Surdo 20" x 50 cm - hide heads with aluminium ring on both sides

Original Rio Style Samba surdo - authentic Rio style sound! 

The RIO line surdos with its 50 cm shells are shorter than the former 60 cm standard. This reduces weight, doesn't particularly affect the sound in any way and, conveniently, shorter surdos are also easier to handle, to store, to transport - and they're lighter - yay! 50 cm surdos can be seen more and more often in Rio's Samba schools.

Tips for happy surdos:

• Natural skins sound best with the right mallets (hard, unpadded).
• Tune slowly, especially at the beginning!
• You may need to retune while playing, this works best if you play with the nuts pointing up and use a crank tuning key.
• Always loosen the skins after playing.
• When storing in dry air or during hot-temperature periods, check the skins and loosen them if necessary, as they can tighten considerably.

Important note for mounting hide heads:
During production, natural skins are mounted damp on a wooden or aluminium ring. When drying, the skins contract, which often causes the ring to warp. If you mount a new skin on your surdo, it will usually be necessary to moisten the skin with a sponge or cloth (not soaking wet, just damp!) so that it stretches again and can be mounted easily. Put the skin on without applying tension and leave it to dry overnight, ideally and without any aids, so that it can adapt to the shape of your surdo. This will prevent it from becoming brittle and you will be able to enjoy your instrument for a long time.