Skin is
a natural product that has spent years on an animal and will have specific
generic qualities as well as those specific to that animal. For use on a
bodhrán, there are qualities that are desirable and those that are
undesirable.
Desirable
- soft to give a
quieter more absorbent impact
- flexible to permit
improved tonal options
- consistent
thickness to provide for purity of tone
- Thick and thin are
both desirable for different drums in different scenarios, there are no rights
and wrongs but there are differences of opinion and direction.
Undesirable
- Hard &
scratchy
- inflexible - too
thick and heavy
- uneven - badly
prepared or damage / scar tissue
bodhráns
moreso that other natural drum heads require their skin to be 'played in'. A new
bodhrán skin will almost always be too hard. A hard skin sounds 'scratchy' and
thin. A thick head is more likely to be heavy, inflexible and scratchy to the
ear but in time and with playing it will develop.
As a
skin is being played in, it will loosen and soften. The impact of the stick on a
tensioned drum will break up the fibrous structure that binds it tightly
together and served the animal so well. With a traditional heavy-skinned bodhrán
this process may literally take years and represents a lot of time investment by
the player before s/he achieves a desired sound. It is a risk as the final
results are not guaranteed.
With a
thin or  Lambeg skinned instrument such as those made by O'Kane, Metloef,
Bartlett and others, the playing-in process is shorter because there is so much
less fibrous material to contend with, additionally on both weights of skin
there may be natural or chemical treatments applied to soften the skin which
give a head start.
A way of a player
themself speeding up this process of softening up the skin is the application of
some form of treatment such as lanolin or lexol, saddle soap, dubbin, oils etc;
many products have been tried with varying degrees of success. Any application
of this nature should be applied to the playing surface only. and youshould
satisfy yourself that youwill not damage your drum. Drumdojo does not recommend
any product, guarantee any success or accept any liability. All applications are
undertaken at your own risk and you should speak with others to confirm that
what you are doing is appropriate.
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About the Bodhrán 
