Skin percussion instruments comprise a resonance box with a skin stretched across either or both ends. Tuning in these instruments is achieved by adjusting the skin tension; in Iran, Tombak players traditionally use heat in cold and humid conditions to make the Tombak sound louder and humidity in warm and dry conditions to make the pith through the lower notes. These adjustments are not made to tune the Tombak with the melodic instruments, but to have a better level of volume.

The function of the system of tunable Tombak is as following:

The skin is in direct contact with the wood and the edge is glued to an aluminum strap ring. There are eight pairs of fine steel cable (D=1/16 in) which pull the aluminum strap ring by using a central tuning arm (CTA) which pulls all eight pairs of tuning cables evenly and simultaneously. By this handle we can change the tension of the skin very rapidly even during live concerts. There are eight individual tuning Allen screws around the resonance box to control the pitch of the eight points around the circle of the skin.

By using this system we can tune the Tombak with one of the preferred main notes of the musical piece.