skin and head suggestions

[jorge]

I have never used horse hide on a drum, but this does not sound right. RitmoBoricua, the skin you have may be big enough across to put on a tumbadora, but if it is thin enough to use for a bongo macho, it would be way too thin to use for a tumbadora. Likewise, if it is thick enough to use on a tumbadora, it would be way too thick for your bongo macho. How thick is it anyway?

[RitmoBoricua]

Jorge,

You are thinking rawhides' diameters and thickness in terms of tumbadoras and bongos. Now think in terms of Native-American drums. I bought the horse rawhide from a supplier that caters to those that make or play Native-American drums. The horse hide I bought has a diameter of 24 inches and the thickness is like the thickness on any LP water buffalo bongo head. I think the smallest diameter I saw for the horse hide round was like 20 or 22 inches. I got it at a real nice price too I knew I could not go wrong with it. I am just trying to figure out a way to get two bongo machos out of it.

[Anonimo]

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[Thomas Altmann]

I have a horse skin on my macho bongo for many years, and it's (still) a killer. Never got callouses from playing it. If you are correct, Cuco, then exceptions may testify to your rule.

By the way, didn't all the old timbales sets come with goat skins on a regular basis?

Greetings, Thomas

[niallgregory]

Skin are a hard call the best skins for drum are as follows
wooden conga drums cow hide
Fiberglass conga drums water buffalo or mule hides
bongo goat (chivo)
drums and timbales calf heads
what I have recommended is the best for proper sound all of these Ideas of horse skin, deer skin that does not produce proper sound .Plus when use of improper skins you develop calasis on hands ,blisters and all this happen do to you have a skin that is to thick because animal it came from and not right for drum.for a conga drum skin thickness shold be at lease 10-15 sheets of paper thick depending on size of drum. this will produce a proper sound. A thicker than that will cause pain in hands an other thing like calises and blisters .Tanning places will sell you any skin but many you have to look out for what you get.

This might be true of certain drums but it cant be considered a hard and fast rule across the board imo . i have a wooden conga with mule hide that sounds beautiful , i also have water buffalo on a fiber drum that i hate the sound off

[No.2-1820]

I'd agree, I have congas and bongo with all different combination's of skins, I feel at this point that there is a right skin out there for a particular drum and good luck to you finding it, I love the mule on my M.Smith quinto, the worn cow on my valje, the thin bleached cow on my timba bongos and the mules on my jcr bongos as well as the goat on my Jamaican kette drum, all different, all great in there own applications. I can't imagine having a blanket rule for all, it's been a fun journey finding just the right skin for each of them.

Barrie

[Anonimo]

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[Anonimo]

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[amaxs81]

Skin are a hard call the best skins for drum are as follows
wooden conga drums cow hide
Fiberglass conga drums water buffalo or mule hides
bongo goat (chivo)
drums and timbales calf heads
what I have recommended is the best for proper sound all of these Ideas of horse skin, deer skin that does not produce proper sound .Plus when use of improper skins you develop calasis on hands ,blisters and all this happen do to you have a skin that is to thick because animal it came from and not right for drum.for a conga drum skin thickness shold be at lease 10-15 sheets of paper thick depending on size of drum. this will produce a proper sound. A thicker than that will cause pain in hands an other thing like calises and blisters .Tanning places will sell you any skin but many you have to look out for what you get.

I would have to agree with you to some extent, and disagree with you on another. The "proper" sound is always depended on the context of the music being played. I don't think calf skin would sound "proper" in a modern musical setting, for drums or timbales. A drum set or timbal player would not want to place calf skin on his set unless the type of music he was playing specifically called for it. Calf skins produce a warm sound, in most modern applications that warmth would get eaten up by the electricity produced by the rest of the band. I would say the same thing goes for timbales as well. What if you're using timbales in a pop setting? Or a salsa band with a modern sound? The tone produced by the calf skin heads (while pleasing) would get lost sonically in the rest of the mix. I'm not referring to volume when I'm referencing the tone being lost, I'm referring to the warmth that would not "cut" through the rest of the band. Sure a microphone can amplify a warm sound to compete with the rest of the band, but more often than not all you have is more noise, as the sound is not controlled or contained enough to balance the rest of the sound on stage. I've heard wooden congas with buffalo skins sound amazing, I've also heard bongo's with synthetic heads sound amazing. Of course, the skins and heads chosen were the proper choice for the musicial situation. Very rarely do we find a "one size fits all" application. People have many sets of timbal, conga and bongo with different head combinations for that very reason.

[Anonimo]

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[amaxs81]

amaxs81
What you are saying is not true nor make sence years ago bands were bigger that what bands are today look at Tito Puente ,Machito,Tito Rodriguez ,Jose Curbelo and all these bands when the sat down to play those band swing the pance out of many band out there and at that time remo was not around with plastic heads .It was calf heads that was used you have to know what you talk about when you talk there were not many mics to improve sound it was pure gut.That era you had to have cojones to really play out there and I livee it and played that era . today if there is no mic they can't play 50 years ago no mic and no plastic heads. well I will finish later have to go

Hi Leedy, I understand where you are coming from. I'm quite certain that I do "know what I'm talking about before I talk." Trust me on this. I agree with most of what you are saying, all I am saying is that there are differenent needs for different purposes. Many times the old school players want to stick to their way of playing and their ideas of how music should be created. Please, everything changes and evolves. Remo came around and provided a great product for players who preferred a differnet sound or had a different need. What is good for one is not always good for another. What you prefer may not always be what someone else prefers. Drum set players aren't just playing in big band combos, they may be playing in a rock and roll band, or in a funk group. They're sound must adapt to all that. Same for timbal players. I know great timbal players who frequently play at clubs with DJ's. They're usually not miked, sorry...Calf skin couldn't compete with a club sound system. Please don't assume that others do not "know what they are talking about." Many of us are knowledgeable in many different things. For you, the proper sound will be from a set of specific era's and or genre's. Unfortunately that is not all encompassing in a musical sense.

[buckoh]

I kind of think I'll go with Leedy's recommendation og goat for the macho. On a recent post Mike showed his macho with white goat. I haven't found any sites that sell what I'm looking for. Leedy, do you have any suggestions as to where and what to buy? I like your measuring system of numbers of sheets of paper for thickness. How many sheets for my new macho? Thanks, Buck

[niallgregory]

amaxs81
What you are saying is not true nor make sence years ago bands were bigger that what bands are today look at Tito Puente ,Machito,Tito Rodriguez ,Jose Curbelo and all these bands when the sat down to play those band swing the pance out of many band out there and at that time remo was not around with plastic heads .It was calf heads that was used you have to know what you talk about when you talk there were not many mics to improve sound it was pure gut.That era you had to have cojones to really play out there and I livee it and played that era . today if there is no mic they can't play 50 years ago no mic and no plastic heads. well I will finish later have to go

Its called having an opinion .Things change and move on , theres no hard rules as to what sounds % 100 the best. We are all experienced in our own different ways depending on types of instruments and styles of music .This forum has always been about our own opinions and experiences , you obviously have lots of experience but theres no need to talk down to people like no one else knows what there talking about .There are lots of different points of view on here .Thats the beauty of the place afterall .

[Psych1]

I kind of think I'll go with Leedy's recommendation og goat for the macho. On a recent post Mike showed his macho with white goat. I haven't found any sites that sell what I'm looking for. Leedy, do you have any suggestions as to where and what to buy? I like your measuring system of numbers of sheets of paper for thickness. How many sheets for my new macho? Thanks, Buck

We are waiting to hear back from Mike as to how he likes that goat skin. I really like the sound of goat skin on the bongo macho. You can get a high "pop" like the best of the plastics. I started using it because where I live it is plentiful and very cheap. but, in my experience, it takes more care and doesn't last. I have congas and bongos with cow skins that have been on for 20-30 years and still sound great. I don't think you can get much more than a year out of a thin goat skin if you play it a lot. They are very sensitive to temperature and if you forget to detune - forget about the skin. You do get a lot of good experience putting on new heads - gets you closer to the drum.

[Mike]

We are waiting to hear back from Mike as to how he likes that goat skin. I really like the sound of goat skin on the bongo macho. You can get a high "pop" like the best of the plastics. I started using it because where I live it is plentiful and very cheap.

Here I am coming out of the woods
As I already said in the thread about my Raúl bongó viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5404&hilit=raul+bongo:
The goat skin is awesome on macho, I would not have thought
that it comes out so well. I recorded the bongó for fun,
and the bongo sound really is like on old Mongo recordings and the like.
VERY crisp, this goat skin, and the mule on hembra gives a fine thud as well.

And I might add:
My goat skins came from here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Two-New-12-Dia-Natu ... 439f346e6b
They are very fine, quite unlike the picture at ebay.
Very affordable too. Now I have a spare skin in case
the macho skin rips.
I am very anxious about detuning after playing.

As to the Gon Bops: I am a happy camper with cow skin on them. True sound.