Hi all. i have bad news, i was tuning my tabla , it just kept sounding badley out of tune so i worked it and worked it, and suddenely it went dead. all the straps look fine, some are a little beaten up but nothin brokend. can anyone help? thanks
davd
david (Jul 31, 2002 10:12 p.m.):
hi all. i have bad news, i was tuning my tabla , it just kept sounding badley out of tune so i worked it and worked it, and suddenely it went dead. all the straps look fine, some are a little beaten up but nothin brokend. can anyone help? thanks
davd
David,
Write to <ofiol@earhlink.net> at Surila.com. Explain your problem to Orlando.
He will help you out.
You broke the puddi, there is probably a split in the head underneath the Kinar where you can't see it.
and it's time to buy a new dhayan or send it to mideast co or somewhere to be reheaded to save money.
Or the leather ring on the bottom broke and is spreading apart. You can check that by looking at the bottom. Put more straps over the blocks and see if you can't get it to tighten up and get tone back.
If not undo the leather strap knot , there is one on each end but one won't be so tight and usually has a long length of leather after the knot. Start unstrapping the drum until you can pop the whole drum out of the strapping by popping the bottom ring off the base. Then you can look inside and see the damage to the head. Pay attention to how you remove the strap , this teaches yo how to rehead a drum. My experience with sending out for repair is not good so I just replace it myself. It's kind of tricky though and takes quite a bit of work . But you can find instructions on the internet . The main thing is to get a good puddi that fits well . The second most important thing is tieing the new head on with string.
After you have totally unlaced the drum tie a string to the bottom ring and lace your new head on with the string . Use about every other hole, go over and down through the top and under through the bottom. Lace the drum head on and tie it . This kind of teaches you how you are going to lace the head . Now the head is on and as tight as possible for string. Next take your long leather strap , which should still be attached to the leather ring . Work out all the twists through your fingers until you get to the end of the strap . Stick the end of the strap over and down through the first hole in the puddi (head) pull it through stick it through the loop on the bottom then back up and into the next hole in the head. This keeps you from creating a twist in the strap , now you pull the whole rest of the strap down through the first hole, then pull the whole strap through the ring in the bottom . so once it is all pulled through there shouldn't be any twists in the strap. now you go to the tip you plugged into the second hole you pull that through , down through the ring , back up and plug the tip into the 3rd hole. and again pull all the strap through and there should be no twists. So you repeat this until you have laced the whole tabla . As I said the main thing is that the head is already tied on tight with string . if the string is loose or breaks or the head falls off you practically have to start over. Once you have laced the entire drum and a couple of notes here 1 don't pull the strap to tightly at this point because first you make all the adjustments Make sure the ring is not pulled to much on one side or the other and make sure all the straps are evenly spaced. Next you go around pulling the strap a little tighter starting at the first knot . you work your way around the drum pulling each strap and taking out the slack . I pull the strap on a new rehead all the way around about 4 times before the drum starts getting a good sound. Each time you tighten the strap all the way around check the bottom ring make sure it is all even and round and the straps are still even spaced. on the 3rd and 4th time you tighten the strap alll the way around you can pull really hard . By the way you need gloves to do all this . You can also tap the top lace with a hammer to help . Then you let the drum sit there for a day . The head will kind of loosen up as it stretches . The next day you come back and pull again until finally it is on pretty tight and you are getting sound . Now you can tie the end of the strap to the bottom ring and wrap it around underneath . Note how it looks now before you remove the strap. Then you add your blocks , I start with the second strap , the one tightest to the drum , count over 3 straps and place the next block all the way around then tune your drum . That's the basics to reheading . My opinion is that everyone should do this even if they practice on a broken head , by the third time you completely rehead a drum you will be an expert , just use common sense and learn from your mistakes.
Warren
http://www.angelfire.com/music3/tabla/
Or, if you don't want to be left with a worthless piece of junk that you just spent money and hours trying to repair yourself, get someone who knows how to show you how to re-head a tabla. That's if you can find a puri thay's not mass-produced, and the person that helps you re-head the tabla will stick around for the next six to eight weeks while you try to tune it while it's breaking in and having to be re-pulled three or four more times.
Good luck.
p.s. Better you should take a trip to Bombay or Calcutta and plan sit for a long time with a reputable tablawala.
I know a person in san diego Calif Named Tony Karasek, Has done work on Instruments
for Ravi Shankar Phone # (760)632-6960
I'm sure he can help you. . . .Peace
