Hi all

I hope evey one is having a great December. I am tuning an Ashiko

arox 40" tall 13.5 head, and 7.5 exhaust. im at that pint where you

ask your self do I continue pulling dimonds hoping the ringing will

disapear or do I stop and stick some of that sticky back foam stuff

you use on doors and windows on the inside. I have good base but a

real bell tone when making tones and slaps. I have gone pretty tight

with a wince on my face each pull, thinking that the ringing will go

pass. I have taken the knots out thinking maybe I have over pulled

and past the balance point. when tight the ringing does not change

much if any. it just stays the same. normaly the tone will change

quickly and then go away at the correct tightness. any Ideas. it's

not my drum so I don't want to pop the head.

walk in truth

mike

    Hey Mike and list,

       I also have a large ashiko like the one you are trying to tune. It's a

standing type drum with cut outs for the feet, yes? I have two others that are

a little bigger too, both 44" tall with a 14" head on one and approx. 16"

head on the other. You can see  them at

http://hometown.aol.com/bones45991/Dansdrumpageindex.html

(long name, small site).  I have found that drums of this size will always

ring somewhat simply because of their size. I have done what you did with

pulling and pulling and thinking maybe I overpulled past the balance point so I

also

backed off, but then continued pulling again when that wasn't working either.

End story, a little of that foam you mentioned will help somewhat but will

not take care of all of the ring. Also they just don't sound all that great when

they are pulled super tight anyways. In the future when it comes time to

replace the head on mine, I just may try a cowskin and see how that works. Why

not

eh?



      Good luck,

      Dan E.

      St. Paul, MN

p.s. I have to mention that a friend has put together a site for Minneapolis-

St. Paul, MN area drum circles and other drum related events. You can place

your events for the twin cities area on the calendar for free. The address is

      www.twincitiesdrumjams.org

  Mike wrote:

<< Hi all

  I hope evey one is having a great December. I am tuning an Ashiko

  arox 40" tall 13.5 head, and 7.5 exhaust. im at that pint where you

  ask your self do I continue pulling dimonds hoping the ringing will

  disapear or do I stop and stick some of that sticky back foam stuff

  you use on doors and windows on the inside. I have good base but a

  real bell tone when making tones and slaps.... >>

Ha Ha Dan

The drum you have is the same Drum I was working on.

At least it looks just like it. they must be sisters

of something. they must have come from a similar

place. I had a 16" djembe from Sineta. i put an Elk

skin on it and mad did that thing ring like a gong. It

flet like harmonics on a guitar string.

walk in truth

mike



--- bones45991@... wrote:

>    Hey Mike and list,

>       I also have a large ashiko like the one you

> are trying to tune. It's a

> standing type drum with cut outs for the feet, yes?

> I have two others that are

> a little bigger too, both 44" tall with a 14" head

> on one and approx. 16"

> head on the other. You can see  them at

>

http://hometown.aol.com/bones45991/Dansdrumpageindex.html

Here are 2 ideas That I tried and both seem to work for me.

1 let up all the cords and when the seal between skin and shell has

been released dust in a bit of baby powder and this will let the skin

just slightly slip and not drag on minor tight spots , what this will

do for you is allow the entire head to apply the same amount of

tightness and not keep one side or the other under stress.

2 start using slight amounts of hand lotion before you play, then

after you play more and more it gets to where the head will bound on

a respectfull tone.

good luck, enjoy, smile