I want to build a guitar, with a resonator built from skin, and have a saddle resting on it. This would be inserted into the build, not the whole top. I.E. the skin wrapped around a small stitching frame. I am curious what the best way to attach the skin is, to get tautness, and durability?
Thanks.
Replies
Iffen the embroidery hoop idea leaves you cold, then get a cheap 6" kid's tambourine on eBay, and remove the jinglers. The laminated hoops on those are the same thickness, both laterally and vertically, as some of my wife's embroidery hoops, and they already have a drumhead installed. I know, I know, it ain't homemade from found objects...
Just sayin'...
My pleasure! Can't wait to see the result.
And one of these days, I'll remember to add pictures when I write one of my longwinded replies;-)
Hi Oilyfool.
Thanks for the information.
I should try the embroidery hoop with the Tyvek postage envelopes.
Your idea of using lacing straps and sticks to form several tourniquets
is just the right answer for tensioning the head.
-Rand.
http://www.ehow.com/how_8432442_make-indian-war-drum.html
I've built several, leather skinned, "Indian" drums from scratch a few years ago with the Cub Scouts. There is a relatively easy way to tension up a drum head for what you're trying to do: Take your drum head material (leather, Tyvek, whatever), and punch holes evenly around the circumference, about 1 inch in from the edge. Take some twine, string, or actual leather thong (you can cut a continuous piece from a single piece of leather by cutting a thin strip in a spiral), put some tacks or small finishing nails into your embroidery hoop (they sell these at Michael's hobby shops, Hobby Lobby, JoAnn Fabrics, local quilt shops (my wife's a serious quilted, is why I know this ;-) , and yes, they will hold the tension of a hand drum without breaking - the Cubs and I built a couple of bodhrans this way while we were at it), then lace your string, twine or thong through the holes you just made in the skin, pulling down and looping the lace around each of your nails / tacks, tighteniing as you go. If you want it tighter, insert twig into the lacing, and twist. You may have to do 3 to 5 of thes around the circumference of the drum. You could then tack it down with upholstery tacks, and unlace. or you could just use the lacing. Retension with your twig(s) as needed.
If you are doing a skinhead, then soak it in water for 24 hours, lace it up and tighten it, then let it dry in the sun for 24 to 48 hours. This works well for drums with leather laces; soak the laces the same way as the drumhead, and lace while wet.
Using a few temporary tacks to keep the "skin" pretty much in place is a good idea. Then, as you tack them in for real, you can undo the temporary tacks.
The knitting loop sounds a little weak to me. Maybe if you could fashion two of them together, perhaps gluing one to the inside of the other (may require cutting open the inner hoop and shortening it a bit so that it can fit inside the outer hoop).
As a goal, tighten it as tight as you can by hand. When you add strings and the bridge, tuning the string will tighten the drum further. The drum will sound best at optimal tension, so do the old tap test. If it sounds dull, increase tension and tap again. If you get it right the tapping should sound pretty bright. I don't really know what happens when it's overly tight. Maybe the skin pullls free from the tacks.
We should invite some drum builders to the group.
-Rand.
I was thinking if you have your drum hoop, and can find a narrow strip of veneer (wood), then you could use a very thin drill bit to pre-drill the holes through the drum hoop and the veneer "ring". This would make it easier to hammer in the tacks. I was also thinking that if you went around in either a clock-wise or counter-clockwise direction, tacking opposite ends that eventually you would end up with a bunch of excess material that you can't tack down. I think a better strategy would be to tack it in a way similar to tightening down the lugs when changing a tire on your car.
That is, do one tack and then do the opposite side. Then choose the next position to be 90 degrees to the line you just tacked down and tack this line down, then do the line at 45 degrees, and then the opposite line at 45 degrees, and then do the four 22.5 degree lines. That's 8 tacks. Maybe 16 would do a better job. On modern banjos they usually have between 18 and 24 "hold downs" or whatever they call them do-ma-jiggies. Here's a diagram for the tacking pattern I'm suggesting...
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