Hi!
The last year I bought a tabla that sounded pretty good. But the tabla progressively loosed its pretty sound and now has begun to loose particles of the syahi.
My teacher said to me that the tabla got humidity and I need to replace the puddi. By the other hand he said to me that the tabla had closed the sound.
But I think if I change the puddi, it will get humidity again.
I take care of my tabla, I cover the puddi, etc., and the tabla was a good tabla. I don't understand why my puddi has damaged so early.
Can anyone explain to me what can I do?
Could a machine that dry the air help me to preserve the puddi?
edward (Aug 22, 2001 03:31 p.m.):
Hi!
The last year I bought a tabla that sounded pretty good. But the tabla progressively loosed its pretty sound and now has begun to loose particles of the syahi.
My teacher said to me that the tabla got humidity and I need to replace the puddi. By the other hand he said to me that the tabla had closed the sound.
But I think if I change the puddi, it will get humidity again.
I take care of my tabla, I cover the puddi, etc., and the tabla was a good tabla. I don't understand why my puddi has damaged so early.
Can anyone explain to me what can I do?
Could a machine that dry the air help me to preserve the puddi?
I'll agree any comment.
Thanks.
Ed.
Hi Edward;
I'm a sitarist myself, but what I do for my sitar might help you also. I'm assuming you live in a humid part of the world. So, strings will rust and skins will stretch out of shape or tune in high humidity. After playing, detune your dayan and keep it in its container. Also, try and find a few of the little bags of silicone that you find packed with electronics like stereo systems. These little packs are very good at absorbing moisture from inside of a package. Put those packages in with your tabla and seal it up. I do that with my sitar and my strings will last up to a year. Good luck.
-Russ
You're partly right. I only loosen the sitar string down one note. Otherwise, it can break when its re-tightened. So, for the same reasons, loosen the dayan only a little!
It is possible that the syahi was not made properly, allowing it to loose particles easily with usage or sweat from hands may do the damage also in addition to the humidity.
Ananth.
I strongly recommend that you do not loosen the puri in between times
when you are playing the tabla. Doing so will actually accelerate the
degradation of the puri due to it expanding and contracting over and over. You
will have a lot of trouble keeping the drum in tune, and the shyahi will come
apart more quickly over time. Each puri likes to be at a certain pitch
(depending primarily on the diameter of the drum and the thickness of the shyahi),
and once there it would rather not be pulled in and out of tune. The only time
you may want to consider loosening the puri is if you are not going to be playing
the tabla for months at a time. I can see how the suggestion to loosen it
makes sense from a stringed instrument perspective, but it really doesn't apply
to the tabla.
It is certainly possible that the humidity is affecting the shyahi. It is also
possible that the shyahi was never properly applied in the first place, or that
the drum was sitting around for a very long time before you purchased it and the
shyahi lost some of its cohesion and flexibility in that time. If the puri is a good
one to start, and is maintained properly after being put on the drum, humidity
should not have such a strong effect on the shyahi.
It sounds like you probably need a new puri. If you don't know how to do the
reaheading yourself, I offer this service using a nylon strap rather than
the traditional rawhide. The puris I use are top quality. More info can be found at
http://www.tabla-vermont.com/strap.html
Hi!!! . . EDWARD . . . sounds like emergency repairs are in order due to POOR ADHESION and/or a faulty SHAHI . . at this stage you probably can not do any more damage by COLLECTING the pieces of the broken SHAHI and gluing them back in using some cheap PVA type WOOD glue (Aquadhere). . at the same time PUDDLING some glue in under the loosened and BUZZING shahi . . . finish off by using your finger with a SMEAR of glue and some BLACK OXIDE powder,to provide an even finish . . . If you are moving your TABLA from COOL MOIST airconditioned environment to HOT DRY automobile environment particularly during late SPRING/SUMMER . . You should loosen the HEAD at least TWO notes or risk SPLITTING it . . DUGGI/BAYAN is a LITTLE more Hardy . . Have you ALREADY lost the REQUIRED sharp CONTRAST in sound between the TA(DA) - TEE - TIN :-)? . . . It is possible to make up a new shahi using local materials . . . All the Best . . . HanumanBaba
