ROOSEBECK TUNABLE SHEESHAM BODHRAN CROSS-BAR SOFT NATURAL HEAD 18-BY-3.5-INCH

I don't know how else to say it. It is built solidly and has a good tone. The tipper included with it is very light but makes a nice alternative to my hardwood tipper. The skin...well, I didn't buy it for the looks. I have to say that must have been a very unhappy goat in life. There should be mottling and variation but this just looked sad; grey spots, spots so thin you can almost see through them. And some sort of varnish so hap-hazardly applied it completely missed a full fifth of the skin.Now, I am not an experienced Bodhran player. But I have been around. So within the first hour of owning it I sat down with some 220-grit and took the worst of the roughness and the I-don't-know-what-they-were-thinking varnish off. Then wiped it a bunch to work skin oils (from my skin, not that of the poor goat) into it. Which made it much more playable, took the tipper scratch almost completely out, and improved the looks quite a lot too.Here's the thing. It is a budget Bodhran. I got it from Roosebeck because I refuse to humor anyone calling themselves "Trinity College" unless they are actually in Dublin. And it isn't a Walton (who apparently make a good Bodhran but not a good cheap Bodhran.) So it is five stars because despite the sad skin and the work I needed to put in to make it playable, that is what you should expect at that price point.Oh, and because Amazon has no clue and lumps every size, every variation into the same review stack to make it look like people are actually, you know, reviewing, this is the 18" x 3.5" tuneable with black frame and t-bar. I find the t-bar works just fine for either hand-on-skin or hand-wedged-under-crosspiece holds. The cut-out makes it more comfortable but I wouldn't care if it wasn't there. At 3.5" it is a wee shallow for excellent tone but with the allen-key tuners I can quickly dial it up to a nice boom that isn't so low it makes the head all flabby and I'm glad I stuck with 18" instead of being tempted by the lower prices on a 16" or (shudder) 14".

I'm new to the Bodhran, so I don't have experience with these drums, but this one seems to be well made, and I have been enjoying trying my hand at learning to use it. It is large diameter and is kind of shallow, so I'm having a bit of trouble balancing it on my knee while trying to work the back of the skin. Next one will be deeper and smaller diameter. No matter, I'm still having fun beating on this thing for now

This was purchased for a friend of mine, he's the bodhran player, not me. He's been playing for over 20 years and is very experienced. He chose this one as a replacement for his older bodhran after much research. However, when it arrived he was even more pleased. He said it is very good quality construction, was well set up, and sounds phenomenal. He was very pleased.

We intiially got a bodhran for around $70 and it was just a pile of garbage right out of the box. We upgraded the few extra dollars and got this drum as a replacement and we've never looked back. I use this in our traditional Irish band I play in, and it's been fabulous. Durable, well constructed, good sound, great starter drum. It's a little larger than some drums, fyi, but it's still well within the standard sizing. Would definitely recommend, enjoy!

I had hoped this item would be as advertised and pictured... but had not hoped for such because so many things are hyped and Photoshopped these days.NOT DISAPPOINTED AT ALL. This is a ***superb*** bodhran. I don't know how it would compare with a $1000 drum... but it is easily the equal of drums 2-3 times its cost.This is one of those rare instances of a quality product at a reasonable (even low, relatively speaking) price. While it costs about double what a "thumbtack" version would cost... the quality of manufacture, the fact that it's tunable, the beautifully lacquered black wood body and the nicely-toned goatskin head makes this my latest price-and-joy acquisition.I know this sounds like a PR hype. I don't work for the company, first time I've ever dealt with them, but really... what a VERY nice item. I am quite pleased with this purchase.As a note: I also purchased with this item a case and tipper as follows, and am pleased with all three purchases. The tipper especially was a surprise, nicely finished and balanced better than any other I have used, and the case a very sturdy nylon (nothing cheap about it):Tipper: http://www.amazon.com/Knob-Tipper-with-Off-Center-Groove/dp/B000AYXL70/ref=cm_cr_wr_imgCase: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009V457O/ref=ox_ya_os_product

After researching a bit on bodhrans, I decided I needed one that was tunable, so I went with the Roosebeck 14" (since I didn't want another big frame drum--I have the Remo 22" buffalo drum) hoping that I could get away with as small a drum as possible. Nice little bodhran, but it did not have the low end boom I wanted and I also had some difficulty muting that drum with my left hand as it was a little small for me. To get low tones, I had to tune the drum to where the head was almost slack, and by then the volume was way too low. I liked the look of the 16" green drum that Roosebeck offered, but decided to go with the 18" instead, and am happy I did. It has all the boom I wanted and has a much more satisfying sound than the 14". I think the 16" would have been a good fit for my left hand as well, and maybe a little more convenient to transport, but the 18" has some beautiful deep tones and the black lacquer looks pretty sharp. I have been having a lot of fun messing around with this drum and look forward to learning more from the school of youtube! This drum is an awesome buy.