which part of goat skin..

[Dub Town]

Was wondering if it made a difference as to which part of the goat skin you mount as your playing surface? Meaning, with the spine centered should it be mounted closer to the neck, rear or middle?

Is it a personal preference or is there a right/wrong answer?

I've headed djembes from different places on skins before and haven't noticed huge differences that I could attribute to the skins (too many variables between different spots of different skins on different djembes).

What part do you guys use?

Also a skin I am about to mount has a small and flat scar/growth on the underside/non playing side that may end up in the middle of the head. Will this have any negative impact on the sound, instincts are telling me to try and avoid it?

[the kid]

I aim to use the neck of the skin as my playing surface. Not to close to the neck as it can be extra thick. Some skins may look more even towards the center of the skin do. I find this with smaller skins.


If the skin is scared i'd try to avoid the scar. just use another skin if you have one and save the scared skin for a smaller drum. then again i've seen and heard drums with a dirty scar that sounded cool. For the amount of work that goes into skinning, it's better not to chance it do.

[Dub Town]

thanks. Unfortunately I don't have an extra skin but if I mount towards the center I should be fine...just won't be able to mount towards the neck as I would usually. Wishful thinking that the scar might not impact the sound.

[the kid]

The scar might not impact on the sound. It might be fine. I avoid the scarred part of the skin in case it breaks when tuning. I hate if the skin or rope breaks towards the end of the job.

[Dugafola]

if the scar is in the middle of the skin, it may be OK. if it were close to the bearing edge, i'd select another skin.

my personal preference is to choose the most consistent part of the hide for my "skin." usually that means middle of the hide or towards the rear. i don't like skins with a super thick spine either.

[Waraba]

I was taught the rear of the skin is the best sound. No joke.

[michi]

I was taught the rear of the skin is the best sound. No joke.

I was told the exact opposite

Which end of your egg do you crack open, the little end or the big end?

Michi.

[Djembe-nerd]

Actually, I found a positive with mounting a skin near the neck that is thicker on the neck side.

The thicker side (neck) has good tones, and when I want some cracking slaps I turn the djembe to the opposite side and play there. There is a difference playing the neck side of the spine or the back side of the spine at least in my skin.

This didn't sound right, did it

[drtom]

I generally try to use the most consistent part of the skin for my drums. Ideally, the thickness of the drum head will not vary much. This often means that I avoid as much of the rear and neck as possible (I've had skins with necks and/or rears that remained stiff even after a good soaking).

Having said this -- there are nor rules written in stone (that I'm aware of). You may want your drum to have a large vocabulary, and mounting the skin so that the head is thick and stiff on one end and thinner and more pliable on another might accomplish that for you.

As for the flaw on your skin, I'd be more concerned with the strength of the skin than with the sound. If it were a sizable growth with heft, it would lower the pitch (something like the masala on a dholak), but it doesn't sound like that's your case. If you can afford another skin, it might be a good investment. Otherwise, take your best shot.

Good luck,
drtom

[Rhythm House Drums]

This is a tricky question and does depend a lot on personal preference and the particular skin. Personally I like a thick consistent-thickness skin. These can be hard to find because the thicker and larger the skin unusually the more pronounced the spine is. I've had the best luck on getting these from Mali... and generally stay away from the Ivory Coast skins as I've noticed they tend to have really thick spines.

I usually opt for near center of the back, and will bump it closer to the neck if the butt thins out, or bump it closer to the butt if the spine is super thick near the neck.

I had a djembe headed with an extremely thick spine for over a year. It was a nice thick skin so I could hold a lot of tension. The spine always played higher pitched than the sides, which made for interesting experimental solos.. though I never played the sides while in class or performance. One thing to note is that if you skin is making different sounds along the rim, it will have longer sustain. You can cut out some sustain by cranking it super tight. I now have that djembe headed with a more consistent skin and absolutely love the sound. It's got a much more pure sound without lingering overtones or oddities that can happen with different pitches on the same skin.

Another Issue I've had with thicker spines (or heading near the neck) is that I would tend to pull the verts tighter on the sides to try and get a more even pitch around the djembe head. This almost always ended in a skin failure due to the uneven tension in trying to obtain an even pitch.

I like a drum that plays tight and quick... for this you want a thick skin that is as consistent as possible, which usually means stay away from the neck area.

I've been experimenting around with the bearing edge shape a lot recently and have found some interesting facts that will effect sustain much more so than skin thickness or consistency... So, before you worry about what part of the skin you choose, I'd make sure that bearing edge is level and has a nice round-over that almost flattens out near the inner edge.

[shortypalmer]

i have always placed the neck end towards the playing surface, not necessarily all the way up to the edge of the neck, i watch for patterns on the skin and potential bad spots. it seems back early in my learning somebody said that was the proper way, i agree with drtom, nothing is set in stone. it works for me,