Remo and Pretuned Doumbeks
Tuning and re-heading Remo Festival and pretuned ceramic doumbeks — and what to do when the tuning key goes missing.
4 questions answered
TUN-100 I lost my tuning key. Can I use any Allen key? #
Only one of exactly the right size. Gawharet El Fan says standard Egyptian drums take a 5 mm Allen key. Remo’s doumbek key uses a 5/32" hex (its swivel key has a 1/4" drive socket with a 5/32" hex bit). A key that’s a fraction too small will round off the socket, so check it fits snugly before you put any force through it. Retailers sell replacement key-and-screw sets, and a spare in the case is money well spent.
TUN-101 My Remo Festival doumbek has no bolts. How do I tune it or change the head? #
You don’t tune it at all. Festival doumbeks use Remo’s Fliptop pretuned head: the film is tensioned at the factory and the whole head unit is replaceable, so there’s no raising or lowering the pitch. When the head wears out you swap in a new Fliptop head (the 10" FL-1510-DK-07S in Black Suede film, for example). Remo has a support article and video called “How To Replace a Fliptop Drumhead”.
TUN-102 My pretuned ceramic doumbek arrived loose, or went slack. Can I tighten it or re-glue the same skin? #
Usually neither. DrumDrTom explains that a lot of pretuned ceramic doumbeks use a water-based glue that goes sticky and loses its grip once the drum gets damp, and then the skin slips. Plenty of cheap pretuned drums also arrive too loose to play well in the first place. You normally can’t re-mount the old skin either, because you need spare skin beyond the rim to pull it tight before you glue and trim it. So the fix is a fresh skin. Warming will make a loose skin playable for a while (Section 10), but it won’t re-bond glue that has failed.
TUN-103 Can a synthetic head be glued onto a clay doumbek instead of goat skin? #
Yes. Repairers have fitted plastic heads to ceramic shells, glued and pulled down with rope, and the result doesn’t sag in humid weather. It sounds brighter and less “woody” than goat or fish skin. The shell still needs the old skin and glue cleaned off first, though, so it’s a full re-heading job rather than a quick swap.