Who makes the best Djembe

[keeptahoeblue]

What company makes the best Djembe. I want a quality drum and im not afraid to invest. what is the diference in sound between mali and a guinea drum? What wood is best?

thank you so so so much.

-n

[michi]

If you search around in the forums a bit, you'll find plenty of discussions about good-quality drums. Don't buy anything that has a brand label on it, such as Remo or LP. Anything made in a factory is not the real thing.

If you want to see really nice drums sold at a reasonable price, check out Drumskull Drums and Wula Drum.

Cheers,

Michi.

[bubudi]

hi n, check out this thread for some previous discussion on this topic.
buy-instruments/what-you-know-these-companies-t586.html

[Rhythm House Drums]

I've heard that http://www.RhythmHouseDrums.com has some excellent djembes and will build a shell up to your specs.

We carry drums from Ivory Coast, Guinea and Mali. Woods in Iroko, Lenke, Djalla, Khadi(my favorite)... etc. We will also build up a custom djembe or ashiko out of American Hardwoods... Walnut gives the best sound in my opinion.

[michi]

I've heard that http://www.RhythmHouseDrums.com has some excellent djembes and will build a shell up to your specs.

Do they now? That's fascinating, thanks a lot for pointing that out

As I said elsewhere, there is no such thing as "the best djembe". And anything made by a company is automatically out of the running. By "company", I mean any shell that's made in a factory.

If you want a real djembe, get a shell imported from Africa. Quite a few of these djembes are branded (such as the ones from Rhythm House Drums , Wula, or Drumskull). But that just means that these companies were involved in the quality-control, manufacturing, and/or building process in some way; the shells are still genuine African shells, made of traditional hardwoods and carved by African carvers, which is what you want.

Cheers,

Michi.

Edited to add: Actually, for Australian customers, there is a guy called Michi Henning who makes pretty decent drums. (Sorry, couldn't resist... )

[fattyboombatty]

I bought a lenke drum from Rhythm House Drums and am very happy with it!

[Trog]

There are so many great looking drums at the shops, you may have a hard time picking one.
I was looking for one and ended up with two...
This video will tell you a bit about the between Mali and Guinea drums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAu6VM_x ... r_embedded