Very Funny Paul, but alas Im qualified to work the beaches yet so its Pools for me :P

Since I last posted there have bin 7 more mails telling me about replies to topics!
I wonder why bodojo is so popular today? Not sayin thats not how it should be :D

Cillian.

Hey Cillian,

visitor numbers are average but pages per visit is way up! I think people are just reading the discussions and getting involved. Another hour at this rate and it'll be over 1500, a record page view count.

We've almost reached 600 members and more join every day so I'd expect it to get busier as time goes on. It's all good and I'm delighted that the site is apparently performing such an useful function to the global bodhran community.

Thank you to everyone for supporting the community.

P

Yea tis good that people are getting involved rather than just havin a quick look at the site...

Bit OT on the playing in of a Bodhran :D

Cillian.

Cillers / Bodojo

I remember getting by Brenden White double skin bodhran dry as a bone. Since the weather here in California, USA, most of the year is dry as a bone, I had to do something immediately to enjoy my new bodhran. I used lanolin, since it is the natural type oil a goat would have in its skin. It worked well.

I have always wondered about what the difference would have been if I were in the wet climate of Ireland. I would expect it to be different, but then I know many Irish bodhran players use their own different formulas of oils / wax - as they also weather proof a drum head.

Michael

Hi Michael,

most contemporary drums that I've seen, and all that I own, receive nothing apart on the skin from the beating of a Tipper and whatever crud comes from my left hand. From my experience, it's generally not necessary to apply extra stuff to a modern head. It certainly may be the case with older or cheaper instruments where the skin was essentially a rawhide and untreated for tone, in which case the relaxing of the skin is usually achieved by beating and the application of some 'goo' of some sort.

All drums will improve with playing of course and it's therefore useful to buy a drum that is not yet at its peak in terms of tone and which will develop with playing. Drums that are super-soft from the get go may have a reduced lifespan.

I've had a variety of my drums to the US (mostly Mid west or East Coast) at various times of the year and have never noticed any serious adverse reaction to having travelled although Air Con does definitely have an effect. However I remember Rob Forkner coming to stay with me for the first time and remarking how his drums seemed to react favourably to the Irish climate compared to the Texan air, CA may not be so different from TX in terms of the effect on drums.

I can't recommend putting a wax on a drum skin at all unless there are different grades than the ones I know and the wax can be worked far enough into the inner skin that it isn't tangible from the surface.

My own unfortunate experience of wax is that whilst it can polish up nicely and feel good when the skin is cold, it goes soft and sticky under hand heat and causes the left hand to bind, similarly wax applied to the front of a warm skin will cause the tipper to grip the skin a little. I found it off-putting myself but maybe there are variations of wax that will work and I've just not found them yet :)

P