the djembe.

[zwar]

ho

i put deerhide on two drums years ago. the sound was quite good, but it was stretching more and more with the time. put them off again after a year or so.
antilopeskin is different. better, tougher...

but if its for free...try

would be nice for me to hear about the results. i am not really shure about deer, since i have no propper explanation for this stretching phenomena.

zwar

[Isaac]

Deer can sound very nice but it doesn't last long
on a drum. Its used in Native American skinned frame drums,
especially in a religious context. It's played with a mallet.
They also use Elk, Horse, Cow, Deer, & Buffalo.
This is all for their scared music.

I've had a supply of Deer I brough from Canada and they sounded very nice on
a bongo Macho, but after only a few good playing sessions
it's already spent - usually 3 - 5 months. Bongos are such high
tension & pitch compared to the frame drums.

Antelope is a completely different & unique sound
- denser, stronger and very dry sound - perhaps the dryest.
It would make for a very crispy sounding Macho bongo.
I had an antelope hide macho once and it was great for
Domican Bachata.
Tuned looser its oftern used on Ghanaian drums
and parts of east africa. They use Ibex also.
Ibex is like a small but tough moutain antelope that live in the east african
highlands and up into the Judean desert near the Dead Sea -
geographically speaking, a continuation of the Rift Valley.

The reason north american deer is not suitable for most latin drums
is that it's extremely stretchy and soft. It's the #1 characteristic of deer.
That is why deer skin is used as parchment for writing on.
A small piece can be flattened and stretched unti it becomes
a larger writing surface. This is true since ancient times.

The Hebrew torah scrolls are handwritten on sewn together deer parchment. After the associated prayers, the animal must be killed in the humane ritual way by an ordained & surgically trained individual in order to be acceptable (kosher) for religious use.

Very similar I imagine to following the proper ritual in making bata drums
meant for sacred use.


~ ISAAC

[burke]

I know a guy who used deer on a bodhrán and yes indeed it was nice BUT as Issac says soft and stretchy. I think you'd need a stack of them for frequent replacement.

Darrell

[burke]

PS.
Uber - have you checked out "Drum Bazar" in Montreal?
I had a layover in Montreal going from DC to Nova Scotia (thanks to Amtrak's Crappy service) and went to the store. They had the usual crap but also had Matadors and Moperc's - fair prices too (for retail)!