reskining conga head - help

[bingobongo]

Hi all

I am in the process of replacing the factory heads of my Meinl Pro congas with mule skins, however I think there is a problem with the flesh hoop from the original head. The flesh hoop apears to perfectly round but it does not fit right into the grove of the comfort curve rim. Does anyone know if this is normal or do I have a problem ???

I have had the mule skins soaking for about 2 hours so I have about 4 - 5 hours before I need to mount the head.

I hope someone out there can help me before my time runs out.

Thanks

[gilbert]

last week i replaced the skin of my Meinl Mongo santamaria special edition with a mule skin

the flesh hoop didnt exactly fit into the rim but that didnt make a problem for me

but it took me two muscled guys to help me attach all the lugs to the rim

be sure to get someone to help you

[bingobongo]

Thanks for the fast reply Gilbert.

I've never done this before and I think i'm a little nervous something could go wrong. I don't know about the 'muscled guys' ??? but I managed to persuade the wife to lend a hand.

[jorge]

If the original skin fit using the same flesh hoop, it should fit with the new skin, assuming the skin thickness is not massively different. For muleskin, Cali recommends soaking in COLD water overnight, you might need to wait a little longer than you expected.

[bingobongo]

If the original skin fit using the same flesh hoop, it should fit with the new skin, assuming the skin thickness is not massively different. For muleskin, Cali recommends soaking in COLD water overnight, you might need to wait a little longer than you expected.

Hi jorge

Yes the original skin, which was buffalo, fit the rim fine and there's not much difference in thickness between the old and the new. The skins have been in cold water now for 4 hours - how much longer do you think they will need?

[jorge]

Oversoaking by a few hours is better than undersoaking. It is hard to give you an exact time to soak, it depends on the thickness and density of the skin, thicker and heavier skins take more time. The skin should be soft and very flexible before you mount it. Cali of JCR Percussion, who has a lot of experience with mule, recommends soaking mule overnight in cold water, so I would say about another 3-6 hours would be good, depending on when the skin feels soft enough to mount. It will double or triple in thickness and become more opaque as it soaks. Don't worry, the thickness will reduce almost back to the original thickness as the skin dries.
I notice you are in Edinburgh, if it gets too late to mount it tonight but the skin is soaked enough, you can take it out and put it wet into a plastic garbage bag until tomorrow morning. That may keep some of the minerals and fats from leaching out, which could happen if you left it soaking for 16+ hours.

[bingobongo]

Thanks again for the advise Jorge

I actualy bought the skins from Isaac who's the sales rep at JCR and he gave me the link to the congahead.com site where there is an video clip of a guy mounting a skin on a conga from scratch - very useful.

The skin is already quite flexible so I'm hoping I'll get it done tonight. Wish me luck!

[bingobongo]

I managed to mount the skin but I nicked the head while removing the excess skin - aaaaaaaaaarrrrhhhhh!!! :angry:

I think the head may be ruined but I've attached a photo to see what you think. Is there anything I could do to save the head ?

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... -conga.jpg

[bingobongo]

The cut in the above picture is about 7mm long.

[Sakuntu]

Sorry about the nick! I can relate! What I would do is get some Crazy Glue and make a good sized bead over the outside of the nick. Let it dry hard and then take the head off and put a bead on the inside. Then remount the head.

If you're concerned about the head not sitting right when you remount, turn it upside down, put about 1/4 inch of cold water in it to soak the top part of the head (don't let the water get up to the nick in the collar) After it get's soft, empty out the water and rehead the drum. You might as well get some play out of that mule skin, being that you paid for it. The crazy glue bead is the best I could come up with and its worked well for me in these situations. Best of luck!

[bingobongo]

Hi Sakuntu thanks for replying. What it crazy glue, we have super glue in the UK of fixing broken ceramics, plastics ect - is it the same stuff?

If I do this how much life can I expect to get out of the head?

[jorge]

That is a bad place to nick the skin, the highest tension area. On the other hand, muleskin is very strong and it might be fine and never rip in that spot. There is no sense throwing the skin away now. I would try to fix the nick, reinforce it to minimize the chance that it will rip. The bad news is it will add a couple of extra days before you can play the drum. There is still a small possibility that it may rip in that spot when tuned up real high, although it doesn't look like a quinto in the picture. You need to do this carefully, and I would not recommend Krazy Glue, but rather epoxy glue which is much stronger and less brittle, at the price of slow curing.

Let the skin dry thoroughly on the drum as you normally would, it will definitely not rip through while drying, just don't tune it up high until you reinforce it. You can tighten the skin one turn on each lug every day as it dries, but it should not turn opaque white around the sides, if it does, you are tightening it too much.

Once the head is thoroughly dry, carefully tune up the skin A LITTLE so the skin is under some tension, and rough up inside of the nick and around the edges with a small file or knife to expose the fibers of the skin. Usually the cut edges of the skin all around the head will pull down a bit and expose the nick more than it is in the picture now. Wash the nick out and degrease it a few times with lacquer thinner (not paint thinner, which has turpentine-like oils in it) or with alcohol to make sure it has no fat left in that part of the skin, and let it dry.

Get the strongest epoxy glue you can find (generally the slow cure type, not the 5 minute stuff), and mix up a small amount, measuring carefully and stirring throughly. Apply it with a hard small object, scraping it into the nick, and let it soak in. Fill the nick and extend the glue a couple of millimeters outside the edges, and lay the drum down in a position so the nick is horizontal and the glue will sit inside it and not run out. Let the epoxy cure for a couple of days in a warm room (70 - 80 degrees F), or shine an incandescent light bulb at it a few inches away. The curing rate is much faster when warm. If it is a quinto, you can also reinforce the inside by taking the skin off the drum, sanding the area of the nick on the inside, cleaning and degreasing it, and applying epoxy glue making a circle about 1.5 cm diameter. This will add a couple of days to the repair time, and probably is not necessary unless you like to take the drum up real high or often play in humid places.

This reinforcement will most likely make the nick stronger than the original muleskin, and will last the life of the head, as long as it would have otherwise lasted.

When you mount skins in the future, either cut the skin with the knife inside aiming out away from the center of the head, or hold a piece of metal or plastic between the knife and the skin to protect the vulnerable part that bears the tension of the skin. Be very careful, 10 extra minutes cutting the skin can save you a few hours or days in the long run.

Good luck, let us know how it works out.

[bingobongo]

Thank you so much for your advice and support guys.

You're right Jorge its not a quinto but a conga in the picture, so with your instructions I should be able to save the head.

I will definatly not make the same mistake with the tumba.

I'll keep you posted with my progress.

Thanks a million.

[jorge]

Probably we have all cut at least one skin like you did. Some of us have even done it more than once! You might try using a box cutter, with only about 3 or 4 mm of blade showing, holding the body of the cutter against the rim as you go around the drum. As you cut, stretch the extra skin over the rim, away from the center of the drum, so there is no way the blade will reach the part of the skin you nicked. Don't be surprised if you need to replace the blade a few times for a single skin, mule can be really tough and wears razor blades out fast.



Edited By jorge on 1160261735

[Isaac]

I seen some nicks like yours before. It's so low down the way
you mounted it, it may not be an issue. The glue patch can
help. I'm sure the sound will not be compromised.

Next time I would recommend not pulling the skin
down so far. With the rim a bit higher up you'll
find that it is actually less danger to your wrist, being farther
up and away from the wrist altogether.
Also helps the sound. This is the method
used by the Late Junior Tirado, Jay Bereck,
Caly Rivera and Matthew Smith. Over time
you'll have a bigger spread between rim and
playing surface as the skin is stretched
repeatedly.

In your case, the distance helped you
because the nick is so far down as far
as I could tell from the pic.
A skin usually takes a few months to break in
by playing it. Let me know how it sounds
then.

ISAAC