Cowskin Soak Time

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Cowskin Soak Time

Postby Kaban » Mon Dec 24, 2012 12:13 am

Greetings,

I have an observation, and I just wanted it verified by members who would know.

I mounted two cowskins on a Patato conga, and tumba. The conga skin was my first, and I soaked it for 8 hours; down the road I finally got enough money for another one for the tumba, this time around i only soaked it for almost 3 hours. I noticed that my conga skin is drier, smoother; the tumba skin is tacky to the touch, not smooth. The sound of the tumba skin a stronger fundamental pitch, a strong ring too, and tunes almost instantly (not much play). Is this due to the difference of soak time?

Godspeed,
Kaban
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Re: Cowskin Soak Time

Postby pcastag » Mon Dec 24, 2012 6:10 am

couple things, did you set the head corretly with the outer portion of the skin ( where the hair used to be) on the playing surface? Are you using the same supplier for skins? Usually over soaking will rob some of the natuaral oils, but it shouldn't cause the skin to drastically change.
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Re: Cowskin Soak Time

Postby bongosnotbombs » Mon Dec 24, 2012 8:38 pm

Best to soak the skins as little as possible. 2-4 hours depending on the thickness usually works for me. I find the longer they soak the thicker they get and harder to put on.
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Re: Cowskin Soak Time

Postby rhythmrhyme » Thu Dec 27, 2012 8:42 pm

In my experience every head needs to soak for a different amount of time, largely depending on thickness but also the type of beast it came from.

Personally, I believe that they need to at minimum soak 100% through so that when they're mounted the head is actually stretched and mounted under a decent amount of tension. Figuring out how to get the right amount of tension can take a few trials. If the head has turned white around too much around the edges, it's probably been stressed too much. However, some white is OK in my experience and it usually comes out with some oil and playing time. The heads I've had that were not stretched when mounted way never sounded quite right - kinda "boomy", not a lot of sustain. If the head looks like "andante" pasta i.e. has a slightly undercooked core, it won't stretch properly when mounted.

my 2 cents!

RR
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Re: Cowskin Soak Time

Postby Kaban » Fri Dec 28, 2012 7:38 am

Thank you, I got them from the same dealer, it was the correct side, but maybe it's my inexperience that cause the characteristics. Thank you for sharing your technics.
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Re: Cowskin Soak Time

Postby Marcus » Fri Jan 04, 2013 4:19 pm

rhythmrhyme,

Been thinking about your "al dente" advice since I read it and it really is a sound piece of information. There is a lot of finesse associated with reheading and I never quite knew the fine differences between under and over soaking a new head. Over soaking yes—been there, under soaking with white edges-heart breaking.

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Re: Cowskin Soak Time

Postby rhythmrhyme » Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:04 am

Glad to be of help.

I usually take a small cut off the edge of the skin to see how well it has soaked through - it can be less than 1/2 an inch in, just enough to get past the outer edge. The outer edge soaks up water laterally and looking at it to assess the "al dente - ness" of the head can be misleading.

After a number of trials I finally nailed the technique the first time with my LP Giovanni's. I put a set of heads from Moperc on them using the flesh hoops that I soaked out of the stock water buffalo heads. Not sure where Michelle sourced them from. Giovanni himself played, and signed, the drums for a show and workshop he did here. He was off his circuit, and didn't have his gear, so the organizer tracked me down. Throughout the workshop he kept turning a fella on tour with him and gesturing to the heads, giving them a thumbs up etc. We chatted briefly after the workshop while he signed the drums, he really liked the set up. I decided after that to just keep doing the exact same thing LOL.

It's the little adventures that make conga drumming interesting :D

RR
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Re: Cowskin Soak Time

Postby Kaban » Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:15 am

Hey, thanks for the experience and know how, check out the photos:

conga head, soaked for over 7 hours (the cut around the ring is white all the way around).

tumba head, soaked for under 3 hours (the cut around the ring shows some of the same color as on top of skin).
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conga head
kids 004.JPG
tumba head
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Re: Cowskin Soak Time

Postby rhythmrhyme » Sat Jan 05, 2013 5:58 pm

Hey Kaban,

Not sure if your last post was directed at me. When I referenced taking a cut off the edge of the skin I meant when it's soaking as a means of determining if the head has soaked through yet. The Al Dente reference is not to heads once they've dried, but to how the edge looks while they're soaking.

Also, when referencing "white" we're talking about white appearing around the bearing edge of the drum i.e. where you play it on the rim. In your pictures neither of your heads show stress marks on the bearing edge. The white marks on the bearing edge are an indication the head has been stressed too much while wet and being mounted i.e. pulled too tight. A bit of white is OK, as it comes out with oil and playing, but too much may be hard on the head.

I had a quinto once that was mounted too high and didn't seem to have had enough tension on it while being mounted (it was drooping a bit near the bearing edge). I put a wet towel on top of it for several hours and then tuned it way up - some board members are certainly going to cringe at this idea. However, it changed the playing dynamic of the head and ever since then it has sounded 100% better, likely because I was finally able to pull out the droop. In order to avoid droop check the drum every few hours while it's drying and keep the lugs under tension, just a bit beyond "hand tight". I usually mount the head a bit higher than I like to play on to give room for the adjustments.


RR
Last edited by rhythmrhyme on Sat Jan 05, 2013 11:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Cowskin Soak Time

Postby Kaban » Sat Jan 05, 2013 7:20 pm

RR,

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I have one more drum to mount, hopefully before the end of the month, I going to try something different.

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