I want to learn how to play the bodhrán. Is there a cheap way to start?

You can find out if you have the aptitude without spending any more than the cost of a good stick. The 'drum' need be no more than a cardboard box, I'm not winding you up, since it has approximately the same resistance as a bodhrán head. If you feel you want a drum to begin with, the cheapest are those made in Pakistan, okay but very Pakistani in appearance and with a thin skin. Next up in price are those mass produced by the likes of Kearns and Walton's, made in Ireland but with no other advantage over the Pakistani drums - in fact, you are just as likely to get a Pakistani skin; ask the maker where the skin has come from. If you make progress with your box or Pakistani drum then go straight to a quality tunable.

Is it better to have a single bar, crossed bars or no bar?

Traditionally crossed bars were used to give strength to the drum as well as to provide a means of holding it. The Wren Boys needed to make the drum heard and therefore would play it 'open'. A lady from Kerry told me how the drum was the last sound to disappear as the band moved on up the road. Now, there should be no need for the bars to give strength to the drum -regrettably with some it is still the case - and we have raging arguments about bars or no bars. It is down to you.  I know excellent players who use the back of the hand on the bar to stress the skin.  Crossed bars tend to be thin and more uncomfortable than a thicker single bar. Other, again excellent, people prefer to be barless. Don't be intimidated.

What type of skin is best for a bodhrán? Does it have to be goat?

You need a skin to give you strength, flexibility and tone. Calf is sometimes used but tends to be quite hard - better for conga drums. Deerskin is very hard and inflexible. One hears tales of red setters and wallabies. Fine, but I don't have wallabies in my area and not a lot of red setters. I feel happy to go along with 99% of the frame drum community and stick to goat. Now, which make of goat? Not many people worry about this, but its important. Saanen, Nubian, Toggenburg, Alpine and English goats all give good skins. Saanen tend to give a softer tone. Angora are dreadful, more like sheep. And the age? Billy goats are out of the question, far too thick and nobbly and kids are too thin and small. So it comes down to a mature nanny goat. Aah!

How thick should the skin be?

Its important that the skin is flexible if you wish to get tone changes by putting pressure on the skin. You can get this from any thickness skin - just let the maker know that this is important to you. However, this is less likely with a very thick skin. An inflexible skin will also have a harder surface with the result that you get a tappy sound as well as the resonance of the skin. The trouble for the maker is that it is difficult to predict what any one skin will be like until it has gone onto the frame (but you don't want to know about the misery of having to take a skin off and start again). A good thick skin will give a bassier tone but it will be harder to get those hollow, watery tones that are so popular these days.

My bodhrán sounds scratchy. What can I do?

Assuming that you are playing correctly, the problem is probably that the skin has not been finished off properly by the maker, a not unusual problem with the mass produced bodhráns. This is easy to correct. Gently sand the play side of the skin with 240 grade sandpaper until it is smooth. While you are at it, if you are fed up with the roughness of the back side of the skin, use the same paper on that.

Does the depth of the drum make a difference to the tone?

The deeper the frame of a drum the more it will act as a sound box and therefore alter the tone. However, the depth would have to be at least 8", I think, for a 15" drum, maybe 12" for an 18". Even if you found some means of playing the instrument you then have to ask yourself why you want the added resonance and why you want to move away from the traditional sound of the bodhrán. One bodhrán maker cuts 'sound boxes' out of the rim. As the sound generated by hitting the skin travels straight out at 90° to the skin it is difficult to see what impact this can have.

My 'tunable' bodhran is too tight in dry conditions. What should I do?

Send it back to its maker with a stiff note. Even in northern Europe a bodhrán can be subject to extremes of humidity. For a bodhrán to be ready for this the tensioning hoop should be pushed out before the skin is put on. I adjust it out a little more than ½". Most bodhrán makers do this. If you are unlucky enough to have found one who doesn't tell him you want your money back or you'll send the lads round.