Detuning djembe when not in use?
drumgerry
This is my first post to the group so I hope you'll bear with my
newbie quiestion.
I have just got my first djembe - a meinl floatune 12" head (very
nice!) I am having a whale of a time getting to grips with it. My
question is though to all of you who have lug tuned djembes - do you
detune the drum when you're not going to be using it for a while eg
overnight. I do this with my tunable bodhran and it's not much hassle
to bring it back up to tension next time I use it. Before I go
tampering with the djembe needlessly I'd like your input.
Thanks
eric stuer
wood and one fiberglass.
(to me it seems) djembe is much like bongo, in that the heads split when the
weather changes..if the djembe head is cranked up , and the weather changes,
you are stuck with slapping on another head, so yeah, I bring mine down if
it's real tight, especially if the weather is humid (and may dry up
overnight)
Since I took up the djembe in 1994 I have awakened to both lug and rope
tuned djembes having split overnight, about (let's see) 3 or 4 times now..
stu
"drumgerry" <gjt...@btconnect.com> wrote in message
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Steve V
heads, and my rope-tuned djembe I just keep in its bag with a bunch of
little pouches of dessicant.
--
Email: val...@ihpc.REMOVE.THIS.net
"drumgerry" <gjt...@btconnect.com> wrote in message
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bja...@iwaynet.net
> Hi all
> This is my first post to the group so I hope you'll bear with my
> newbie quiestion.
Hey Weclome to our world!
> I have just got my first djembe - a meinl floatune 12" head (very
> nice!) I am having a whale of a time getting to grips with it. My
> question is though to all of you who have lug tuned djembes - do you
> detune the drum when you're not going to be using it for a while eg
> overnight. I do this with my tunable bodhran and it's not much hassle
> to bring it back up to tension next time I use it. Before I go
> tampering with the djembe needlessly I'd like your input.
Generally bongos are always detuned and congas never are except for
long term storage or if you cranked them up because of the weather.
Drums with plastic heads never have to be detuned.
Those are the general rules. The only ones you have to think about
detuning are drums with animal skin heads that are very thin and yet
cranked till they squeal. That of course includes the macho bongo
and to some extent a djembe. I'm lazy and I have to admit I don't
detune most of my djembes. Typically if you don't tune super high
there is enough "give" in the ropes and things so you don't wake
up to a surprise. BUT you DO have to be careful. For example, dry
air in winter will really shrink and crank a natural djembe skin
and if you leave it at summer tuning, WHAM! It splits! So my tuning
tends to be seasonal. I crank up in the spring as the furnace quits
and loosen them up in the fall before the furnace begins to run.
And that works more of less OK. BUT I *HAVE* had a split head!
(Hey it was probably going bad anyway, right? :) So you just have
to ask how anal and paranoid you are about these things. Rope tuned
djembes are SUCH a pain to tune, I do try to minimize regular tuning.
Typically I just run it up or down a few diamonds to deal with seasons
and maybe weather. I might pull a few diamonds for an important gig,
and then sometimes not. You just have to find your own hassle level
if you insist on playing hide heads. Best is plastic (The meinl arificial
heads for djembes sound REALLY good!). Then you tune up and forget it.
Of course lug-tuned djembes are much easier to deal with. But in a given
season I don't see a need for detuning over night. You just have to watch
for times when it's raining and you crank it up and forget. Then when
it's maybe in dry furnace air, the head will shrink and crack. But if
say, it's always in the house, the air is pretty much the same from
day to day. I never detune for that.
Benj
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drumgerry
>The meinl arificial heads for djembes sound REALLY good!). Then you
tune up and forget it.>
I made sure that my meinl djembe when I ordered it would have a
natural goat skin head. I have tried a remo djembe with an artificial
head and thought it was ok but had a recognisably artificial sound, if
you know what I mean. Already playing bodhran I appreciate the sound
of a good natural goatskin head. The thought of a plastic head on a
bodhran for some reason makes me want to laugh in a sort of nervous,
insane way!
My first tunable bodhran had an experimental tuning system which broke
when I didn't detune and I had to have a standard system retrofitted.
The tuning system had reached the limit of its crankability and when I
tried to tighten it a bit more - snap!
Cheers from Scotland