Surdo 20" x 50 cm - hide heads (goat skin) with aluminium rims

Beautiful Rio style Samba surdo by IVSOM - typical Ivsom design with yellow hardware.
Ivsom´s surdos are very popular in Rio´s and meanwhile also in European Samba schools. They stand out from other brands especially through 3 characters:

• They are 50 cm high instead of the former 60 cm standard height of the older days. This saves weight, does not really influence the sound and is a lot more comfortable to handle. By now it is quite normal to see 50 cm surdos in Rio´s Samba schools.
• The rods have threads on both ends, that means that where you are probably used to popping the rod through a bracket with a slit, Ivsom's rods are screwed down flush with the hoop on both ends. No more metal pieces sticking out!
• To enforce the rim where the heads lies on the shell, the body is flanged around a ring of 10 mm flat metal. Like this the shell is a lot more stable than it would be using just a piece of round wire. But the more important fact is that the rim is now absolutely flat and protects the leather.
• The main optical feature of this surdo line is definitively the yellow galvanised hardware and exceptionally beautiful and hand-selected goatskin heads.

IVSOM delivers to the Samba school Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel in Rio de Janeiro, amongst many others. Being a mechanic and caixa player himself, he has the best knowledge and skills to build excellent Samba instruments with outstanding sound qualities.

Important information for mounting goat skin heads:
Hide heads are mounted on wood or aluminium rims after previously being moistened. When dry, the skins tighten up which usually causes the wood rim to twist a bit. So if you put a new hide head on your surdo, it will probably be neccessary to wetten the head with a sponge or a cloth (no need to drown it, just dampen it a little). Then the head will turn soft, be able to stretch and you can easily mount it. Leave the head on your surdo without tension until it's completely dry. Leave it to dry at room temperature overnight, don´t expose it to sun or other things like heating or hairdryers which would make the head brittle. It will fit itself nicely on your surdo and be ready for being tuned and played the next day. Like this you'll enjoy your surdo for a very long time.

How to mount an Ivsom surdo: