As promised, here are some pictures of my wooden mrdanga produced in Peru.
These mrdangas are handcrafted by a Peruvian disciple of Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Swami, Vivasvan das. He warps the wood by heating it and bending it.
Here is where the two halves of the drum are joined.
The drum is lighter than a fibreglass Balarama, and doesn't produce as heavy a sound. Part of the reason for that is the construction of the heads, which are also locally produced. They are interchangeable with Ratnabhusana's heads, as they were modelled on those and are the same size. However, the mylar plastic that is available in Peru is thinner than that in LA. This makes the top head a lot clearer and more piercing, but sacrifices boom on the bottom end.
Currently I'm using a Peruvian head on my Balarama mrdanga (it's been over four years in service now), and an LA head on the bottom end.
In this shot of the top head of the wooden mrdanga you can see that the rubber compound on the top head is peeling away from the mylar. This makes the end "dead" in it's sound. The rubber compound gives it ring and sustain. I will take this head off and glue it back on.
The bumpers on this mrdanga are cast metal. The main thing that this does to your hands when you are playing is dry them out quicker. Split hands are due to dryness. If you want your hands to last longer in long kirtans, periodically take a few seconds break and wet them with water or sweat, then rub them together.
I helped to refine the design of this mrdanga by "porting" the top end. On previous models that top end was countersunk below the bumper. By putting a round strip of wood inside the end of the mrdanga we were able to raise the head beyond the bumper, and also make a thinner edge for the head to sit on, giving it more ring and sustain. I'd just come from Ratnabhusana's workshop in LA, as well as being a mrdanga gearhead to begin with, so I had some insight into what to do to improve the sound and playability.
The drum uses standard wood screws, and you use a screwdriver to tune it.
On Balarama mrdangas the top end is made by casting some acrylic compound in a mold. The bottom end however, is sourced from Remo. It was a standard drum head, Ratna told me in 2001 that Remo had discontinued it for production, but do a limited run for the devotees. Raivata will know the details better than I. Ratnabhusana makes the rubber compound and pours it on to glue on the mylar head.
Ratna experimented with putting the rubber compound on the inside to avoid the removal of the head by devotees playing "laghu" - making those whooping noises. However, pounding on the head then made the rubber come off inside the drum, because you are directly hitting on the back of it then. So he went back to putting it on the outside.
With the Peruvian wooden mrdangas both the bottom and top heads are made by casting the rims with plastic. The bottom head suffers from being too lightweight. We alleviated that somewhat by putting masking tape on the back of it.
When I was in charge of the BBTI in Peru I put some money into mrdanga production. I financed a production run of 5 mrdangas to keep Vivasvan eating and to try out some of the refinements that I suggested. I then sold those mrdangas to various devotees and temples in the region. I bought this one myself. I had another one made with a custom paint job on it - a flaming chakra and "Hare Rama". I should have kept that one... anyway, there are plenty more lifetimes between now and the end of the 10,000 year mission on Planet Earth!
Param vijayate sri krishna sankirtanam!
ever thought of using clay?
it's great how you utilize locally available material and skills to produce mrdangas, or something that comes close to the original thing. but isn't clay locally available in most places, too? (eskimos might experiment with ice-mrdangas...) i never watched mrdangas being made here in mayapur, but don't think there's a huge learning curve getting the clay molded, dried, and burnt into mrdanga shape.
for the heads you could still use fiber, plastic, or whatever; not screwed on, but tied up like the indian mrdangas are. at least until cow protection becomes more wiedespread in the west, and ahimsa leather of cows who passed on peacefully.
metal and wood work has been known in india for a long time, and there are drums made of these materials, too. but as far as i know, for kirtan / bhajan, always clay drums have been used. i haven't heard many varieties of modern mrdangas and am no musical expert anyway, but as far as i can tell, there's quite a difference between the original thing and the other materials...
ys phani.