Hello all,

I would like to pick up on a couple of comments around the getting a sows ear to sound like a silk purse debate. There is a lot of good advice in the replies. I personally favour a fine sanding block if I am getting a friends bodhran to sound like a bodhran, as it allows you to sand right to the edge on the inside. A bit of card avoids any cosmetic damage. I also love watching their little faces crumple as I sand off their "genuine celtic knotwork" design from the playing surface!

Personally I have used all sorts of moisturiser on the skins. After all human skin, goat skin, all the same just a bit hairier. i have done this to a drum that I have owned for over 8 years with no ill effects evident.

What I would personally take issue with is that you have to play a drum in....

Moderator edit - this part of the thread on playing in has been moved - Paul

I thought I would share my experience with getting my el-cheapo walton drum to actually sound like something resembling a bodhran. The walton had a very stiff thick skin which sounded not much better than a pizza box. So while I'm saving up for a real drum i decided to try to make this p.o.s try to sound better so...

First I sanded the back of the drum in a circular motion with 200 grit sandpaper to get rid of most of the white pithy material (roughness). When I was sanding I stopped when I could run my hand over the back and it was mostly smooth and about the thickness of a piece of paper this took about 2hrs to get to this point. I then sanded with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper again in a circular motion to really smooth out the back another 1hr or so doing this. I ended up with the skin being considerably thinner and much smoother on the back the end result being that of mostly getting rid of the awful hand noise present before sanding. The sound was improved but still no-where near tolerable.

Second I applied 100% neatsfoot oil to the front of the drum. I found this oil at my local saddle shop. I liberally applied the oil to the drum let it sit for about 10 mins and then buffed it in with a rag. The result is the skin going from an opaque to mostly clear appearance and being a touch more flexible. The sound was improved and getting closer to sounding like a drum but still had the terrible resonance associated with these drums.

Third I applied contact cement to the front edge of the skin and let it sit for 15 minutes to dry as per instructions on the bottle. I carefully applied (3m 750) tape to the edge with the contact cement and then in about 2 inches onto the face of the drum to roughly a thickness of about 1mm. The sound was finally sounding like a drum I could learn on and I'am so looking forward to getting a real drum.

Hope this helps

Gary

well, that's cleared things up then... only joking, i was given a cheap waltons bodhran which led me on to buy the brendan white i have now, i think i'll sand,oil,wet and tape the waltons to see what happens before i attempt anything with the b white, great thread guys cheers,
gerry.

Hi Glenn,

Great post. The methods you have suggested are great to enhance the sound of a cheap drum, any drum for that matter. i recently purchased a hedwitchak 40cm deep lite line and found the sound to be much much better than the cheap drums. hope you do in fact get a quality drum, they are worth the money. for the time being, if you still have the inexpensive drum i have found that adding a strap (when crossbar removed) to the frame allows for easier play especially when standing. The strap also looks cool. If interested in a strap, drill 2 small hole into the drum, directly across from one another, screw in 2 knobs, and apply a guitar strap. As for application of a skin treatment i have found than pure lanolin works great. I have tried using a skin lotion that has lanolin in it, big mistake. It works great at first, but then you have to reapply it often which leads to caking. pure lanolin twice a year depending on climate works great. Also purchasing a guitar humidifier is very helpful. No need to water the skin prior to play, which prevents accidently over watering. I found this website to be very helpful. http://www.bodhranai.jackalpress.com

Happy Playing

Rich