Bougarabou bottom ring question

[MadMaeven]

I recently purchased a bougarabou that had it's original head replaced with a synthetic fiberskin conga head, and I would like to restore it to the original cowhide.

Originally, the bottom ring fit into a deep groove about 8 inches down the shell from the skin. When the new drum head was attached, it was changed to a smaller ring tied around the stem djembe style, and I do not have the original. Here are some pics of the shell:

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DSCF0571.JPG (2.39 MiB) Viewed 236 times

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So, how do I fit a new ring into the original groove? Would I use a rope ring, or try to weld a steel ring tight into the groove? Is it possible that it might have been made of some sort of more flexible metal like twisted wire? If so, how would I close and bind the ring so that it would not break open under rope tension?

Finally, given the limited height of the verticals, can you suggest a roping method that would give good tension in a situation where pulling extra diamonds isn't practical?

I love drumming, but I HATE pulling ropes, so I only wanna do this once if possible and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Mad Maeven

[michi]

You need to get some 8mm rebar and bend the ring so you have a 3-4mm gap between the shell and the inside of the ring. You may just be able to weld the ring first and then slip it into place. (Keep in mind that you have to be able to do this after you've done the cradle knots.) If you don't have enough room to do that, you need to do the weld with the ring in place. To avoid burning the wood, slip a piece of sheet metal in between the ring and the shell when doing the weld.

For the rope work, you should probably use 28-30 loops. Set the crown ring fairly high during the wet pull, maybe 5mm below the top of the bearing edge. For the dry pull, apply as much tension to the verticals as you can. Play the drum for a few weeks and then retighten the verticals. Keep doing that until you have most of the stretch out of the rope and the skin, then start the weave. Cow skin doesn't stretch much once you got rid of the initial stretch, so there is a good chance that, if you do it this way, you won't run out of room to weave before rope or skin break.

Cheers,

Michi.

[MadMaeven]

Wow, those pics were a lot larger than I thought. I guess I shouldn't have uploaded them directly from the camera. Ooops. So now that everyone can see that I really need to vacuum in here...

The previous owner had complained that because of the short verticals he couldn't seem to get enough tension no matter how much he pulled. I never thought of using more loops to compensate, but now that you mention it, it seems obvious. Thanks!

I think I know someone who'll be able to weld the ring for me without damaging the shell. I will let you know how it turns out.

Mad Maeven

[Paul]

Hi mate,

I see what you mean about the short space. I have seen bougarabou made in ghana with that short space and its a pain to skin and tune... My own and all the ones i saw in casamance had a longer range. Maybe carve a new groove. Though you dont neccessarily need a groove..

Maybe who ever replaced the ring wanted a different sound.

As a drummer said to me, drum makers arent neccessarily players and sometimes you need to change the original work to get the sound you require, in the end of the day its you who plays it.

[MadMaeven]

I do know that he had wanted to make it sound more like a conga, but I already have three of those. It had a very nice and unique sound to it before the changes, and that's what I was interested in when I purchased it.

The good news is that he gave me the original cowskin head. It is undamaged, and is still wrapped around it's ring. Because it's already been stretched, I won't have to worry about doing a wet pull. For the dry pull, adding extra loops as suggested above should make it easier to get the necessary tension. If that doesn't work, I can always put the ring round the stem again.

Mad Maeven

This is me almost all the time: , and the rest of the time:

[michi]

Use 28-30 loops, and use thinner rope, 4mm or max 4.5mm. That makes the diamonds smaller and easier to pull.

Cheers,

Michi.

[michi]

The good news is that he gave me the original cowskin head. It is undamaged, and is still wrapped around it's ring. Because it's already been stretched, I won't have to worry about doing a wet pull.

It may work if you do it that way, but it's risky. When you fit a wet skin, you not only use the wet skin to shape it around the playing edge and the flesh ring, but also to lock it onto the knots on the crown ring. If you have a look at the current skin on the top side of the flesh ring, you almost certainly will see pairs of dimples where the knots on the crown ring pressed down and left an impression. These dimples help to lock the skin in place and to prevent it from slipping in between the crown ring and the flesh ring as you apply tension.

Seeing that you are going to change the number of knots on your drum, the knots not only will not line up with the existing dimples, but will also miss the dimples entirely in most places. Moreover, the skin, once dry, is as hard as a rock and has no give in it at all. That means, unless you get it in the exact same position as it was previously, it won't fit well onto the bearing edge and around the perimeter of the drum because the drum almost certainly is no perfectly round. And, even with perfect positioning, it won't mate very well with the new crown ring because some of the knots will dig into the skin where there are dimples, and some where there are none. In turn, when you apply tension, the crown ring will bend to take up any gaps, which won't look good, and won't apply tension evenly.

So, to play it safe, it may well be better to re-soak the skin and do a normal wet pull. That way, you can be sure that you will get a proper fit.

Cheers,

Michi.

[MadMaeven]

You're right of course. I found that out once I got the new knots tied onto the ring. I held the two rings together to see if I could get away with it and of course the flesh ring didn't want to sit in at all. It's soaking now.

Fortunately for me, I hate pulling rope enough that I check everything three times so that I don't have to spend extra time undoing it to do it right. Funny how laziness is sometimes a good thing.

Thank you Michi

Mad Maeven