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All tips for maintaining your instruments BaraGnouma :
The drums
The djembes :
- Never grease or oil the skin. It would come too elastic and lose its tone
- Always cover the skin with the protective cap we offer for each purchase of djembe. The skin is the most fragile and delicate element of the instrument.
- Avoid overheating such as prolonged exposure to the sun or storage in a vehicle in the summer because the skin will relax excessively while cooling.
- When the skin begins to relax, think about hammering the irons with a mallet before plaiting the ropes.
- Take advantage of every skin change to feed the wood.
- We believe that the blend of linseed oil and turpentine is the best solution for treating wood. A change of rope is certainly to be expected at the end of the third or fourth assembly.
- Check the diameter of the iron before assembly to make sure the iron strapping and the wood fit together perfectly because the wood may shrink slightly over time.
- If you are playing on hard surfaces, consider protecting your djembe foot with a protective surface like a ring of carpet.
- If you play on fragile surfaces think of protecting the latter in the same way.
The dununs :
- The dununs do not require any special maintenance. That said, like the djembes, you can treat the wood with each reassembly.
- We believe that the blend of linseed oil and turpentine is the best solution for treating wood.
- Be careful not to scrape the cords and straps on the ground when storing the instrument on its side as this will wear them out prematurely.
- A last point concerning the sound more than the maintenance: do not tend too much the skin of the dunumba. It is a base instrument that requires little tension.
Stringed instruments
The n'gonis and koras :
- Never grease or oil the skin.
- When you are not playing, it is best to store the instrument in its cover.
- Avoid overheating such as prolonged exposure to the sun or storage in a vehicle in the summer because the skin will relax excessively while cooling.
- When acquiring a kamele n'goni or a kora, it requires excessive tuning for the first 2 weeks before the instrument and its chords stabilize.
- The n'goni being a rather base instrument should not be tuned to too high a fequency range.
- If the strings tend to break, replace them with smaller diameters to get the desired notes more easily.
- Make sure that the bridge is always perpendicular to the soundboard, in order to avoid unwanted sounds.
The balafons
For all types of balafons :
- Never lubricate or oil the keys, that would destroy the vibrations of the wood and therefore the sound of the instrument !!!
- Avoid leaving your balafon in a damp place.
- Conversely, you can expose it to the sun regularly so that the keys remain dry.
- On the other hand the chopsticks are sensitive to heat and tend to melt, avoid leaving them in the sun or raising them to temperature.
- We advise you to place your balafon standing, small side down and keys towards the wall.
- Make sure that all the balafon attachment cords (keys and calabashes) are securely fastened.
- all the membranes must be present on the calabashes, because in case of absence, the calabash will be detuned and will not resonate.
- These membranes must be neither too tight nor too loose to obtain optimum sound from the instrument. It is advisable to check the membranes before each game session.
- Be careful not to leave the balafon sticks in the sun or heat because the rubber melts.