I have a Remo 14" x 4" with a synthetic head so I don't have tuning problems when it's humid out down here in Florida. Lots of size/head/depth combinations out there, both fixed and tuneable. There are some tutorials on YouTube on how to tape the head of an inexpensive bodhran and make it sound like a higher quality drum. Some players get remo heads for their cheap imports.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euUSfb8LfMw
Thanks for the link. Kinda funny since I use either electrical tape or duct tape for damn near anything where I can't use zip ties, but I never would have thought to use it on a drum this way.
Also, how do you pronouce 'bodhran', is the D silent?
Also, I have an old, but very nice Ludwig 14" snare drum on which the snares are shot. I wonder if I remove the bottom drum head, could I use it as a makeshift bodhran? The drum's shell is at least 3 or 4" deep...The reason I kept it was because it also has a nice molded hard plastic case from when I bought it.
I kinda like the idea of repurposing this snare because I could also 'tune' the head, as well as replace it with a standard sized head if need be (which I already have a few Remo pinstripe blackline heads) with a standard drum key instead of using tacks or staples to replace the head on a more traditional bodhran.
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If I dont use the snare for a bodhran, I've been toying with the idea of getting a neck for a 4-string Irish Tenor or 'plectrum' banjo, and doing a DIY banjo either with parts from StewMac, LMII, BanjoHangout/Banjoteacher, or just getting a premade 4-string cigar-box guitar neck off ebay and using that as the neck, since I can set my own scale length (maybe 22") and will then have to fret it myself, which should not be too hard.
Lots of 36" long necks can be had for ~$25 or so, and at that length I can do a neck-through-the-drum instead of the dowel-rod-and-bolt-on method.
I want to try and make it with nylon/fluorocarbon strings, since metal strings will just wreck the nails on my right hand (fingerpicks are not an option because it ruins my feeling of the strings and playing relationship with the instrument), but right now this is all in the 'ideas' phase...
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