MARLON BRANDO INVENTOR OF TUNING SYSTEM FOR CONGAS

[bongosnotbombs]

yeah, I've looked at schematics of this design online. Very impressive that he was able to have prototypes built. Maybe one day his design will be available publicly.

[jorge]

Hopefully not. Putting the tuning rods through the conga shell is a bad idea. It would be very difficult to seal the holes airtight around the rods. Even a small air leak in the shell can affect the sound a lot, usually it kills the bass and makes it sound dead. Also the amount of tension needed to pull 5 or 6 rods tight enough to get the pitch of the drum up into playing range would be huge. It is bad enough to have it spread out among 5 or 6 rods, but to have it all concentrated on one rod and tightening mechanism at the bottom would require very heavy duty metal hardware that would weigh too much. Sorry Marlon, back to the drawing board and don't quit your day job.

[vxla]

In some ways, that looks like the tuning mechanism for timpani.