Mounted mediterranean mule = magnificent!

[bongosnotbombs]

Looks almost exactly like the skin I got on my Isla. I'm going to have to ask Mario about it
now.

[Mike]

Good morning everybody!
I mounted the skins last night and....

Wow - I got a FAT smile in my face when I played them...
Cannot put it into words. They sound even better than before the oil cure (cf. what I wrote then!)
The little overtones that were still left have given way to an overall deep and round Mongo-like vintage sound

Now this project is finished, and I am a happy man.
Thank you very much again, El Greco, for your incredible skins and the friendly and helpful support.
And fat thanks to everyone here for their feedback!

Now it´s time to play and play...

Feliz Navidad a todos!

Mule-maniac Mike

[Mike]

Here are some more pics, taken with flash on,
so that you can see the beauty of the skins a little better.

Unfortunately my dig-cam is a bit out of order, sorry about that.
But I hope I could give you an impression at least.

Otherwise - plan your next trip to Germany and you are more than welcome
to play those babes too

My best wishes to everyone
Mike

[ABAKUA]

Good stuff bro, they certainly look the part.

[ABAKUA]

I am gathering skin requests for several congueros here and will be looking to place an order shortly, after playing or hearing my conga (I dont use a quinto in my playing) they are in love with the sound definition, clarity and projection this drum produces thanks to the mule skin on it.

Here's a few shots of mine..

[Mike]

Merry Christmas, Abakua!

And very nice mule skin on your Giovanni conga!
Where are they from?
Australian mule?

Best wishes for a happy new year
by
Mike

[MangoMangue]

Olive Oil is ultimatley a food product, with a shelf life before it goes rancid.
Any overdoing of it or any oils will leave a long lasting rancourous odor.
It sounds like a lot of sales pitch hype - ie' "ancient family secret" not withstanding.
Mongo, Tata Guines or the greats never used Olive oil....the natural oils
of our hands ought to do the trick. If a skin is good it needs no additional help,
except good hand technique. ...Synthetic heads sound fine with good hand technique
as well.

MangoMangue

[Mike]

Olive Oil is ultimatley a food product, with a shelf life before it goes rancid.
Any overdoing of it or any oils will leave a long lasting rancourous odor.
It sounds like a lot of sales pitch hype - ie' "ancient family secret" not withstanding.
Mongo, Tata Guines or the greats never used Olive oil....the natural oils
of our hands ought to do the trick. If a skin is good it needs no additional help,
except good hand technique. ...Synthetic heads sound fine with good hand technique
as well.

MangoMangue,
Anything in life can be seen from more than just one perspective.

Apart from that, there was no palm oil within my reach - I am European after all

That is also why I chose olive oil. And as long as you wipe the excess oil completely off the skin,
there should be no problem with rancid skins.

And as to oiling skins or not in general: THere have been endless discussions on this
matter on this forum and elsewhere - so I think it will lead nowhere to discuss this topic to death here.
The only I would definitely disagree with is that El Greco uses any "sales tricks" - that would do his
professionality and personal integrity a complete injustice!

Regards
Mike

[Mike]

Just to clarify things again,
I used olive oil for El Grecos oiling method, yes,
but I did so knowing that he advised me to use palm oil.
As I said, there was no palm oil in reach for me, so I got the
best food oil I could get.

On the other hand it turned out just fine, more than that,
those congas sound just G.R.E.A.T., period.

To me that is more important than any small-minded pestering
about allegedly indecent business practices , MangoMangue.
I think you would better think twice before claiming anything indecent
about one of the best suppliers of mule skins on this planet!

Let music be music...

Mike

[bongosnotbombs]

Mike you will have no problem with the olive oil going "rancid", unless you try and eat your
skin after a year. It does not start to smell bad, just tastes bad.
When olive oil goes bad it just means you can't eat it, you can still use it for soap, lamp oil,
body oil, etc.
Olive oil has a lot of uses besides food. I think you will have no problems at all.

[seisporocho1]

For the record,
I bought El Greco's mules and did the olive oil treatment. I live in miami and have plenty of Palm Oil (Manteca de Corojo) but I decided to try the oil because I had never heard of it and thought it was interesting. I was skeptical and didn't know what would happen. In the end, the skin looked better and the sound was unaffected.
Comparing it to Palm Oil (which is what I always used), I thought the oil penetrated it better and gave it a richer color.
It's been months and no smells of any kind.
So, conclusion ... Olive oil is fine and really works. I'm thinking of doing to all my skins!

peace

[congamyk]

This is a great thread, I've been following it along.

BNB, do you have any recent photos of your new Isla requinto?
Has the skin "leveled" out yet?

[bongosnotbombs]

Congamyk, No recent photos, but the skin has totally leveled out, the photo
of my drum you posted was taken when the drum was 100% untuned, and just delivered,
the lugs were just hanging there.

Sorry for the threadjack Mike, but I was just talking to Mario from Isla percussions, about the oil
a few hours ago. I forgot to ask what kind he uses, but he definitely soaks
them in oil after the water. He was talking about mule skins too, how they look
kind of dry. I think I just might oil up the mule I got on a bongo hembra.

Hey, Mike, how are your ears lately?

[Mike]

Hey, Mike, how are your ears lately?

Thanks, better. I play with plugs when I play congas for more than one hour.
It is definitely a slow process recovering - if recovering at all...

No problem about threadjacking, Geordie. It is about decent skins after all
I am sure you are enjoying your little Isla baby very much..
6 8,
the olive oil provides a very rich colour of the mule skins indeed.

Regards to everyone

Mike

[AlexV]

Hello all. Was wondering if anyone has experience using vitamin e oil on your skins. I've been using 4,000 iu vitamin e on my skins for a couple months now and it works really well too. It smells almost exactly like the palm oil I have except it's clear. It did wonders for my mule skin in a day or two.