It was me! I said it! But I do love my RWE. Thats why I have two drums - and RWE and a Brendan White. The two drums contrast each other significantly. The RWE with its Lambeg and the BW with its 'standard' skin. The RWE manages an incredible silky smooth bass, - and yes it get to the high pitches as much as any other drum - but that is down to hand technique. Where the two drums differ is that they are opposites. The BW has great attack and bite on the pops - and pops that sound great. But suffers in the bass department compared to the RWE. The RWE's pops are up there in pitch but are missing the attack and bite - they are dulled somewhat compared to the BW.

Would I change either - not a chance. But I do think the taping robs the RWE a little of what it might be capable of. And it is a very capable drum.

Its basically horses for courses. What makes me play one drum instead of another? simple - the sound I want to achieve. Ive just recorded a quick idea of a bouzouki melodic sequence - suddenly felt the need to put a drum on - I had the RWE to hand and wow. The bass end contributed to what turned out to be a real 'fusion' sound - with an incredible boom on the first beat of each bar which I never would have achieved with the BW.

The hardest thing about all this is knowing what you want - and I think to some extent not hoping to find everything in a single drum - as Rob says the skin softening is a question of point-of-compromise - and so much about the drum is that. Adding something in one place takes away from another.

The thing Ive taken from my recent experiences as a player is that the skin is a changeable thing. A new skin will never have the perfect sound - and there is much that can be done to change a skin's character even by us mere end-users (changing the taping, inserts under the skin, weighting on the skin, oil application etc...) depending on how brave you are!!

Wow this whole thread was great! I just bought a cheap rosewood drum for about $100...I was told to use dubbin and to spray the inside of the drum. As for the electrical tape where exactly does that get placed? Any comments on the Remo Brian Howard drum?

Yes dubbin is great for a hard skin :)

The tape is applied in a ring along the skin at the egde of the frame and in towards the centre of the skin for about 2cm.

If you still don't understand - there are plenty of examples on all the major bodhran maker sites..
Two good examples would be www.metloef.com or www.bodhranmaker.de

Hope this helps :D

Cillian.

For some of the really cheap, untunable, pakistani made, guinness decorated bodhrans, throwing them in the fire and listening to them burn might sound better than actually playing them! lol

ok, so what about the brian howard model by remo?

The remo bodhran looks really nice and sound ok, they are pretty good for the money but IMHO are not in the same league as a good quality bodhran with a real goatskin.