Tacking

In this stage, you will be tacking the head onto the barrel: this is the final step before the drum is done. You will need appropriately-sized tacks for the drum you are making.

When Stanford Taiko first came back from working with Zenshin Daiko in Maui, the first thing we noticed about our drums was that the tacks on our older drums were not straight. A well-tacked drum looks very sharp and isn't difficult to do. The standard pattern for tacking is to have 2 rows of tacks that alternate, making a sort of "zig-zag" pattern. If done right, the tacks will just touch each other, and it will look like a line runs down the middle of the two rows of tacks.

• Wipe off the grease pencil line on the head with a damp towel.
• Using the tack line marking tool, draw a line around the head about 1.5" to 2" down. This will be the line for the row of tacks closest to the head.

  
  Click to see tack line marking tool

• The next step is to mark off where the tacks in the first row will go. Using a double pointed compass with the points 1" apart, slowly move around the drum on the line, making indentations in the skin. These will be where the points of the tacks are driven in. When you get about 3/4 of the way around the drum, stop making indentations. Go around the last 1/4 of the drum to see if the marks fit evenly. If the compass point ends on the one you started, then go back over the last 1/4 making indentations. Most likely, the marks will not fit evenly. In this case, adjust the compass very slightly to compensate for the extra space, then check to see if the marks come out evenly this time. Continue adjusting until they do, then go over the last 1/4 making indentations.
• The last 1/4 of the drum will have slightly different spacing between the tacks, but in reality the adjustment you make should be too small to notice, since it will add up over the space of a lot of tacks to compensate for the extra space.

  

• With a 1/16" bit, drill into each indentation. Drill through the skin and into the wood.

  

• Erase the pencil marks of the tack line marking tool with a damp towel.
• Use a plastic hammer (metal will scratch the tack heads) to pound in the first row of tacks. Pound from the side so you can make sure the tack is perpendicular to the side of the drum. Use small taps to start the tack, but finish with a few quick, hard strokes. Don't worry, the tacks can take it.

  

• For the second row of tacks, place a tack head (without the pin) below and in between two of the tacks in the first row, so that it is just touching a tack to the left and a tack to the right. Use a pencil to trace an outline of the tack head, then put the head aside. Find the middle of the outlne, and use this point to make a second line with the marking tool.

  

• Drill holes along this second marked line approximately in between each two tacks of the first row.
• Erase the second marked line with a wet towel.
• Pound the second row of tacks in.

  

• If the tack doesn't touch the first row, the "line" that runs down the middle of the two rows will appear to break. You can shift the heads closer together by holding a piece of wood against the top or bottom of the tacks and pounding the wood with a hammer.
• Go around the drum once more and pound the tacks in again so that they are flush with the skin of the drum. There is often a snapping sound when the tack has been fully driven in: that is the sound of the head of the tack hitting the skin.
• Take off the ratchets, the looped rope, and take out the rods from the mimi.
• Flip the drum over to stretch and tack the second head.

  
  Click to expand

• DonŐt hit the head with bachi for 1-7 days, or until it is completely dry.