Tuning bongos to definite notes

[Beatnik07]

I have come across the case of people tuning their bongos to octave notes.
Most other people seem to consider bongos well tuned if both macho and hembra sound good separately and together. I'd tend to belong to the 2nd category of people.

But I am curious, if somebody wanted to tune their bongos to definite notes (C, D, ... A, B) by using a tuner, what would be the best/correct notes for each the macho and the hembra ?
And would the macho and hembra belong to the same octave ?

[scavard]

Hi Beatnik,

some more thoughts about the specific tuning? I also posted in other thread about this. At the moment I tune the hembra to D4 and macho to F4, but I am looking for other recommendations. This is what I came up with over time, yet I still think the macho could go higher..

[Eduardo]

There are many different tunings, which are highly personal. The classic tunings seem to be based on a high, popping macho - with the hembra a perfect fifth or an octave below - in this way the bongos support one another harmonically, as much as that is possible. In my case I like a low tuning, particularly on the hembra as I am more into afro-latin-jazz-funk, yet I do like a popping macho, so my spread is wider.