The stalk was fitted with a head of brain tanned buckskin and stuffed with buffalo hair. A buckskin thong lashed the leather head to the notched end of the wild rose stalk. Double-headed drums entirely enclose the air chamber, but the flexibility of the second head affects the vibrating air within the chamber. A hole in the side of a double-headed drum is often made to allow air flow and therefore greater sound transmission. The sycamore stump had a natural hole in its side that came from a knot in the trunk.
Humidity changes the resonance of drums of rawhide.
A damp day lowers the sound. It is not unusual for a drumhead to be heated briefly over a fire to bring it to proper pitch. I avoided this procedure whenever the dampness and humidity caused the membranes of the sycamore drum to soften. The cracks of the drum body were filled with pine pitch. Placing the sycamore drum next to fire would have melted the pitch, makng a sticky mess.