Show off your axe

[Dugafola]

I should be getting a new big ass Mali shell in the next couple of weeks.

Where from?

special order from DSD.
14" dugura. It should come with next shipment.

[michi]

michi,

did jerm ever tell you what the tacks on the leg signify?

Yes, the Golden Ratio Jeremy is big on that one

The tacks halfway (well, really, golden-ratio way ) up the foot are in the same place as Jeremy put them. I added the tacks for the rubber foot.

here's my latest...skinned and tuned up last week...

Very nice!

Cheers,

Michi.

[michi]

Ohhh. I like! I like the lack of carving, the wood choice and I like the proportions on the bowl.

How does it sound?

Sounds just as bad-ass as it looks It's one of the best-sounding djembes I've come across. Because the bowl is so large, it is very loud, with big-time bass. Tones are nice and fat, and I get beautiful slaps out of it, with a whole overtone spectrum running through them. And, on a really good day, I can control "big" and "little" slap which have different overtones. (I play thin skins on that drum.)

The proportions of the bowl in part came about because of input from Sega Cisse, a 74 year old master drummer from Bamako. (I studied with him last year, he's beautiful.). Sega apparently turned drumming in Bamako on its head back in the fifties. I witnessed a number of encounters between Sega and current professional djembe players in Bamako. The amount of respect these musicians pay Sega is huge. They only just stop short of kissing his feet...

Sega helped design the shape. Apparently, in the pre-ballet days, many drums were shaped like that. Once the ballets started, the shape changed and they got more slender with a smaller head. (The head on mine is on the large end of the spectrum; overall, including rings, the head is 15.9". Playing surface diameter from inside edge to inside edge is a fraction over 13".)

I don't know this for sure, but I suspect that the shape of the shells during the ballet days changed because a drum that is less squat is easier to play standing up, not as top-heavy, and lighter overall. (Mine weighs 26.2 pounds.) This is just my pet theory. Anyone know more about this?

Anyway, Jeremy is very much into the old-style, pre-ballet drumming, and Jina djembes are inspired by that.

Seen and played a couple. All the shells were pretty thin and some had major crak repairs.

Mine is flawless, fortunately. No cracks, no repairs, no imperfections. I like this drum partly because it looks so unique. You rarely see a djembe with that kind of shape, and the lack of carving. I think it's simply beautiful: understated and letting the wood grain do its job. But then, it's my drum, so I'm totally biased...

Cheers,

Michi.

[michi]

My other axe:

Drum press

axe.jpg (199.56 KiB) Viewed 704 times

The design of the press is Copyright Eco Drums 1998.

I just took delivery of the press yesterday. Haven't test driven it yet, but it looks like it will work well. I used to go over to one of my teachers to reskin my drums and use his press, but it's a long drive and, at the rate I'm going through skins, I decided it was better to have one of my own...

Cheers,

Michi.

[bubudi]

nice. it looks different to mine on the base plate although i got it from the same place as you. i think cliff changed the design to be more lightweight for portability although i like the heavier base plate (max stability).

[michi]

I asked Cliff to change the design so it has a wider and flatter base. That's because, with his older inserts, I've seen drums split more than once. The more conical shape tends to put more pressure on the inside of the foot.

The larger base is for drums with a really wide foot. A friend of mine actually broke the foot of his djembe into two separate pieces because the foot was larger than the bottom of the insert, so the insert ended up inside the foot. When he applied tension, the foot clean broke in two

Anyway, Cliff does a fine job with his drum stands--highly recommended to anyone who needs a drums stand in Australia.

Cheers,

Michi.

[michi]

nice. it looks different to mine on the base plate although i got it from the same place as you. i think cliff changed the design to be more lightweight for portability although i like the heavier base plate (max stability).

Ah, sorry, crossed wires. In my previous post, when I referred to "base", I meant the wooden insert. Now, reading over your comment again, I realize that you are talking about the foot (the real base ).

This design change (open base instead of a curved base plate) happened because Cliff had problems getting those plates. So, he came up with this design instead. Note that the pole is off-centre a little towards the rear of the base, which is great because it makes it less likely for the whole thing to tilt forward when you apply a lot of weight to the foot pedal. The whole thing is considerably lighter than the previous design. In terms of stability and strength, I don't think there is a concern--the bracing seems to be sufficient. I'll let you (and Cliff! ) know if there are any problems once I've skinned the first drum with this press.

Cheers,

Michi.

[Dugafola]

the latest...

[bops]

Beauty!

[Carl]

Nice, but wow, the skin is folded about half way down the drum! wouldn't that get in the way of your bunny ears?


How's it sounding?

C

[Dugafola]

Nice, but wow, the skin is folded about half way down the drum! wouldn't that get in the way of your bunny ears?


How's it sounding?

C

yea the skin was left a little long. it sounds like a big Mali drum. deep, fat tones and boomy bass. slap is nice and crisp. just got it from the shop yesterday and only played it in class last night.

i had money down on a shell from the upcoming Mali shipment. this drum was one of the owner's pieces at the shop who realized it was too big for him. he offered it up and i gladly accepted.

[bubudi]

you can get around the long skin flap issue easily. some people cut little slits in the skin flap to slot in their segesege. you can also put a rubber strap that fits tightly around the rim and slot your segesege through that. you can use the inner lining of a bike tyre.

the length of that skin flap would have made it harder to tune that drum because you wouldn''t be able to get your vice grips up the top of the verticals.

[Dugafola]

You know I got my rubbers.

Re: the long skin. It doesn't matter where you vice off, just as long as it above whatever you are pulling with. Closer to the rings would be optimal tho.

[bops]

Re: the long skin. It doesn't matter where you vice off, just as long as it above whatever you are pulling with. Closer to the rings would be optimal tho.

??? How do you clamp the vice grips? I always clamp at the top, where the vertical (that I just pulled) descends from the rope rings. That way it acts like a stopper.

But it's true, you can't clamp at the top and keep the skin flat against the rope. So what's your technique?

[bubudi]

It doesn't matter where you vice off, just as long as it above whatever you are pulling with.

having the vice grips at the top of the vertical you just pulled stops the rope slipping back. it doesn't make sense to have the vice grips near the middle of the vertical. it may not make a lot of difference on the wet pull, though.

bops, i don't have much trouble keeping the skin flap tight against the rope. just make sure that you keep any lifting of the skin flap to a minimum. you can use the long nosed vice grips but make sure the grip is not too sharp against the rope (might have to take a file to it).