Detuning - Why Do We Detune

[mangorockfish]

What causes a wooden drum to go out of round? Does leaving the drum tuned up contribute to a drum going out of round? Does detuning halt this process or do we detune to lengthen the life of the heads or both? If we have to detune to help keep our drums round, then plastic heads are only for humid conditions. Am I correct?

[Tonio]

Mango, yes all of the above. The only pitfall with detuning is that you need to clean relubricate the lugs. Sometimes change the washers and/or lugs themselves. Of course depending on how active you are, changing head-at least teh natural heads. I usually change heads about every 4 years, depending on how active I perform and weather conditions.

T

[maSSivdrums]

Mangorockfish,

A common problem with wood drum makers is that they had relied on the strength of the glue between staves and the metal bands around the drums to hold their drums together thus holding its shape. From the constant pressure of continuous tight lugs and also the pounding from the Conguero would cause the wood staves to go out of round.
A drum maker here in Hawaii has applied wood cabinetry know how to making drums, and added bisquit joinery between the staves for added strength, which did not require metal bands around the bellie's of the drums, making the wood grain of the drums stand out. Checkout the website at http://www.volcanopercussion.com which is very informative on how he builds drums. To my knowledge, he's the only drum maker using exotic woods such as Mango and Koa wood to make his drums, which are a piece of art.

[Tonio]

Massive those VP congas are beauts!!! The shell shape is almost like Gon Bops.

Thank you for the link!!

Shaka Brah!!

T

[Raymond]

Number one reason is to prolong the live of the natural head....The pressure on the drum, etc., etc, is true too but really, the most importatn is to prolong the live of the natural head.

Good advice given about maintaining the lugs working fine.

Saludos!