I have bought a Hran - (presumably not a 'Bod' as the Irish translation of that word is the reason why the childrens tv programme called Bod was never broadcast in Ireland).

I went into the shop and said 'Can I have a Hran please' and they looked at me strangely, so I said instead,'May I have a Hran' and they said 'Certainly sir'.

I spent at least 45 minutes going trying out the Bodhrans that were in my budget range - in fact I spent more than I wanted to by about 30 pounds and then I had to buy a bag at 10 pounds. It was a miserable wet day to make things worse.

I bought a 16 Inch, non-tunable, un-decorated goat skin (she-goat) bodhran. The skin is thin and quite tight and I have to wet it. I was informed it would loosen with use. I had the option of buying a thicker skinned one but it would have taken a long time to knock it into a good tension and I may have lost my enthusiasm before then.

I have beating away every day since I got it, sometimes with music sometimes without, sometimes with rhythm and sometimes without, sometimes with the same rhythm as the tune and sometimes without.

Thanks for the advice. I will look up this thread if I am buying another one in the future and consider some of the recommendations.

Cheers,