Headed my first cowskin

[BobF]

hey nerd (no offense intended),

do you use anything to hold the drum while you're pulling it? Is there anything on the inside to keep it stable or do you hold it with your hands to keep it upright?

[Djembe-nerd]

hey nerd (no offense intended),

do you use anything to hold the drum while you're pulling it? Is there anything on the inside to keep it stable or do you hold it with your hands to keep it upright?

None taken, That's what some of the forum members address me too (And it feels good cos I become a nerd in a djembe forum without being one)

I just put my left hand while I press with my foot, nothing on the inside to hold, It actually acts as a support to balance my weight while I step on the pedal. Very less force is required to hold it upright, just one precaution that I have my hand on the djembe before stepping on the pedal

[shortypalmer]

I also do not use anything to hold my drum up when pulling on my table. as long as you keep the rope pulling straight down it does not take a lot to keep it from pulling over, the other thing i do is i have a stop on the bottom to keep the bottom of the drum from kicking out. as for the cleats, they are from clamcleat and they are eithercl258 or cl259 and i charge 12.00 usd for either one. i use four of them on my table

[rachelnguyen]

I pulled my kenkeni today using one of Shorty's cleats. It was a VERY low tech version of a pulling stand, as I had not yet mounted a kick pedal or drilled a hole in the table. Basically I just put the kenkeni on the edge of the table and used a long loop of spare rope and with my foot in the loop, eased down for each vertical. Even that was better than the pulling bar. I am getting excited about how this is going to work once its actually done.

[Trog]

I use a center support for the drum because I would freak if I knocked it off the stand and if it was someone elses drum, well I wouldn't want to explain the mishap.

[rachelnguyen]

I can understand that! For me, the center support wouldn't work, though, because I am going to be pulling dununs too. I am going to use a couple of hardwood dowels on the edge of the table to just act as a support. I will drill a couple of holes and try just dry fitting them in so that I can take it all apart if necessary.

[Trog]

That is a good Idea. Maybe use wooden spoons, that way they won't slide through the holes.