Help With New Heads

[mangorockfish]

I want to replace the heads on my Meinl Pro series drums, quinto, conga, & tumba. I would love to put some of Isaac's mules on, but I don't know if this "funky white boy" is up to the task, so I was thinking maybe use Remos. So if I do, which ones would work on these drums best? You know that Meinls use an odd size head because of the crown size. Anyway, I just play here at home, but want to get the best heads for them in case I ever do get to play out. What do you guys reccomend ?Thanks.

[rhythmrhyme]

I want to replace the heads on my Meinl Pro series drums, quinto, conga, & tumba. I would love to put some of Isaac's mules on, but I don't know if this "funky white boy" is up to the task, so I was thinking maybe use Remos. So if I do, which ones would work on these drums best? You know that Meinls use an odd size head because of the crown size. Anyway, I just play here at home, but want to get the best heads for them in case I ever do get to play out. What do you guys reccomend ?Thanks.

Hey MRF, as one "funky white boy" to another, you can do it bro! For quite a while I thought it would be more difficult than it actually is so I paid others to put heads on, or went with manufactured products. The debate about synthetic vs natural heads aside, skinning congas is actually quite easy. Compared with the effort it takes to string up a djembe, it's a total breeze!! There are likely a few threads on this forum on how to do it. I found the most important part being setting the height of the crown - after the head dries it will pull down a bit, but not as much as you might think, and this also depends on the head. I believe the mule skins are pretty tough, so they may not pull down much at all. The rest is more common sense than art.

If you have 3 drums, just get 4 heads. Use one for practice. I redid a full set of giovani galaxy congas as my first project, but just started one at a time. Giovanni actually played them last year at a workshop and performance in Victoria (he was off his regular tour so he needed drums). He commented several times on the quality of the heads during the workshop, so I think I got it right!!

I just soaked the stock heads off the flesh hoops and reused them with the new heads. They worked fine for a medium weight application, but I wouldn't be pushing it too much with this strategy, nothing super thick.

Cheers,

RR

[mangorockfish]

Where can I get new flesh hoops and how do you measure them? I would like to keep the original heads for an emergency.

[Marcus]

Hey Mangorockfish,

Two items for you and the forum. First Drumskulls in Santa Cruz has the best rings because the welds are stronger. Sizes are pretty good as ordered; at least that was my experience. You want the strongest welds.

Second, I have always wondered about Mule skin on production congas versus the solid stave artisan congas. Shell and hardware strength must be a factor with the tough Mule skins. Do not know how to call that one. I guess you can detune after playing but that sorta means one can not just sit right down and start playing when inspired. I was hoping that other forum members could offer some factoids on this point.

Enjoy, Marcus

[CongaTick]

mfr.

I've done it once and found it akin to wrestling a wet alligator while drunk. However, I will tell you one thing that will make it a lot easier. Take my advice....no matter what anybody says....THIS IS A LOT EASIER IF YOU HAVE SOMEONE HELP YOU. Four hands are better than 2 on this project, white boy.

[mangorockfish]

Dammit 'Tick, you dowsed my dreams. I had myself thinking I could do it. Now I don't know. I may order an extra to practice with/

[CongaTick]

No man.... You gotta do it. I'm just sayin' ... alot easier if you have someone to help you out.

[rhythmrhyme]

No man.... You gotta do it. I'm just sayin' ... alot easier if you have someone to help you out.

It was a bit of a "right of passage" thing for me. If I'm honest with myself, the first one was a bit tricky. The hardest thing is the 30 seconds it takes between getting the first hook connected and getting the opposite one threaded. A second set of hands for this would be very helpful.

I watched a djembefola string up one of my djembe's prior to attempting my first conga. When he did my djembe he put a series of small cuts around the perimeter of the skin (opposite each other 12&6, 3&9 and in between). He then used string to tie the head around the flesh hoop and to get it centered in the part of the skin that he wanted on the playing surface of the drum (i.e. it wasn't centered exactly in the round but rather in what he thought was the best spot).

He then pulled the strings quite tight and tied them, placed the head on the drum and set up all the hardware etc. I found this strategy quite helpful when doing it on my own, it took allot of the "wrestling a slippery alligator" out of it. Once the crown is set up, and my 2 hooks are set in and ready to go, I then cut loose al the string (it's impossible to pull the head down without doing this first). After some practice I haven't needed to string them up anymore, but this strategy may help you control the process a bit when you first try it. I also keep a pair of pliers handy and pull out all of the wrinkles in the head once I have all the hook on with just a couple threads holding the nuts on. From there, wrench the crown down to a bit above where you want it to sit permanently, set it in a stand and throw an oscillating fan on it while rotating the drum in the air flow every few hours (the stand is so air circulates through the bottom and the fan cuts quite a bit of time off the initial drying phase but isn’t actually necessary, someone I know puts an incandescent light up inside the drum for a day or so - it provides a bit of warmth and speeds things up a bit as well - I haven't tried both but would if I had an old light on the right stand). Personally I obsess about the head for the next 2-3 days, making minor adjustments to the crown, ensuring no wrinkles emerge during the initial stage, keeping a slight amount of tension on the head etc. I don't know how important this part is, but the drums I've done turned out great.

Leave them for at least a week before playing and tuning, preferably in a low humidity and moderately warm room. Even if the head feels dry it will probably have moisture inside it if you don't wait, tuning a wet head will cause it to pull down too much and not hold it's tone once you do it. This is just my personal amateur experience, I’m sure there are some pro’s out there who could provide some critiques to the strategies I used.

Cheers,
RR