Mridangam Repair and Other Mridangam Aspects

[unni]

yeah it was actually very damaged. the bass side had a huge hole right in the middle of the innermost skin where u play tha. and the tennor side had completely caved in...so the replacement heads have arrived safely from india. and it took many hours but i finally got the laces off the damaged mridangam and removed the old heads now it's putting the new heads on and replacing the laces that i need help with.

[Nick-H (UK)]

Oh dear.

It is very hard work to put the new heads on.

You can put some small string to loosely hold the heads in place then start threading, following the way that it was threaded originally.

Are you going to use the original leather (vaar) or replace with nylon/polyester rope?

Better if DHL had agreed to finance replacement.

Was it packed properly? they usually put tin plates to protect the heads.

[unni]

i was planning on reusing the same leather straps. no the shipper didnt save the paper for the insurance agreement of the shipment. he had never shipped a musical instrument before. i've left that in the hands of my teacher to work on that when he gets time..soon i hope he hasnt started yet...i found one that is old but it's got some water damage..but it's good to practice on.. i havent had much luck in finding a good mridangam that i can play..one main problem is that i dont know many ppl in U.S that plays mridangam..i've even put out one of those random posts on GER on merchandise search for mridangams for sale in U.S Price between $100 - $250..hoping in the future someone will help.. i wont be able to go to india till next summer so until then or until i find a good mridangam in the U.S..i'll do with the one i have now. the main thing is that no one can repair it here either..sending it back n forth to india is too costly and risky..no risks since it's the only mridangam i have..only problem is that you cant hear the "chappu" or the "thin" other than that... the only structural problem with the one i have is that some weird fungus growth has damaged the bass side a little where we play "thom"...ebay's prices for south indian mridangams ($400 are almost twice the price of what i paid for the mridangam to be shipped from india ($250)..