Like a gong drum, except with conga heads. I have two mini congas that have no use right now, because they have broken heads (cheapy one ply stock buffalo skin), and irregular head sizes (9" and 10"), but I was thinking of picking up replacement heads. I couldn't find 9" and 10" conga heads, but I did find 9 3/4" and 11" heads. Evans TriCenter heads to be exact, I'm sure these things can take drumsticks.

Will the size difference have a drastic effect on the conga's sound? I'd hate to just have these sitting in my room with no use. I'd be willing to pay the $100 or whatever it is for replacement heads, but I won't do it if it would alter the sound of the congas.

Could you be more specific and maybe post the brand/model of the drums? They may make replacment heads.

Well, if you're changing from the standard heads they came with to new Fvans ones they are going to sound very different anyway! I've looked at getting some new heads for my congas as the ones they came with just aren't particularly great.

The thing you have to bear in mind is that if you have a rim of a specific size, getting a head half an inch bigger means it won't actually fit.. If I'm right it's probably a rim which gets pulled down over the edge of the head, same as any other drum?

3/4" is a pretty big difference in diameter. I think your first concern is whether or not the larger head will even fit in the hoop, which it may not.

Consider this; I had a vintage set of Premier drums from the early 60's. The toms were metric and therefore modern drum heads did not fit the hoops. I could make a 12" work, but it was a little off because the drum was slightly less than 12". The heads never fit cleanly under the collar of the rim.

The 16" would never work because the shell was actually a bit larger than 16". Fortunately, Remo still makes heads for these kits, but the back-order took a few months to arrive and they were pretty expensive.

Learn to use Google...

There are MANY 9" and 10" conga heads available in a wide variety of materials.

They are Sonor Champion Mini Congas. They do make replacement heads, but I don't want them, as they can't handle drumsticks, which I would mostly use them for.

I'd want my heads to match, it'd bother me if they didn't, I can't find a company that makes both 10" and 9" heads, and the only 9" conga head I found was this, and it seems pretty skeptical, considering there's no picture.

http://www.google.com/products?q=9%22+c ... CCcQrQQwAg

The Remo Fiberskyn 3 is available in 9" and 10"

Mmm. Good eye! I'll probably save up for some Remo Fiberskyns sometime in the future.

Off topic but related, I remember Premier used to make the Genista series with under sized shells claiming that it made the heads resonate better. Do any manufacturers still do this today? I owned a set for a few years, they were good drums but I'm not sure it made an improved difference. Although it did make fitting the heads on easier.

I would think an under sized shell would create a greater difficulty in seating/tuning.

I had a premier Signia snare drum that was an undersized shell. It was really easy to tune and louder than any snare drum I have ever owned... sound men HATED it because it spiked the gates on every mic on stage when I hit a rim shot, and at vthe time my style was Rimshots and ghostnotes... nothing in between! I finally declared it was too much of a pain to deal with and sold it. I had a similar custom made stave construction drum with an undersized shell... it too was very loud as well, and tuned like a dream. I later sold that drum to Brann Dailor long before he was in Mastodon.

Anyway, there seems to be some truth to what Ian is saying with the seating heads and tune-ability.

[quoteI later sold that drum to Brann Dailor long before he was in Mastodon. ][/quote]

You're not getting away that easy! We need the story! Even if you have to start another thread.

You're not getting away that easy! We need the story! Even if you have to start another thread.[/quote]

No new thread needed... just don't reply to this answer and it won't be a hijack...

Everybody comes from someplace! Brann is from Rochester NY originally.

He bought the drum from me when I was hanging out at Cadence Music one day. (the local 5 star)

He wasn't famous yet, he was just a nice kid that appreciated a really LOUD drum.

Somebody in YOUR town may become a famous player... it happens... it may even be YOU! No real story to tell!