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Posted: **Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:59 pm**

I got a brand new set of Giovanni wood bongos that won't tune evenly at the tension rods on the macho side. This happens with nautral skin or synthetic heads when I tune the macho head to high or medium tension. I removed the head and found a couple of small splinters on the bearing edge which I lightly sanded away with some 320 sandpaper, then touched up the finish there with wax from a hard candle. This helped improve the pitch difference around the head from about a whole step to 1/2 step. Also, I changed out the heads to Remo NuSkyn (which I use on congas as they help with the big temperature and humidity swings here in the midwest). Well, something is still binding somewhere because no matter if I try to tune it up on the flat side, the harmonic difference is still about 1/2 step. Two rods are always flatter than the other two. The head will not ping out to the same pitch. I have checked the amount of tension rod travel on each lug to make sure the head is not being torqued in any way. Basically what I end up with is different pitches from the right and left hands when I play and a wierd harmonic overtone. A non-player friend suggested that I use talcum (baby) powder on the bearing edges to reduce binding. I will try this. Any experience with this situation?? Thanks. ???

Posted: **Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:26 am**

First, don't mess too much with the hardware or the head...Your problem could be that not all the lugs are lubricated equal and regardless of what you do you cannot tune it even...(Hey, tuning even is not to be exact...so don't sweat it...most people do it by sight by looking at the heads).

Overtones???? Check that you are not overtuning the bongos.... With synthetic heads is difficult to get a perfect fit in all bongos, hence, they are tough to tune even...(This is even true with NuSkyns that have rings)

Sometimes doing to0 "precise" or following some formal guidance will not do the trick....Just start from the beginning and go slowly... Loosen all the lugs and start doing slowly and check the tuning based on the sound you want (with your hand).. Don't over do it!

I hope this helps!

Saludos!

Posted: **Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:06 am**

Thanks, Raymond. Somehow, the head has settled out some on its on -- almost even pitch, but not quite. I'm not going to touch it because of an upcoming gig. Afterwards, I will oil up the threads and start over on the tuning. I'll let you know what happens. :p

Posted: **Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:51 pm**

:D Hi again Raymond. I finally started over on the bongo head tuning with a good bit of lug lube as you suggested, plus some Johnson's standard baby powder on bearing edge on the drum at the inside of the head and on the folds of the tuck to help it slip easily thru the rim and not bind. Result: success!

All areas of both heads tuned up nicely and I was able to ping them out to uniform pitches. Not sure which technique made it work out, but probably some of both.

Thanks again!
thomba

Posted: **Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:21 am**

Thomba,

Glad you got it!

Saludos!

Posted: **Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:47 am**

:D

I'm sharing the feeling of succes with you thomba!

Nice work!

Primoz

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Uneven head tension, bongos - Cannot ping out new bongos (Giovanni)