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drum head dressing

HI: Just joined the group, and happy to be here. I have a Walton drum purchased in Hailifax. Goat skin head. My question: Other than Walton, are there any other drum head dressings available in the USA and maybe a bit more reasonable? (And I'd rather DRINK my Guiness, so forget that one) I have no grievance with Walton, but just looking for something a little more convenience. I've heard about using lanolin (as pure as possible). What are opinions about that? Thanks

Fred

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Permalink Reply by Branhwyfor on April 9, 2008 at 10:55am: Hello Fred,

The only maintenance and care a good drum needs, is to play it as often as possible :-).

Cheaper non tunable drums sometimes do need a bit of help.
I assume you have a non tunable Walton's. If you want to improve the sound, try sanding the skin with a fine sandpaper (p400) on both sides of the skin and then try taping the sides with electrical tape. If you can get it, try 3M super88 tape. It's available in various sizes. For the waltons i think about one inch width is the handiest. I tried all this with my old Waltons and it has improved a lot.

I think lanolin is used to permanently tune down a drum, but i don't know if it's adviseable.
If you go to www.thesession.org there is a discussion going on this topic and on www.bodojo.com as well.

Grtz,

Martijn; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Branhwyfor on April 9, 2008 at 11:33am: I'll also leave you a "before" and "after" picture of what i did to the walton's.

Before:

After:

Grtz,

Martijn; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nick Cannon on January 12, 2009 at 9:07am: Fred, welcome to the site, you could try GLYCERINE this gives the drum a nice deep tone it is also a preservative for the skin, i have used this for 25 years i used to use Guiness this only gave the skin a nice brown colour but aftar a while it went all sticky and started to smell real bad and at the price you pay, i agree drink it and enjoy, i have not used lanolin so i will look out for comments about that; ▶ Reply to This