I follow you religiously now! Your instructional videos although hard to repeat are incredible! Hopefully in 2-3 years I can catch up somewhat? One of the best percussionist I have ever seen! Thank you my brother!
Thanks for posting! You are indeed one of the rare ones, not many RUclips videos on the subject of mounting conga a drum hide. We all been there struggling to mount that drum hide. Some conga drums are easier than others depending upon the drum. You did a beautiful job mounting those skins!
Yes it has helped me , I’m 68 years old and I’m getting my new congas multicoloured stripe giovonnia cheers thanks again for your help god bless Eric Gregory lee
a trick i learnt recently , when you cant get the lug on, use a small piece of rope tie it on to the rim where the lugs go ,use that to put the lug in and tighten,once you got it on and all the others you can untie the rope and put the lug in,i just did it with some really nice thick cow,i was struggling on my own,after i did the the rope technique was easy ,just had to loosen it off and get it all sitting level ,,!!! great tip bro and folks,,next time you struggling with it !!!!
I used to do these installs for folks decades ago. Not with Manito skins, because he wasn’t in business at that time AFAIK… it is not easy. The thing I did to ensure no accidents was to have a curved wood block/rail that I clamped down on the rim, so when I cut the edges off I would not risk cutting the mounted skin.
Went through same process and learning curve a couple times except that at the point of setting the skin on the shell and then pulling the skin in between the flesh hoop and rim i used a heavy sewing needle to punch through the outermost centimeter at 12 and 6 o'clock, 3 and 9 o'clock and tied the skin loosely around the flesh hoop so it was easy to set the rim down onto it. This reduced the need to pull it through with pliers.
Some respectful alternates..Use S hooks to extend the lugs to start with. This allows you get the nuts to grab the bolts with not too much effort. You can then remove the S hooks once you begin to lower the rim. When cutting use a wide (4") putty knife behind the excess skin you are cutting to protect the mounted skin
I should have done the putty knife thing as I was afraid to cut toward the head. I cut against the inside of a traditional LP rim and it looks like crap! I couldn't care less though, because it sounds awesome!
I did enjoy seeing the process of the heads becoming one with the drum! Myself is a already pre mounted head type of girl so I may get steer heads for my LP Giovanni galaxy congas in future if they are pre done without doing it yourself soaking it in the tub & all oh boy what a job that is! Thanks for posting this though for it was very interesting & your son the little helper so cute!
The trick I learned about heading drums was to get what's called a glover's needle (tri-point tip and VERY sharp) that is used for sewing heavy leather, and synthetic "catgut" or waxed linen thread. It should be strong and have a slippery surface. You position the flesh hoop so it's centered on the soaked rawhide and penetrate the hide with the needle and thread as close to the edge as you can but still far enough in to prevent it from tearing through. Use a length of thread that is long enough to allow you to criss-cross stitch across the flesh hoop until you have a star pattern with as many points as you feel necessary. The things to remember are: -Keep the hoop centered, - Don't allow the hide to bunch up in any spots, try to keep the wrinkles even and patterned, -KEEP IT LOOSE! You have to push this down onto your bearing edge so the lugs will make it through the brackets without tearing the thread out, - Make any final movements at this stage and only tighten the lugs enough to shape the being edge until it's set for a couple of hours, then remove the thread. Adjust and tune as you normally would at this stage. If you are going to do this a lot, you could invest in a good strong seam ripper which is a lot safer than the utility knife for you and your beautiful new steer hide head when you circumcise you drum! I cheated sometimes and used a hair dryer to hurry the drying process around the rim. I also helps even the drying.
Good advice and accounts of your experiences. There are plenty of things that can catch you out! I've been quite ok with installing conga heads but after having installed a goatskin head on my ROPE TUNED 14inch djembe fairly well I tried to re-skin a 12inch one where the rings were actually too big and I didn't realize the impending disaster until it was too late and head already trimmed! (after about 6 HOURS work!!!) I will now have to try again with another skin and find a way of keeping the rings in place.....
I usually use a plastic card (like a credit card), which I squeeze in between so I don‘t cut the head. Like that I can protect the head from any damage from the cutter.
Looking at installation of Manitos heads also. Thanks for the video. Was going with premounted. I have 4 Valjes from the Sunset strip period. I see it’s difficult, but I want to at least try. Thanks for the confidence.
I keep a spray bottle handy if they start to dry out it's nicer to work with wet. I also put a piece of plastic in between the head and the outside when cutting to further protect the head.
I just installed a brown steer skin on my requinto that came totally rough, as in all the hair still there. I chose the backbone at the area of the "hump" by the steer's shoulders. It has the cool creasing where the skin wrinkled on the animal that runs perpendicular to the spine, and after scraping these creases are still there. It sounds amazing and has character!
Nice Shekere Necklace Eric ! I guess times or heads have change i don't remember soaking a head that long (maybe 3 or 4 hrs) but that was a long time ago so that's probably why i don't remember...lol But thanks for the refresher I'm about to mount one soon myself. Thank care and Thanks again for everything.
Yeaaaa it also depends on the thickness of the head as well... these were about 2.2mm thick so they needed to soak longer.... and nooooo Thank you!!! Much Love!
Junior and Pop Pop, you couldn't do it without them. Yeah, I've changed skins several times. Man soak time, tucking under rim and hoop, pulling over pressing, a lot of elbow grease, huff and puff? Yeah, right. Wifey has had to push down on the rim real hated and then some. As I develop my technique of put on heads, I've come up with this one. I have made some extra long lugs and p,ace them in oppositite sides of the rim and tighten a little giving me that extra pull down. Then I insert and tighten the other ends with LP lugs. Once those are in p,ace I remove the 2 extra long ligand replace with LP LUGGS. in this way I've been able to get it on without Junior or Pop Pop helping me to push down on the rim. Then as you say tighten lightly gradually for next several days till it's right for me. But I perhaps it's more fun with Pop Pop, And Junior getting there hands on it too. Blessings my Brother.
Thank you for your videos always learning my question is how do you season your how do you keep them from getting dry what kind of season or minerals you put on your skins this will be a very appreciated video especially after this one love it I can't wait to do the setup and sound that you are getting in one day I would love to play with you your boy the man with no hands :-)
Nice video.....I have had success with mounting using a Steel grip bar clamp that they sell in Ace hardware 36 inches...Its the only way I could get that last hook on....Not easy....
I would like to order for my JCR bongos. I need heads for these nice Cuban style bongos that I don't use...Damn shame. These bongos were made from Cali over 20 yrs ago. RIP Cali...and THANK YOU. Eric.. thanks for the info.
Love the video bro. I wanted to ask you, what thickness skin did you go with on your tumbas? On your recommendation, I went with the thick skin on my quinto. I just love that skin!! Now I want to change my conga and tumba.
Great vid bruddah. The skins look damn cool man. Im actually about to order a few more skins. Manitos steer for bongoes is just a good. I have his skin on my vintage palisades bongoes and when you hit it.... It's Like BOOM... BOOM. Love that. Enjoy the skins bruddah!! Enjoy your weekend bruddah.
Hey Eric, I love your videos. Thank you for all the knowledge! A few months back, my conga head ripped and I needed to get a fresh head from Meinl. Drama moment: Meinl doens´t export heads to Brazil any longer... I was like "snap"! Got my self a frech cow hide from a local drum shop and installed it on. My question is, do you know how thick these skins need to be to get that nasty tone? I know different skins have their respective properties (ex.: cow vs buffalo), but would you say there´s a limit, like min. 2mm? Thank you, peace!
Thank you soooo much! So the heads I put on in this video were 2.2mm ... on my main Conga I have a 2mm head on it... the thinner the head, the brighter the sound... the thicker the head... the warmer the sound. 2mm is a good thickness.
Hi: Eric, Your videos are very informative, It would be great if you would do a video of Armando Peraza, He was a very melodic player like Patato,I believe Patato and Armando were the most melodic players of their time out of Cuba. there is a video of Armando with Tito Puente and friends .....his solo starts around the miiddle of the video.........also other videos with Santana....his recordings with Cal tjader and Ritmo caliente record is historic.........I met Armando and Patato on and off stage during the 70's through 90's...They were great people and Patato was a very good cook and played the tres guitar.......If you need more info on Armando let me know-sincerely Rafael.
Thanks Jose. that is right. Armando also played with Mongo in Cuba, they were like brothers ....Armando took a different path than the rest of the Cuban players.......watch him play bongos with Tata...80 plus years and still had that clave in him !
How were you able to reach Ryan, I've called him several times and have left messages, but I have not heard back from him. Also, I have sent a email and texted him. My question to you is what thickness did you choose and also why not the pre-mounted for you drums? Thanks Eric!
artebo try reaching him through Facebook.... these heads were about 2.2mm thick. I normally purchase mine pre-mounted (depending on the type of skin) BUT they were not available pre-mounted for my series for the Super Tumba which is a 14” head... so I had to go back to my roots and mount it myself.
Hello, my name is Jose from Costa Rica. I want to order a Steer Heads skin and I have LP congas model “ SALSA “. I think they are tumba and tumbadora. I want to do the process to install them, because I look for a more original or genuine sound (tone). I take great care of my congas and I will try not to damage them when I install the Steer Heads. I want information to make an order to help me with this . I like all videos that have been made because they have a lot of teaching. Thanks for the help !
Hola maestro Eric, enseñanos en un video como comprar en la web de Manitopercussion, tengo unas congas lp matador classic pero no entiendo como comprar el cuero hay muchas medids y diametros q no entiendo muy bien
haaaaa im horrified to change my skins my brother..i have the original skins on my juniors man. they sound great but one more turn and booom!!! lol love you man.. KUTGW
After you get the skin thru the crown and fLesh loop, try using mic claws. Like the ones used specifically for Congas. They help secure the loop into the crown and pinching the skin even more. Helped me with my heads when mounting. I hear you though, not an easy task. Here’s a link to the mic claw, works just like the clamp but better, imho. www.fullcompass.com/prod/285372-Latin-Percussion-LP592-X?gclid=Cj0KCQjwtZzWBRD2ARIsAIPenY1uT_OKcIZDbDTyCZQPBuwt23LPiYa2MKQQ7Eba1XrR6ZOx5H93XuwaAracEALw_wcB
I follow you religiously now! Your instructional videos although hard to repeat are incredible! Hopefully in 2-3 years I can catch up somewhat? One of the best percussionist I have ever seen! Thank you my brother!
Thanks for posting! You are indeed one of the rare ones, not many RUclips videos on the subject of mounting conga a drum hide. We all been there struggling to mount that drum hide. Some conga drums are easier than others depending upon the drum. You did a beautiful job mounting those skins!
Thank you!!! Means a lot. Wait til next week when I play them all! haha
Yes it has helped me , I’m 68 years old and I’m getting my new congas multicoloured stripe giovonnia cheers thanks again for your help god bless Eric Gregory lee
a trick i learnt recently , when you cant get the lug on, use a small piece of rope tie it on to the rim where the lugs go ,use that to put the lug in and tighten,once you got it on and all the others you can untie the rope and put the lug in,i just did it with some really nice thick cow,i was struggling on my own,after i did the the rope technique was easy ,just had to loosen it off and get it all sitting level ,,!!! great tip bro and folks,,next time you struggling with it !!!!
I used to do these installs for folks decades ago. Not with Manito skins, because he wasn’t in business at that time AFAIK… it is not easy. The thing I did to ensure no accidents was to have a curved wood block/rail that I clamped down on the rim, so when I cut the edges off I would not risk cutting the mounted skin.
Went through same process and learning curve a couple times except that at the point of setting the skin on the shell and then pulling the skin in between the flesh hoop and rim i used a heavy sewing needle to punch through the outermost centimeter at 12 and 6 o'clock, 3 and 9 o'clock and tied the skin loosely around the flesh hoop so it was easy to set the rim down onto it. This reduced the need to pull it through with pliers.
Wow!!! You are the MAN! I changed my conga head to a Manito Percussion head and it sounds awesome!
My Manito Percussion conga head came shaped exactly to my 10” conga and went on easily!!! Thank you my brother!
So awesome!!! Glad I could be of help!
Some respectful alternates..Use S hooks to extend the lugs to start with. This allows you get the nuts to grab the bolts with not too much effort. You can then remove the S hooks once you begin to lower the rim. When cutting use a wide (4") putty knife behind the excess skin you are cutting to protect the mounted skin
NICE! Thank you!
I should have done the putty knife thing as I was afraid to cut toward the head. I cut against the inside of a traditional LP rim and it looks like crap! I couldn't care less though, because it sounds awesome!
I know this is late but do you have a link to the S hooks you’re referring to?
@@alanpayne7656 Google S hooks or S Metal hooks, it will take you to homedepot
I did enjoy seeing the process of the heads becoming one with the drum! Myself is a already pre mounted head type of girl so I may get steer heads for my LP Giovanni galaxy congas in future if they are pre done without doing it yourself soaking it in the tub & all oh boy what a job that is! Thanks for posting this though for it was very interesting & your son the little helper so cute!
The trick I learned about heading drums was to get what's called a glover's needle (tri-point tip and VERY sharp) that is used for sewing heavy leather, and synthetic "catgut" or waxed linen thread. It should be strong and have a slippery surface. You position the flesh hoop so it's centered on the soaked rawhide and penetrate the hide with the needle and thread as close to the edge as you can but still far enough in to prevent it from tearing through. Use a length of thread that is long enough to allow you to criss-cross stitch across the flesh hoop until you have a star pattern with as many points as you feel necessary. The things to remember are:
-Keep the hoop centered,
- Don't allow the hide to bunch up in any spots, try to keep the wrinkles even and patterned,
-KEEP IT LOOSE! You have to push this down onto your bearing edge so the lugs will make it through the brackets without tearing the thread out,
- Make any final movements at this stage and only tighten the lugs enough to shape the being edge until it's set for a couple of hours, then remove the thread.
Adjust and tune as you normally would at this stage.
If you are going to do this a lot, you could invest in a good strong seam ripper which is a lot safer than the utility knife for you and your beautiful new steer hide head when you circumcise you drum!
I cheated sometimes and used a hair dryer to hurry the drying process around the rim. I also helps even the drying.
Good advice and accounts of your experiences. There are plenty of things that can catch you out! I've been quite ok with installing conga heads but after having installed a goatskin head on my ROPE TUNED 14inch djembe fairly well I tried to re-skin a 12inch one where the rings were actually too big and I didn't realize the impending disaster until it was too late and head already trimmed! (after about 6 HOURS work!!!) I will now have to try again with another skin and find a way of keeping the rings in place.....
I usually use a plastic card (like a credit card), which I squeeze in between so I don‘t cut the head. Like that I can protect the head from any damage from the cutter.
Looking at installation of Manitos heads also. Thanks for the video. Was going with premounted. I have 4 Valjes from the Sunset strip period. I see it’s difficult, but I want to at least try. Thanks for the confidence.
When I cut the skin I use a utility knife with a hook blade.That way you don't have a chance of cutting the head.
I keep a spray bottle handy if they start to dry out it's nicer to work with wet. I also put a piece of plastic in between the head and the outside when cutting to further protect the head.
I just installed a brown steer skin on my requinto that came totally rough, as in all the hair still there. I chose the backbone at the area of the "hump" by the steer's shoulders. It has the cool creasing where the skin wrinkled on the animal that runs perpendicular to the spine, and after scraping these creases are still there. It sounds amazing and has character!
Peter Karig NICE!!!!!
Nicely done Bro! When I learned it was placing the skin on the drum and then pulling through the hoops. Anyway they look really good!
this brings back painful memories, ... I looked at it as a wrestling match, exhausting sometimes, other times easy.
Nice Shekere Necklace Eric ! I guess times or heads have change i don't remember soaking a head that long (maybe 3 or 4 hrs) but that was a long time ago so that's probably why i don't remember...lol But thanks for the refresher I'm about to mount one soon myself. Thank care and Thanks again for everything.
Yeaaaa it also depends on the thickness of the head as well... these were about 2.2mm thick so they needed to soak longer.... and nooooo Thank you!!! Much Love!
Junior and Pop Pop, you couldn't do it without them. Yeah, I've changed skins several times. Man soak time, tucking under rim and hoop, pulling over pressing, a lot of elbow grease, huff and puff? Yeah, right. Wifey has had to push down on the rim real hated and then some. As I develop my technique of put on heads, I've come up with this one. I have made some extra long lugs and p,ace them in oppositite sides of the rim and tighten a little giving me that extra pull down. Then I insert and tighten the other ends with LP lugs. Once those are in p,ace I remove the 2 extra long ligand replace with LP LUGGS. in this way I've been able to get it on without Junior or Pop Pop helping me to push down on the rim. Then as you say tighten lightly gradually for next several days till it's right for me. But I perhaps it's more fun with Pop Pop, And Junior getting there hands on it too. Blessings my Brother.
Thank you for your videos always learning my question is how do you season your how do you keep them from getting dry what kind of season or minerals you put on your skins this will be a very appreciated video especially after this one love it I can't wait to do the setup and sound that you are getting in one day I would love to play with you your boy the man with no hands :-)
Nice video.....I have had success with mounting using a Steel grip bar clamp that they sell in Ace hardware 36 inches...Its the only way I could get that last hook on....Not easy....
NICE!!! Needed that haha
Haha! Your boy cracked me up on this one. Got to start them young!
Yea man! I have other footage of him getting mad at the drum when I was getting mad hahaha
I would like to order for my JCR bongos. I need heads for these nice Cuban style bongos that I don't use...Damn shame. These bongos were made from Cali over 20 yrs ago. RIP Cali...and THANK YOU. Eric.. thanks for the info.
RIP Cali!!!
He was a great friend and a PIONEER on bells and drums. He will be GREATLY missed
bongosabroso didnt know cali died QEPD. Is the shop still open?
Having an extra set of longer lugs helps quite a bit.
Hector Rivera I Totally agree! Or something to hold each lug. Smh on a Super Tumba this was not a Joke haha
Hector Rivera are longer lugs easy to find?
I do so.
Use S hooks to extend the lugs. You can then remove these as you start lowering the rim.
HELLO!!!! Thank you for the video. Appreciate you and your shared info!!!
Love the video bro. I wanted to ask you, what thickness skin did you go with on your tumbas? On your recommendation, I went with the thick skin on my quinto. I just love that skin!! Now I want to change my conga and tumba.
Thanks man! With these Super Tumbas they are are about 2.2mm.. On my Tumba I got a 2.1mm... My Conga is a 2mm.
Wow thanks for the vid. I'm going to ask for Manito heads for my bday. BTW do you have any plans for the left over strips?
TM H You’ll love them... I gave them to my neighbor for their dogs to chew on hahaha
Great vid bruddah. The skins look damn cool man. Im actually about to order a few more skins. Manitos steer for bongoes is just a good. I have his skin on my vintage palisades bongoes and when you hit it.... It's Like BOOM... BOOM. Love that. Enjoy the skins bruddah!! Enjoy your weekend bruddah.
Fangsinurface yessss I need to upgrade my bongo heads to these smh
Hey Eric, I love your videos. Thank you for all the knowledge! A few months back, my conga head ripped and I needed to get a fresh head from Meinl. Drama moment: Meinl doens´t export heads to Brazil any longer... I was like "snap"! Got my self a frech cow hide from a local drum shop and installed it on. My question is, do you know how thick these skins need to be to get that nasty tone? I know different skins have their respective properties (ex.: cow vs buffalo), but would you say there´s a limit, like min. 2mm? Thank you, peace!
Thank you soooo much! So the heads I put on in this video were 2.2mm ... on my main Conga I have a 2mm head on it... the thinner the head, the brighter the sound... the thicker the head... the warmer the sound. 2mm is a good thickness.
Good to know! Thank you!
I think I looked through all the comments and see that you didn't answer this question yet... What thickness did you end up getting???
Deidric Stephen Cave with these in particular... I got the Super Tumbas in 2.2mm thickness.
Those are pretty heads
love the tone bro!!!!
Hi: Eric, Your videos are very informative, It would be great if you would do a video of Armando Peraza, He was a very melodic player like Patato,I believe Patato and Armando were the most melodic players of their time out of Cuba. there is a video of Armando with Tito Puente and friends .....his solo starts around the miiddle of the video.........also other videos with Santana....his recordings with Cal tjader and Ritmo caliente record is historic.........I met Armando and Patato on and off stage during the 70's through 90's...They were great people and Patato was a very good cook and played the tres guitar.......If you need more info on Armando let me know-sincerely Rafael.
Yeah! Santana said something like his music matured when Armsndo began playing with him. Welcome!
Thanks Jose. that is right. Armando also played with Mongo in Cuba, they were like brothers ....Armando took a different path than the rest of the Cuban players.......watch him play bongos with Tata...80 plus years and still had that clave in him !
The sound effects! 😂
A small dehumidifier will accelerate the drying process by quite a bit of time. (hours vs. days)
NICE! I never thought of that! Thank you... I need to email you back Moody!!! I'll try to go the festival! I let know for sure real soon.
Percussion life I can find on Facebook a lot of pages but I didn't find yours
How were you able to reach Ryan, I've called him several times and have left messages, but I have not heard back from him. Also, I have sent a email and texted him. My question to you is what thickness did you choose and also why not the pre-mounted for you drums? Thanks Eric!
artebo try reaching him through Facebook.... these heads were about 2.2mm thick. I normally purchase mine pre-mounted (depending on the type of skin) BUT they were not available pre-mounted for my series for the Super Tumba which is a 14” head... so I had to go back to my roots and mount it myself.
Awesome post.
Much appreciated.
Nice video!
Nice!
Sir what is the thickness of the Steer Skin?
Tanmoy Banerjee these are 2.2mm Thick
Hello, my name is Jose from Costa Rica. I want to order a Steer Heads skin and I have LP congas model “ SALSA “. I think they are tumba and tumbadora. I want to do the process to install them, because I look for a more original or genuine sound (tone). I take great care of my congas and I will try not to damage them when I install the Steer Heads. I want information to make an order to help me with this . I like all videos that have been made because they have a lot of teaching. Thanks for the help !
Jose Chavez buenas Jose... gracias! Un Abrazo... puedes ordenar los parches en este site www.manitopercussion.com
What about the old skins? Without the slack of the skin that was cut, can you reinstall the old skin and is re-soaking necessary?
Compared to Nuskyn? Any thoughts?
Hola maestro Eric, enseñanos en un video como comprar en la web de Manitopercussion, tengo unas congas lp matador classic pero no entiendo como comprar el cuero hay muchas medids y diametros q no entiendo muy bien
Try it you love it
haaaaa im horrified to change my skins my brother..i have the original skins on my juniors man. they sound great but one more turn and booom!!! lol love you man.. KUTGW
Where did you buy steer skin for bongos and congas
www.manitopercussion.com
Straight edge cutter the one you shave with the straight edge 1 It works a lot easier the one the Barber uses the straight edge
Que tipo de cuero es ese que tienes enrollado?
Buy you a straight edge razor blade the one that you shave with the 1 that the Barber uses
Yeah..😁 a lil MexaSkin ^5 (cinco) lol!
Hahahaha
I'm curious, what thicknesses did you get for quinto/conga/tumba?
Derk Nizotts quinto 1.9mm, Conga 2mm and Tumba 2.1mm
Please shoot a link to your Facebook loving your videos
Where to buy Steer skins
Alexander O'jeda www.manitopercussion.com
Eric greetings! What kind of skin? Why is it dark?
Владимир Ткач these are Dark Steer Skins... just the type it came from.
Interesting. Can this be purchased with delivery to Russia?
I believe so!
Can I contact where they can be purchased? Please!
After you get the skin thru the crown and fLesh loop, try using mic claws. Like the ones used specifically for Congas. They help secure the loop into the crown and pinching the skin even more. Helped me with my heads when mounting. I hear you though, not an easy task. Here’s a link to the mic claw, works just like the clamp but better, imho.
www.fullcompass.com/prod/285372-Latin-Percussion-LP592-X?gclid=Cj0KCQjwtZzWBRD2ARIsAIPenY1uT_OKcIZDbDTyCZQPBuwt23LPiYa2MKQQ7Eba1XrR6ZOx5H93XuwaAracEALw_wcB
Y en español
Upload bongo videos please
2:37 red flag!! Call animal control if it’s moving!!
Oscar Carranza hahaha you caught that!!! 😂😂😂
Bror , me ayudas a conseguir un manteca de canijo para un congas ? .Saludos desde Suecia