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It's a mandolin! It's tuned just like a fiddle, so it works really well for picking out Irish tunes

Have fun with it! I've started using it in sets with my band and sometimes it's just the perfect sound, I'm still experimenting with it though

I am American. Originally from New Jersey, not too far from New York City, though I've lived in various places around the Northeast and Midwest of the US.

(currently living closer to Philadelphia)

Very nice, I’m in Montana but lived in Pittsburgh, PA for a bit, and lots of different places. (Highlander quote)

I love this drum, it's the nicest I've ever owned! It's made by Christian Hedwitschak in Germany. It's a custom drum, but he makes all sorts of really great stock sizes as well. The whole spec is: HighendLine custom drum 16"/40cm size Figured beech with blue fade finish Dragonskin Spicy (treated goatskin) head Compressor Tuning Ring www.bodhranmaker.de/

I've always applied it mostly to the outside, and only when the drum is really dry and/or has a particularly thick goatskin applied it to the inner surface of the head. The logic to putting lotion only on the outer head was two-fold, as I was taught, first, because your tone hand is in contact with the inner head, you're already rubbing natural oil from your hand on the drum, and second, on a non-tunable drum, you'd be moistening the inside head to loosen it, and a lot of conditioning creams have beeswax which slows down the absorption of water. I've mostly used the McNeela bodhran conditioner in recent years, which is made with lanolin and beeswax, and Padraic McNeela specifically recommends applying to the outside of the head. I did look up the Waltons cream and the directions do say to put it on the inside head, but to make it more confusing, I watched the drum care video on Waltons official RUclips and they tell you to put it on BOTH sides of the head! I know that Waltons sells a lot of drums with painted images on the head, it's possible that they recommend conditioning the inside head to avoid damaging the artwork? I know this is a bit of a rambling answer, I've been doing it the way I have for decades, but am always willing to admit I might be missing something, so I've got a whole bunch of other tabs open and am trying to read up as I go. As far as I can tell most makers and players primarily recommend treating the outer surface of the head. Waltons apparently says one thing on the bottle but their how-to videos say another, so I'd feel free to treat both sides of the head if the outside also seems dry. I'm also going to email Walton's and check with them about it, and I'll give an update if I get a response, because now you've got me overthinking the whole thing.

Update: I haven’t heard back from Walton’s yet, but one of the other manufacturers I emailed mentioned that the Walton’s conditioner may have some UV-sensitive ingredient, which would mean it’s better on the less-exposed side of the head

@@mattdeblassmusic I have a painted Bodhran from Waltons, so far I’ve only used the cream on the inside. McNeela is out of stock on the cream they sell. Thank you so much for your great answer and detail to my question!

There are a lot of options out there, and fortunately it can be pretty inexpensive to experiment with them till you find a style that really suits you

I'm glad it helped!

In spite of being the best percussion instrument in the world, Bodhran definitely has its detractors, and loud, clumsy players who don't treat the drum as a real instrument give us all a bad name! The best defense against that is just to play as well as you can and make sure you're adding to the tune instead of just making noise, that way you know they're just being cranks and it's nothing you're doing wrong.

That's not a bad idea at all! I might have to pick up a cheap hair dryer for next time I have to re-tape.

Not if they have different parts to play.

Or they agree to share the tunes ...

I'm using a Matt Bell signature model made by Falconwood Tippers. I'm not sure that they make that particular model anymore, but there are similar drumstick-headed ones out there.