Drum Pics

I've been playing bodhran for 4 or 5 years now (I can never remember exactly when it comes to these things). I've had two. The first was umber brown with a beige head and was very generic in every conceivable way. The sound wasn't bad, but was a bit sharp. The head itself was losing its colour and becoming transparent (not that this is a big problem, but it did annoy me). The thing cost me $40 and I ended up giving it to a friend of mine who wanted it either to learn or to use as some kind of decoration in his apartment.

The current bodhran I have is a real beauty. It's a handmade 19 inch Neil O'Grady with a red goat skin drum head. This one is about 3 years old and is locally made by Neil O'Grady, who is from Carbonear, Newfoundland. He is also the only local maker of ulieann pipes. Here's a couple pictures of this drum:

The last one here shows the three tippers I most often use. The first and second are my favourites.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get around to recording something on this insturment.