I'm considering purchasing a set of tablas. I'm considering bolt tension rather than strap. I figure it will be easier to tune, change heads in the long run.
Are there any drawbacks to bolt tension, compared to traditional strap tension?
If you really want, you can buy a bolt tension tabla but i would reccommend you buy a strap tension one. The big reasons are that learning to tune a strap tension tabla is not too hard, and after you know how to, you won't notice bolts being any easier to tune. After all when most tabla players (or at least me) tune its only during a preformance, or every few weeks. Really, i don't think there is a difference in ease, and personally, i think bolts look bad. But it won't make a difference in how you play, so you can pick up either style.
My experience with bolt tensioning is only with my mridangam. I used to bang my hands up pretty good during long kirtans (probably due to inexperience).The main problem is getting good bolts with good hooks, also the workmanship on the threads is questonable; ie. slippage until you get a good set and the nuts are not always of standard size which neccesitates an adjustable wrench. Also my theory would include that only 8 areas of the head would be under tension versus 16 using straps(my original heads suffered some distortion in the weave); not sure how that would translate to tabla. They are helpful on my mridangam in tuning the bass side and a tuning blobby whatsit is not needed.
