John Croft, Glan Tanat, Llanyblodwel, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY10 8NQ, England. Tel: (44) 01691 - 828850.
E-Mail: theukuleleman@hotmail.com

How to Change a Vellum.

*** No part of this Article may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the written consent of the Author.***
Copyright by J.E.Croft, August 1st, 2002.

Now take the clean hoop and place it on a the table where you are going to fit the new vellum. Take the clean flesh ring and place it over the hoop, turning it around until it fits evenly all round the hoop, with a small but uniform gap between the two. Neither flesh rings or hoops are perfectly round and it is important that the flesh ring is, if necessary, gently squeezed or stretched into shape in order to fit the hoop evenly all the way around. This prevents the new vellum being ‘pinched’ by the flesh ring against the SIDE of the hoop. Now you need to make a small mark on the flesh ring (I use a very very small nick with a hacksaw at the part of the flesh ring that sits directly above either the tailpiece mounting point or the neck mounting point) so that you know the EXACT POSITION that the flesh ring fits onto the hoop when you put the new vellum on. Now repeat this process with the bezel so that it too fits onto the hoop with a uniform gap all around it. When you have got the bezel in the right position don’t mark it with a hacksaw, use a small adhesive label marked with an arrow directly above the tailpiece mounting point (as shown in Photos 13 and 14). Now you know the exact position in which to fit the flesh ring and the bezel onto the new vellum.

Now we’re ready! Take the hoop and cover it tightly with cling film, making sure that there are no wrinkles or creases on the top of the hoop where the new vellum will sit (Photos 15 and 16). Why do this? Well, when a wet hoop dries out it can absorb a multitude of things from the wood beneath it, including wood stain and polish. If this happens it leaves you with a stain around the vellum which looks horrible, and you have to throw away your brand new vellum and start all over again. So to prevent any chance of that happening, cling film is ideal and easy to use.

Next, take your new vellum. Incidentally, to fit a standard 8” (19.2 cm) diameter hoop you will need an 11” (26.4 cm) diameter vellum. You should find that on one side of the vellum there is a pencilled ring that has been used to mark out the diameter of the vellum (Photo 17). The pencilled side is the TOP of the vellum - the side on which you will actually play, and it should be somewhat smoother than the opposite side.

Again making sue that your sink is completely clean, fill the sink with warm water and gently drop the vellum into the water (Photo 18), leaving it for 5 to 10 minutes. As it absorbs the water you will see it gradually curl up into a scroll shape (Photos 19 and 20). For the purist, warm Asses’ milk is (allegedly) far better to use than warm water, but - hey - , let’s get real!

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