I don't think there is anything bad about water buffalo skin, but like most drums, head selection and preference helps to define your personal sound.  When L.P. first moved to Thailand and started using the Buffalo skin it was thick skin and sounded that way. We were grateful to have a consistent source of skin.  A typical L.P. head now is much thinner.  Thin skin is easier for a beginner to play and  louder.  Your Matadors are wide belly and Aspires are narrow that will affect tone also.   I recomend you find a drum you do like the sound of and see what kind of skin and thickness it has and also how it is tuned then see if you can bring your drums to that sound.  You may need new heads.  

 Playing them will break them in so, extra playing time?

as one of the main complainers of LP's buffalo skins, let me first say - it's a personal preference thing I am sure but, here's what I look for in the sound of a conga head: the sound of a string being plucked like a cello or a double bass for the open tones.   Again, let me stress, for emphasis and so as not to offend anyone - it is my humble opinion that you can get a decent slap out of almost any head and the bass tone seems to be a bit more dependent upon the shell than the head (not 100%) but, if you want to have the full range of sounds, your open tones have got to sound "musical".   For me, there is no "music" in the buffalo skins that LP ships on even their best drums.  

I don't think it has anything to do with aging or breaking in because I personally think that heads wear out like strings (on a cello) - of course, brand new ones will stretch rapidly at the beginning of their lives.   Heads can be treated with oils and emulients (sp?) to keep them supple but, there again, the problem (for me) with the LP buffalo heads - they seem to have some kind of coating or finish or something (does anybody know what they put on them?) so that they don't take treatments and they don't hold bee's wax (which I use sometimes during gigs when my hands tend to sweat and make it harder to stick good slaps).

Anyway, sorry this is so long but, I've been using cow on my conga and tumba and they sound wonderfully musical.  I have a muleskin on order (should arrive any day now) for my quinto and I'll let y'all know how I like it.  The hardest part for me has been finding heads and/or guys to make them!  I have not tried to make my own and I doubt that I ever will.    Mountain Rythym has some premium cow heads but I have not yet tried them on my LPs so I'm not positive that they will fit.   Meinl makes some pretty good heads but they do not fit on LPs and they aren't so great that I would go to a lot of trouble to try to make them fit.

I bet there are some who will disagree with some of what I have said - or have different tastes and opinions - I'd love to hear them!   That's what I really like about this forum!

If you are looking to treat the heads to add back in some of the natural oils and moisture, stay away from items such as hand lotion with perfumes in them.  I have found that a light coating of pure lanolin (available at most pharmacies) works well. Rub it in well and let it do it's thing.
 This is even more important if you soak a head prior to removing a skinwire, as the soaking process takes most the natural oils out of the hide.

want to buy a good used LP buffalo quinto head?  

I hear what you're  saying - I think some of those pros could make a shoe box sound fantastic but I don't think I'll ever be that good.

I listen to some of the "Pros Play" stuff on the LP site and it makes me wonder if somehow these guys (like Giovanni) are getting special treatment from LP in selecting heads because I just can't believe they sound that good playing the same heads that LP ships to the "great unwashed masses" like me.  Is it really possible that the technique I use to play a single open tone is sooooooooo different from these guys?

I have the LP produced DVD "DRUM SOLOS REVISITED" that shows 10 or 12 New York area pros vamping on solos with a good band backing them up. It is a good video and shows split angles from front, sides and above and has bongo, conga, and timbale solos.

You clearly can see the heads on the conga drums. It looks like some of the tumbas have heavier obpege cow skin, but most of the quintos seem to be using the water buffalo. Like I said, the slaps these guys get from those heads are fantastic, and contrast distinctly from the open tones.


Bingo  

Definitely! My quinto has a killer single-handed slap. The conga is the one I would like to go little deeper; but it still can buzz the windows

Im quite happy with my set. I think Ill add a tumba someday for that extra bottom.

But returning to the topic: Ill give a try as soon as I can to the NuSkins. How close do they are to real skin - not feel; sound?

Hi, This is Isaac. I'm a percussionist, mainly congas but
also bongos, timbales, framedrums, doumbek, pandeiro, etc. I've
been playing since 1978.
I've always mounted my own cow heads
that I purchased myself. In the early 90's I started going to the JCR
percussion company in the bronx, to get them to mount new heads for
me and also custom repairs. They are a small family run business
that caters to the who's who of the the NY and Puerto Rico Salsa scene.
Cali Rivera, the owner and skilled craftsman was also a Timbalero
that has played with the late great Arsenio Rodriguez, ( the Architect
of Son Montuno) and also plays with Cuatro master - Yomo Toro.
He recommended to me the loose mule skins he imported from Venezuela and Colombia. I tried them but thought they were
a bit ugly (untreated with odd markings from the animal and the odd bit
of animal hair). Last year I left my full time day gig - a career in advertising design and art. ( I still do it freelance) and began importing
and selling percussion instruments. When asked where they come from
I say " Asia, Africa and the Bronx!"  I became a rep. for the JCR
products - bells, bongos, timbales, which had built up a great word-of-mouth reputation since 1978 when they began. Cali's timbales and bells were formally inaugurated into the Metropolitan Musem's permanent collection last month (Dec. 21/04).
   The reason for the prevalence Buffalo heads is really a business issue.
Not only are they cheaper to manufacture, but the labor costs
of preparing them is so much lower than in the USA, which is why
TVs, Cameras, PC etc are made in Asia.  Drum manufacturing is likewise
a  business that wants to be profitable and to survive and grow. For the
workers that make them, they don't know the difference in sound,
since the conga is not part of their culture's musical sound spectrum.
  The wood on the Asian made drums (Toca, Pearl, LP, Meinl, etc)
is very good. For better hardware or heavier wood you pay more,
but essentially all these drums are "good enough" for most players.
  To upgrade your instrument, there's a vital component easily removed
and switched - that's the skin. If your drums came with the cow or steer
from the USA ( ie. like LP used to offer when they were manufactured in New Jersey), the price would easily cost an additional $120 for a set of
two drums.
 Just like a guitarist upgrades to better strings or pickups, it's
up to us individual conga players to make sure our instrument sounds
as best as possible. Good technique is first and foremost - without
it ,  excuse me for saying - you'll suck, no matter how good the
instrument. Vice versa, a good player will bring out the musicality
from the crappiest of surfaces. It's also a subjective matter for
the developed ear., and I don't want to sound snobbish about it.
I spent a bit of time in Cuba in 1988, and the quality of instruments was
dismal. Yet, everyone sounded great on them! I should add that the whereas the drums were flimsy, they played on great skins - cow
and mule.

My personal feeling is to play the hell out of whatever you've got,
until its time is up, then work your way up to somthing better.
By that time you'll have earned it.

~ ISAAC ~
Percussionist / Writer for World Percussion & Rhythm / Rep. for JCR

funkytradition@yahoo.com

ps. I'll be at the NAMM instrument show and let you know of any new
developments in the percussion world.

I would just like to second OldGuyAl's comments.

I recently purchased mule skins from FunkyTradition for my LPs, and I wanted to make sure I was putting them on correctly.  I emailed Isaac to make sure.  Saturday night, I got a phone call - from Isaac.  He was concerned that I'd messed up.  Fortunately, I hadn't started putting the new skins on.

I've never heard of service like that before - perhaps similar to Roy Burns with Aquarian, I suppose.  Fantastic.

Ten thumbs (all mine) up!

And Isaac... so glad you chimed in... very nice to hear someone with your expirience ...

I know what heads you talk about. I've seen 'em on other entry level congas and in my Aspire bongos, but not in Aspire congas.

It is a very thin material and breaks very easilly, specially if get wet. I think that still buffalo, but from a different body area. Usually the skin from the belly is much thiner.

Don't judge the skin by its color. As Cali Rivera of JCR says -
"the uglier they are, the better they sound!" The white ones have
been treated in a kind of bleach that makes them clean & light,
and also breaks them in a bit and "drys" the sound, (however this shortens their longevity).
This process can be done to water buffalo, or cow, or mule.
Cow and Mule are a definite upgrade to the stock water buffalo hides,
which are today too thin for the correct tones.
Mule allows for more articulation and distinct tones.
Listen to some of the congas in Colombian or Venezuelan Salsa,
you're likely hearing mule. Prices are comparable to the costs
of commercially available skins. Contact me by emai or
tel. 732-236-8148 (cell).

~ ISAAC ~
funkytradfition@yahoo.com

maybe I am imagining this...I can't say for sure but, I treated one of my worst sounding buffalo heads with a heavy dose of 100% lanolin and I could almost swear that it sounds a lot better.

I didn't treat it to improve the sound.  I treated it to keep it from getting too dried out while it was just sitting around in my closet as a spare.  But, unexpectedly, I had to re-mount it less than a week later and it didn't sound as bad as I remembered.  It's a lot warmer sounding and the open tones are almost just what I want - not quite but almost.

I'm just saying...

something I've started doing with all my heads - even before I mount them but only plan to do it once every 2-3 years (don't want to over-do it).  

I get 100% pure natural lanolin from a health food store.
I put a generous coating on the inside (underside) of the head (off the drum, of course) and let it sit overnight to soak in a bit.
Then, I vigorously and repeatedly wipe off all the excess with a clean rag until the head is not "greasy" feeling - no noticeable lanolin comes off on my fingers.
Then, I either store it (for a spare) or mount it if it's a new head.

The theory is that the curing and forming process (especially the soaking) takes all the natural oils out of the skin so, I'm just putting some back in.

I didn't really invent any of this process - it's something I've gleaned from talking to lots of other, more experienced, players and drum makers.

Now, let me qualify this by saying that I like a warmer sound on my congas and bongos.  If you like a drier sound (like a djembe), I don't think this is the way to go.   Some folks want drier, some like warmer.  So, I'm guessing that a drier skin makes a drier sound.

I stand in full recognition that I could, in fact, be full of beans on all of this.  I'm just reporting what I did and what results I observed.  

Very interesting advise from you, Al. Can you give a more detailed description of the process

I've been playing congas for over ten years with a friend who is a master Afro-Cuban Conguero. We are both frustrated with LP water buffalo skins especially on the Macho Quinto. Typical LP water buffalo skins are too thin and sound like a tin cans when tuned high with rining overtones. I've tried mitigating this problem by placing gel pads on the heads. Although this gell removes some of the overtone ringing with minimal success,  it is far better to have a good thick head on a Maco Quinto.

Over the years I've observed that  experienced congueros playing traditional non microphoned rhumba, often choose a conga with thicker skin, regardless of size, to tune highest as the macho quinto. This just happened at our Sunday Rhumba session when we played Columbia and Guan-Guan-Co.  Available were several wood conga drums size 11" to 12"+ including an expensive LP Giovonni 11"quinto with a thin water buffalo head. The master, along with other proficient percussionists in our group, picked a less expensive 11-3/4" size Matador conga to play as a quinto noting how it had been reskinned with a thicker unlabeled head (can't decipher which species of beast).  The group chose not play this expensive LP Giovonni 11"quinto because of it's thin LP water buffalo head nor did they choose to play two other LP congas with thin heads and I agreed.  

I have observed this distaste of thin LP water buffalo and preferece for thicker skins of better suited beast species, especially on Macho Quinto, amongst many Congueros playing Afro-Cuban.

MOONGEL damper pads by RTOM

I bought these 4 little purple pads in a small 2" diameter plastic case at Guitar Center for about 7 bucks.

I have only played on rawhide skins so I don't know what they would be like on synthetic.

They clean up with soap and water and stick to drumskins, bells, etc to dampen that ring.  

On Congas I've experimented with them on the top only with one pad by moving it around different areas of the drum.  They can conflict with the players hands especially a smaller quinto.  I suppose if it really worked on a drum well in one spot it could be placed on the bottom and maybe taped to ensure that it stayed there.

I've had very good success placing one inside my Bongo Bell which was wraped up with tape.