Im curious, I have a new head off of a 12.5 tumba, can i soak that head and use it on a smaller drum? I knowid have to change skin wires but i wasnt sure if it would work.  Any and all input would be great!!          LaMont

You can take any skin and put it on any drum ... which is what you are thinking already.

The skin used on your Tumba may be rather thick, which isn't uncommon for larger drums. Depending on the drum you are going to put it on ... it will work ... but you'll need to change out the flesh hoop (you called it the skin wire).  You'll also have a lot of access skin once you re-tuck the head to fit the smaller drum.

It all comes down to the sound you want. Personally, my rule of thumb is that smaller or high pitched drums sound better with thinner skins. This brings out the higher harmonics of the sound of the drum.

As mentioned; experiment. It can work, but you may or may not like the results.

Ah ... that makes sense. Well, if it was too thin for your liking on the large drum, it just be the right thing for the smaller drum.

If possible, don't trim or cut the skin in any way until you know for certain that you want to use it on the smaller drum. You don't have to cut/trim until the head is mounted and you hear what it sounds like. It is easier to trim before the skin completely dries, but if you do that you'll be stuck using the skin on that size drum, even if you soak it again.