Mounting Troubles

[deadhead]

So I'm trying to mount some new mule skin heads on my congas today. Note this is my first time mounting my own skins. I did the quinto no problem and it is drying at the moment. However, the conga is giving me a lot of trouble. I can't get more than 1 lug hooked, no matter how hard I try. I've tried 4 times this morning and my hands are covered in blisters from pushing on the rim so much. I let the skin soak over night, its probably been in the tub for 18 hours. What is my problem? Does it need to soak more? Does anyone have any tricks?

[zwar]

ho deadhead

probably you brought too much tension an the skin. i wonder how you manage to do so. normaly you can put the head on the drum, being fixed by thin ropes running across, over and under the skin. when you put the hoop on it, should be no problem to bring the upper edge of the hoop about 2cm under the upper edge of the shell. if it is not possible to hook in the lugs, take the screws off, hook them in, put the screws on again.
how did you do with the quinto?

hope my english was good enough to explain.

zwar

[deadhead]

Zwar, I see what your saying with too much tension, but no matter what I do I can get enough slack in the head. I got 2 lugs on 1 time, but there was a huge wrinkle in the skin and I had to loosen the lug to get the wrinkle out, and screwed it up. At first I thought my flesh hoop was too small because it wont go down far enough to grab the lugs. But if it was bigger the skin wouldn't fit under the rim, it already barely fits now. I dunno what to do, my hands are in agony.

[zwar]

ho deadhead

sounds like the skin is to small a diameter for your conga. for conga you need about 50cm diameter at minimum to mount the head somehow comfortable. if the skin is already finally cut for conga (being a skin already mounted on another drum, even if 12/50 or 13", for example), it is as good as impossible to remount it on 11,75. cant you put some foto on here? would help for diagnosis.

zwar

[onile]

Alafia Abures!
I hope that you are all well and abundantly blessed!

Abure Deadhead!
I wound up mounting a skin on my LP Patato Quinto (which I never use), I actually have mounted a thicker cowhide on it! I have a collections of heads that I've taken from my other congas after mounting "after market" skins on them.

"Remounting" an old skin is a tricky, but possible feat! Soaking it over night is recommended as you did, but of course you need to use a skin that is a bit larger than the one you removed from the drum, as Abure Zwar pointed out.

There are several posts on this forum which address the trials and successes of mounting skins from several of us. Abure Olsongo gave us a great technique which I've used and has helped me immensley!
here is a pic of his technique which I used when mounting new skins on my palladiums:

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... hnique.jpg

[onile]

Now when "cutting" the excess skin, here is what I use in order to keep from damaging the head:

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... e_Skin.jpg

[onile]

I do empathize with you brother Deadhead, yesterday I "re-mounted" a skin on my Patato Quinto:

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... o_Skin.JPG

[onile]

I'm not too happy with the end result, you see I don't like the "crown" so low from the playing surface and that's what I wound up with:

Oh well!
I just ordered another skin for this drum from Michel of Moperc, all of my Patatos have his skins on 'em, except this quinto which I recently acquired!



Edited By onile on 1174841346

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... to_Pic.JPG

[deadhead]

Onile, what is the string technique you are using there? I tried searching for other posts, but the search function is tricky.

[onile]

It's actually a technique which Abure Olsongo shared with us here on the forum:
You take a soaked skin, lay it on a flat surface; place the "hoop" (the inner ring) on it; then take some string and begin folding the skin inwards while encircling (tying it with the string) with the string (look at the foto and see how I did it); once you have tied it down to your satisfaction; place the "crown" on it, making sure that all of the ends of the skin come through; next place the skin/crown and all on the drum and begin securing it with the tension rods.

I know you mentioned that your hands are sore from the pushing down activity to mount the head, I'm afraid there's no getting away from that unless you allow for the crown to be mounted considerably lower to the playing surface. Another contributer might be the tension rods being used, they may be short which requires the crown to be lower.

I hope this helps with the "Olsongo" technique!

Suave!
Onile!

[taikonoatama]

So I'm trying to mount some new mule skin heads on my congas today. However, the conga is giving me a lot of trouble. I can't get more than 1 lug hooked, no matter how hard I try. Does anyone have any tricks?

Here's a trick I haven't seen anyone mention: use temporary extra longs tension rods/hooks.

Go to your hardware store and buy five or six 3/8" x 8 1/4" clothes line hooks - they're like eye-bolts but not closed - see the pics. About US $1.50 each, and oh so very worth it. Mount your skin as usual but with these extra long rods it's a whole lot easier to get enough thread through the side bracket loop/holes to screw on the nuts and keep the crown and head evenly centered on the drum. (I did somehow manage to mount the skin in the pic too low, though. Damn.) After the skin is mounted properly (still wet or dry), just take off the temporary tension rods/hooks and put your real ones back on and you're done.



Edited By taikonoatama on 1175214770

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... g_rods.jpg

[korman]

A newbie question - what's wrong with mounting the rim low? Isn't it easier to play that way?

[taikonoatama]

A newbie question - what's wrong with mounting the rim low? Isn't it easier to play that way?

One problem is that as time goes on the skin stretches and what might at the beginning be a suitable distance between the crown and the bearing edge becomes, a couple of years later, just way too much. Eventually the tension rods/hooks sit so low that there's no more thread for the nuts and that's when you start seeing that lame stacked washer look. So people generally mount the skin a bit higher than is really ideal, and then it stretches and settles in at a more comfortable distance before too long.

Some people claim that the closer the crown is to the bearing edge, the better the sound. You'll see this more in bongos, I think, but if you look at the Matthew Smiths in this thread you'll see it there - that's about the highest I've ever seen it on congas. I'd love to hear some of our expert's opinion on this. It's one thing to have the crowns riding a bit high at first, but those Matthews... really??? That's pretty extreme. I'm not sure great technique would save your hands here - one little, little miss-hit and...

What's the deal?



Edited By taikonoatama on 1174975444

[caballoballo]

Que pasa, do not know if could work on Congas but what I do on my Bongos when the skin is to far down is to soak it in water until is loose and the mount it again and pull it up with a pair of plyers. Do not take the crown off the skin so the shape of the skin is maintained. Then put the skin on your Conga hook the lugs,tighten a little and then pull the skin up,tight the lugs and cut the extra skin,let it dry.



Edited By caballoballo on 1174993511

[deadhead]

Here's a trick I haven't seen anyone mention: use temporary extra longs tension rods/hooks.

Go to your hardware store and buy five or six 3/8" x 8 1/4" clothes line hooks - they're like eye-bolts but not closed - see the pics. About US $1.50 each, and oh so very worth it. Mount your skin as usual but with these extra long rods it's a whole lot easier to get enough thread through the side bracket loop/holes to screw on the nuts and keep the crown and head evenly centered on the drum. (I did somehow manage to mount the skin in the pic too low, though. Damn.) After the skin is totally dry (I'm very partial now to someone's suggestion on this forum of drying it upside down on a flat, plastic sheet-covered floor - prevents the dreaded concave-head syndrome), just take off the temporary tension rods/hooks and put your real ones back on and you're done.

This is a great idea, I'll give it a try tonight. My quinto is now dry and sounds amazing, what an upgrade from the old Evans! Can't wait to get the conga up and running.