What makes a quality djembe?

[@Marcus538]

I play Djembe, body packed up , the acoustics are genious , the djembe circulates sound round whole body , congas no where near, Im perfectly healthy at 60 through Djembe playing , i rave about them , people think im barmy . Every hime should have one

[@walteralter9061]

Nice rundown on the basics. As a hand drum maker and rehead guy for a local music store, my experience has been that the tonal qualities of a drum are about 2/3 skin thickness and 1/3 wood quality. Hardwoods will be brighter and soft woods will absorb some of the higher harmonics. Another factor is the thickness of the skin along the backbone. If it is much greater than the flank and belly thickness, it will take some serious tightening to get rid of the ring that a thicker backbone causes. Thick skins give a fuller, richer tone than thin skins, but can take some time to bed into its final tone. Lots has been written about getting rid of the undesirable ringing of a head using tape and other dampening tricks. My take is that ringing can be got rid of in almost every case by tightening the skin fully. Pull diamonds until two pulls result in no change in tone upwards. You can hear the ringing slowly begin to turn into a bright, raspy "splank" sound as you get that skin cranked down to concert tuning. A well tuned djembe will not depress if you push down on the center of the skin. It should feel like it is made of plywood, no give. Keep a fully tuned drum out of sunlight and don't keep your drum in a clothes closet. Failure here will result in an unexpected explosive sound that will scare the house pets. Sweet video, Mitzi.

[@peterjc2121]

Watching this clip before doing my "shopping trips" was very helpful to me. After trying a few assembled djembes and then asking a lot of questions, I was able to outline what I thought I needed. Simon customised a unit to match. Great job! The djembe has been given the name King Awesome, due to its sound. Love it!

[@jeanetteyeboah4926]

I would like you to teach how to make mini drum.

[@karmomokaeane1942]

What do use to shave your djembe skin

[@user-md2qy5qi8h]

How to maintain the wood and skin

[@scudreas]

Hi mate interesting however I cant help wondering whether these trees have been harvested sustainably. Good that you create a market and an income for the Malinese but if you have not already done so take it the next step and educate your suppliers in Mali. Cheers.

[@lindathompson195]

Thank you so much. I really found this helpful and interesting.

[@TheMrpiggyboy]

Very nice to see a Djunjun and a klave in the ensemble. Love the sound . Did you study with an African?

[@marycynthiavillano8277]

Hi I'm a djembe beginner but I don't have my own.are u selling djembe.can I purchase one from you

[@mitzimcrae]

Hi Mary. Yes - are you in Melbourne?

[@marycynthiavillano8277]

Mitzi McRae hi..im in the philippines..how much ph peso

[@bons244]

@@marycynthiavillano8277 There are local crafters. Got mine from Dyandi Djembe Philippines look him up on FB.

[@marycynthiavillano8277]

@@bons244 thank you hope I can find an animal skin...

[@bons244]

@@marycynthiavillano8277 yes they use goat skin, and local hardwoods. Every djembe is made to order, got mine within a week. Prices range from 4k to 12k depending on the size.

[@debiedjembe]

personally i do not consider the light wood a djembe/ as it is a different sound / it responds differently with dry sound with a deeper bass, /nice in its own way, but not the true djembe sound,/ at least not the guinea or Mali, home of the djembes , Senegal, Burkina Faso? normally the heaver and denser wood produce the true djembe sounds.

[@ahmadranjbar5067]

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