I just picked up a nice set of bongos - this is my first drums with natural hide heads - and the salesdood said I need to detune them after gigs.

Fair enough, I can do that, but how much? After my first gig with them I tuned them down about a single turn on all the nuts, but when the A/C came on I heard one or two *crack* noises from the bongos' general vicinity, (they are stored in my living room) so I loosened them another turn or so.

So I've got an idea about how much to detune, but I was wondering if there were any other pointers in dealing with hide heads to maintain them as well as possible. Any thoughts?
TIA!

Detuning the bongos, or any small hand drum for that matter, is a good idea ... when you are not using them. It takes very little climate change to affect these tightly tuned drums.

As far as tuning to a relative, exact pitch ... I usually just tune to what sounds good. When in the studio, I'll tune to make sure the drums enhance the song by blending with the tonality of the music.

Traditional tuning intervals between the two drums (macho and hembre) would be a Perfect 5^th or a Perfect Octave. I've also used a Perfect 4^th as well ... or just whatever sits well for the music and the sound I'm going for.

thanks for the tips, y'all!

With a tightly tuned natural head, avoid high temp enviroments, like leaving the drums in a hot car.  If you do, you may see that rip when you come back.

Dry conditions will also tend to lead to tighter heads, but not nearly as much.  Chances of the head ripping are small.

This great bongo website was sent to the Latin Percussion list.
Thought it might come in handy:

http://www.bongomania.com/

The problem with tightening the skins and leaving them tight is that most bongo skins are from animals. Since the skin is "alive", it has fibers in them. When you tighten them they stretch, which gives you that "crisp" sound. Natural skin fibers if left tuned can stretch and break. This is that "ripping" sound that was mentioned before. Also your skin can go "dead". Some goes on congas. Unless you use the new faux skins they make now. Some of my friends use the fake skins on congs but no one I know likes the fake skins on bongo. Some people also used to put x-ray film on bongo years back...maybe that's a NY thing. Have fun and whack them skins! Another point. Make sure you tighten the skin evenly. Not only will the skin break if tightened to much on one lug you can also take the roundness out of you wood shell.

If you use skin heads, you have to respect them and treat them like you would your own skin. If you do that, they heads will last you a lifetime.