by COL66 » Sun Nov 13, 2011 6:31 pm
Hi guys.
So this year I decided to learn Latin percussion, and now I'm in love with it! Bought cheap bongos, upgraded to LPs, then decided it was time for congas. I'm a student, so don't have much spare cash. Thus, I bought some used 2007 LP Aspire congas on Craigstlist for $100. They sounded great, but they were filthy. So I read articles, watched videos, etc on how to clean congas.
I thought it was pretty straight forward, so I removed both heads, cleaned everything with a slightly moist cloth, Immediately dried everything off with a dry cloth.
I put on the smaller head first and was pleased with the better sound I got from it. The cleansing really did improve the sound of the smaller drum.
Then I put on the larger head and now it sounds HORRIBLE! Has a horrible ring to it. The sound that comes from it and the sound after, resembles an an electric guitar or an electric bass... reminds me of the deep ringing sound that comes from the back of an old fridge.
So i went back to the internet to try to figure out my problem.
This is what I have tried so far based on what i found on the net.
1. moisturizing the heads with lotion... then..
2. used the string and t-shirt thing inside the drum. then...
3. decided to soak the head in water, as i thought maybe it wasn't sitting well on the drum. then...
4. putting tape on the head. then...
5. taping a piece of sponge to the head.
after all this, still nothing. That head just doesn't sound good any more.
The heads say LP Aspire on them, so i'm assuming they are the original heads. Meaning they are now almost 5 years old.
Any tips? i'm assuming the head went bad because I removed it.
Is it time for a new head? Any way to revive the current head? If i have to get new heads, what's most cost effective one? I know it's based on taste, so this is what I can tell you. I tried out synthetic heads and I hate the sound. So I want a complete opposite sound of a synthetic. I like deep tones with little if any after-ringing noise.
Thank you in advance!