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Posted:
Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:44 pmby Firebrand
Should I detune Remo Fiberskyns or Nuskyns? A percussionists in PR recently told me that's bad for the heads made of plastic...that I should leave it tuned higher.
Two concerns I have from the past:
1) Leaving normal skins tuned will slowly stretch them out. I don't wnat that...I want to let them last longer.
2) Isn't leaving the bongos or congas tuned putting strain on the wood and may warp it?
So, what's the verdict...should I detune a little after every gig, or just leave plastic heads tuned?
Posted:
Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:54 pmby caballoballo
Saludos, I always detune plastic or natural heads,although I do not use Nuskin or Fyberskin anymore. Yes I agreed with you,living preasure apply to the shell would create some damage on the long run. I just leave the heads with a little tension knowing how many turns I have to do to get the instrument sound to a level that please me although rooms acoustic change from place to place but at least you will have a starting point.
Posted:
Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:21 pmby Whopbamboom
With regular trap drumset, the plastic skins are left tight. Some of this is to save time, and some is supposed to give longer skin life according to a trap drummer I play with. And I have found longer life on my Remo "world" hand drums by leaving the plastic skins tight.
I always loosen my natural skins on my bongos/congas.
However, I do not know what's best for plastic heads on congas/bongos, so I also would like to know. But my gut feeling says to "loosen" since the drums seem to be susceptible to out-of-round issues. Nobody wants their congas to go out of round.
Posted:
Tue Aug 14, 2007 3:38 amby 109-1176549166
My 2 cents is to say that it's better to err on the safe side than err on the sorry side. It probably doesn't hurt to detune synthetic heads, but by a few turns only--just to relieve some tension on both the head and the conga.
I have a couple of Toca fiberglass congas that I inherited from my former bandmate and which I use mainly as my practice congas. I subsequently replaced the "dead" original water buffalo head with Remo Tucked Fiberskyns. With these congas, I detune only partially (about 4 half turns each tuning rod) and, even then, not religiously after every use (unlike with my natural-skinned Islas). And, so far, I haven't seen any adverse effect on any of the fiberglass shells or the synthetic heads.
With natural-skinned congas, there are 2 schools of detuning: partial detuning (recommended by Mario Punchard of Isla and most other manufacturers and by most other sources that I've read) and full detuning (advocated by our Yambu123/Charlie). Me, I do either one or the other, depending on what's left of my energy after gigs or practice sessions. 
Now, with bongos, specifically the "macho", detuning is even more critical. As I've written in another thread, I accidently left my Gon Bops CA bongos tightly tuned overnight inside my van which was parked on the driveway outside my house. When I took my bongos out from its bag the afternoon of the following day, the horse skin (which appeared paper thin) of the "macho" drum had split. 
I suppose the same rationale for detuning applies to synthetic bongo heads.
Edited By mjtuazon on 1187064140