Specifications
- Material: horsehide, wild boar hide or deer hide (as requested)
- Origin: Germany, from small artisan tanneries
- Size: by request, subject to current stock
- Format: uncut, sold per square metre
- Intended use: for the bespoke building of ritual and frame drums
Sound and character
Each of the three available hide types offers a distinct sonic world. Horsehide is bright, sensitive and rich in upper overtones — particularly suited to therapeutic and meditative practice. Wild boar hide is a denser, harder material with a firm character and a powerful fundamental. Deer hide is the rarest of the three; its fine fibre structure produces a soft yet full-bodied sound with a particularly gentle ring.
How to use
This mixed hide offering is aimed at those who run drum-building workshops or who make bespoke ritual drums to order, and want a choice of materials. Since the hides are delivered uncut and priced per square metre, you can shape a piece that fits the size and character of your project. Offcuts can be used for smaller accessories such as lacing, lugs and handles.
Why this product
If you work flexibly — building a small frame drum one day and a large ritual drum the next, and choosing the hide that best matches the desired tonal character — this mixed hide pack is the most practical solution. Three different materials make a wide range of projects possible, so you can source everything you need from a single supplier. The European origin and small workshop sourcing ensure gentle processing throughout.
Care tips
- Always adapt soaking time to the hide type — thinner materials become workable in a shorter time.
- Wild boar hide can take firmer tensioning; horsehide and deer hide should be tensioned more gently.
- Never force-dry the mounted hide — direct sunlight and heaters will dry it out.
- Before cutting a larger piece, prepare a template for the frame and leave a generous allowance for tensioning.
- Store the three hide types labelled, in a cool and dry place.
About Feeltone
Feeltone is a craft instrument workshop based in Lassan, northern Germany, founded by Ingo Böhme. For more than two decades they have been building monochords, sound beds, sound chairs and ritual drums for therapists, sound artists and meditation practitioners. Every instrument is hand-built from certified sustainable woods and finished with natural treatments such as hard wax oil.