Good luck to all of those learning the bodhráin. It is a beautiful instrument and reminds me of some many excellent times spent in Ireland as a child and in pubs where someone would turn up, then a fiddle player and a whole session was taking place

I have never tried and only have one as display on a wall tho in my defence I did spend 4 years in a Pipe band as a tenor drummer (have had to stop for time being due to work commitments etc) so do have drums in my blood.

As GBS say "Beat the drum, beat the drum, like a heartbeat loney and strong - beat the drum"

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"Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul." --Pythagoras

Just bumping this up as I see we have another budding bodhran player on the forums!

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"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." ~ A. Lincoln

"Age is no guarantee of maturity." ~ L. Blackwell

"A word to the wise isn't necessary, it's the stupid ones who need advice." ~ B. Cosby

**New GBS fanboard in the works...PM me for info & note that not all enquires will be accepted**

Hey guys, new to the site!

I just got a new bodhran for Christmas. It's a non-tunable head so people have told me that I should apply water to it to loosen it up. Is there a certain amount that I should put on there? And how often can I wet the head?
Right now I put a bit on every time I play and I'm not sure if putting water on too often can damage it.

Thanks guys!

Alex. 

Welcome to the site, Alex!

Congrats on the bodhran for Christmas   Before applying water to the head of your drum I would say that it depends on how your drum currently sounds.  If it doesn't sound 'tinny' you probably don't need to put water on it.  But if it is tinny I would recommend spraying a little bit of water on it (best done with a spray bottle) and then giving it a quick rub with your hand, wiping the excess off with a dry cloth.

I would say that you're probably okay with wetting it a bit everytime you play is fine.  A lot of players do that with the non-tuneables.  I also play a non-tuneable and find that I have to do it once in a while.  Mind you, with me being so busy with school I haven't had a lot of time to really play lately.  But on occassion I'll take my Bessie down and play just to keep my hand in.

If you find that the drum head is getting really dry then you may want to treat the drum head with a bit of mink oil or aqueaous lanolin (usually available at shoe stores).  Use only a little bit on a chamios or bit of flannel and work it into the top of the skin.  You don't want to use too much because too much oil means you'll have an unplayable drum for quite a while.  The nice thing is that you won't have to treat the skin very often because as you play the oil continues being spread and worked into the skin.  I've had my bodhran for several years now and have only oiled it twice.

Have fun, and bang on!

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"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." ~ A. Lincoln

"Age is no guarantee of maturity." ~ L. Blackwell

"A word to the wise isn't necessary, it's the stupid ones who need advice." ~ B. Cosby

**New GBS fanboard in the works...PM me for info & note that not all enquires will be accepted**

Thank you so much.

Seeming I've only been playing for one day, I'll kep doing what I'm doing for another little while, and if the head keeps tightening up I'll give the oil a try.

 Thanks again,

Alex. 

Hi, Alex!

 I finally bought myself a bodhran this past Feb. after wanting one for years and years.  One of the suggestions I was given by the man who made her is to use dubbin - the stuff for leather shoes - on it if I found it was really taut or "scratchy" sounding.  Granted, mine is tunable, but it may help.  And a tin of dubbin is dead cheap and found at most grocery stores. lol

Best of luck with it!

Later, Meg.

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"You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down."
Mary Pickford