<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\nThese are conga drums, and not bongos, but they have many similar characteristics. You can hear the difference very noticeably. The post-oiled conga drums have a deeper darker sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This can be a good thing, or it can be a negative effect (depending on what you’re going for). For a lot of bongo players, many are looking for a bright pop<\/em><\/strong> from their macho drum (the smaller drum in a set of bongos)–therefore adding oil can take away some of that pop giving you a sound you’re not looking for. <\/p>\n\n\n\nFurthermore, since the oil can deaden and lower the pitch of the drum, many people actually will tighten their drumheads after applying oil.<\/strong> This can be a bad thing, even if adding oil helps the skin elasticity, you may be pushing your drumheads past the point that’s safe for the bongo drums. <\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen is it a Good Idea to Oil Your Bongo Drumheads?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
As I have mentioned through this article, it really depends on your situation and tastes whether it’s ever a good idea to oil your bongos. Common circumstances that drive people to oil their bongos are the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Very dry climates<\/strong>: If you are regularly experiencing humidity less than 30%, then there’s a good chance that you will at least think about oiling your bongo drumheads<\/li>
- If you have really dry hands: <\/strong> If your knuckles are the type that are constantly cracking, then playing bongos for an extended period of time can be uncomfortable. Adding lotion to your hands before you play will also lotion the drums, making it a bit more comfortable to play<\/li>
- Some custom-made bongo drums that use certain mule skins often achieve their desired sound by a process of soaking them in oil for a period of time. This is definitely not true of most drumheads<\/strong>.<\/li>
- Your bongo drumheads are changing consistency and are cracking<\/strong>: Some oil can extend the life of your drumhead<\/li>
- If your bongo drumheads are peeling a bit<\/strong> (kind of like how an old t-shirt “pearls” or gets that linty stuff on it), then you can add some oil to increase the drumhead cohesion. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Best Oil for Your Drumheads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Whatever oil you choose for your animal skin drumheads, remember, less is more<\/strong>! … well.. it is more or less at least. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you add too much oil, there’s not much you can do to go back<\/strong>. On the other hand (ba-doom psh), if you only add a small amount of oil, then you can experiment carefully and ensure your drumheads reach the consistency you want and you haven’t adversely affected the sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHere’s a list of common drumheads<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Olive Oil<\/strong>: A thin oil that is often used for cooking. Many drummers use this as their drumhead oil. You can apply a little on your hands first and then rub your bongo drumheads to apply thin olive oil directly to the surface of your drum is not a good idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\nPalm Oil<\/strong>: Also called “Manteca De Corojo” and is a very popular option for many drummers. This is a natural product that is thick in its consistency. Start with a penny-sized dollop. <\/p>\n\n\n\nShea Butter<\/strong>: Often used in a lot of lotions and creams, Shea butter is extracted from Shea tree nuts. Start with a penny-sized dollop<\/p>\n\n\n\nLanolin<\/strong>: Lanolin is in a lot of products, but it can be sold in its very basic form. It’s often sold as an ointment for breastfeeding mothers. Lanolin is extracted from sheep wool, and I’d say if you were looking for a substance that’s extremely natural then I don’t think you can get much better than lanolin. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maybe you’ve had your bongo drums for a while, or maybe you just got a brand new set–what kind of maintenance is necessary for the drumheads? Should they be oiled?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":3,"label":"Bongos"},{"value":2,"label":"Instruments"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/bongo-skins-1024x768.jpg",640,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Peter Mitchell","author_link":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/author\/thesoundadventurer\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":3,"name":"Bongos","slug":"bongos","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":2,"count":23,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":3,"category_count":23,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Bongos","category_nicename":"bongos","category_parent":2},{"term_id":2,"name":"Instruments","slug":"instruments","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":105,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":105,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Instruments","category_nicename":"instruments","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions\/121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}