Tubano Drum Sound Comparison

i wanted to comment on the sound quality of my homemade tubanos and compare them to the Remo brand pretuned tubano after which they were modeled.  the short answer...Remo brand tunable tubanos take first place, with the non-tunable Remos in close second.  but my homemade drums are really pretty decent for what they are.  out of my first two attempts at homemade tubano drums, i was most pleased with the sound of the drum head made of ripstop nylon.

Remo brand pretuned tubano:

this was the drum after which my homemade tubanos were modeled.  the internal apparatus in the bottom of the tubanos is designed to create a low, resonating, focused tone in the center of the drum head, and a shallower, higher pitched tone on the outer edge of the drum head.  i love the rich, booming low tone of the Remo drums.  the higher tone on this particular drum is not very clear, but it may be due to years of use and stretching of the (non-tunable) head.  Remo's tunable tubanos are awesome, and if my school budget allowed, i would love a classroom full of them!

homemade tubano "uno":

the first tubano i constructed used standard nylon "packcloth" fabric for the head.  the low tone in the center of the drum head is a little bit muted, and nowhere near as resonant as the Remo tubano, but in my opinion it's really pretty decent for being homemade.  the pitch is lower than that of the Remo.  there's a good, clearer high tone on the edge of the drum head.

homemade tubano "uno"

homemade tubano "uno" (bottom)

homemade tubano "dos":
i decided to try ripstop nylon for the second homemade tubano head.  ripstop nylon is made to be resistant to ripping, and it is designed such that if the fabric does tear, the tear will be contained and not grow larger.  i figured as long as the sound quality didn't suffer, it would make sense to use this fabric for my drums, which are to be used by elementary school aged children on a regular basis.  i was very pleasantly surprised at the resulting sound of the ripstop nylon.  again, it doesn't top the booming low tone of the Remo, but this drum really rings!  it is far more resonant than the muted tone of my first homemade drum.  the pitch is lower than the Remo, and one funny thing to note is i must speak at just the right pitch, because it actually sings when i talk near it :).  also in this drum's favor, there's still a discernible difference between the lower center tone and the outer edge high tone.

homemade tubano "dos"

homemade tubano "dos" (bottom)