haunted Djembe....

[Sdready]

Hey everybody

Well I was very happy with my Djembe lately...but due to stress and sickness I didn´t play in two weeks now... and now I´m on the couch, Djembe not far away... and every now and then, lets say twice an hour the Djembe makes a slight...short... cracking sound. Hm cracking is maybe not the right word its more like the skin would slip out of the rings, like it would like to get less tuned... yah hard to explain.

I´ve never heard sth like that... do you have an idea what it might be? Didn´t change anything with the tuning etc.... maybe the skin will rip sometime SOON ? Right now I can´t really see anything suspect but maybe I didn´t focus on the right spots...

Thankyou so far and have a good day

[bubudi]

maybe it's trying to tell you that you are neglecting it

[Sdready]

well, that a good idea, I plan to talk to it tomorrow... and take it outside for a while

if that doesn´t help I´ll have to have a veeery close look... since its the time when the first heaters go on... its maybe drying out or so.. I mean it should be dry anyway but during summertime I had it with me outside and so on... and there is moisture in the air usually anyway...

[Garvin]

careful man... mine popped when the weather changed a couple weeks ago. I didn't think I had it that cranked up either.

[Rhythm House Drums]

You might want to take a few diamonds out... it maybe too late, or it may just creak...

This is the time of year when I start getting more reheads... when the heaters kick on and the humidity sucks out of the air. I'd take a few diamonds out, especially if you aren't playing that much.

My dununs creak sometimes just sitting in the room.... especially if I've been out playing and bring them back in...

[e2c]

I keep all of my drums (not just djembe and duns) in a room with the thermostat set about 5-10 degrees lower than in my LR and kitchen. It's still dry in the winter, but the temp seems to help maintain things.... and I keep my djembes tuned down a bit during the winter, to try and keep the stress on the skins a bit on the lower side. (Have been thinking about using a humidifier in a nearby room once it gets really cold and dry, to give all the drums a tiny bit of hydration...)

Years ago, the head of my 1st Arabic tambourine popped during a cold/dry spell, and it scared the daylights out of me! It was incredibly loud - like some kind of theatrical sound effect. (Sheet metal being ripped apart, maybe. )

Have also had to gently wipe down the skins of a few of my frame drums with a moist cloth, then put them in plastic bags, during super-cold and dry winter weather. One of them has a tendency to start warping if i don't make sure it gets some moisture. (all headed with goatskin, btw.)

[bubudi]

one of my workshop drums which i keep in a case was recently making clicking sounds, as the weather was warming up. i didn't do a single thing about it because i knew it wasn't pulled that tight. nothing has happened to it, touch dunun

[e2c]

Creaking, and now clicking. I've never heard anything like this with any of my instruments.

[Sdready]

Thanks for all the answers I decided now that it makes perfect sense to take a few diamonds out and allow the skin to relax a little bit... of course now the sound stopped after I did that... better than to have to rehead the drum.

Take Care
Sdready

[michi]

At the 2008 Bundagen camp with Epizo Bangoura, the skin popped on a friend's drum. I always take two drums, so I told her to play mine. The following morning, I took my drum and propped it up on a plastic chair outside in the sun to let it warm up a bit and, while I was at it, I took out my second drum and did the same.

I walked off for breakfast and, a few minutes later, someone came over to me and said "Michi, is that your drum over there with the yellow rope?" I go "Yes, why?". "It's making strange noises. Sounds like it might break soon."

I had a fairly new skin on the drum, and it wasn't tuned particularly high, so I thought that was unlikely. I finished breakfast and, by the time class started, I had forgotten all about it.

We are about half-way through the morning class, and it was one of the quiet moments where Epizo was explaining something. About 40 drummers sitting in a huge circle under a marquee. Suddenly, Helen, who was playing my second drum sat there and exlaimed "This drum is making strange noises, I think it's going to break. Epizo stopped in mid-sentence and everyone was staring at her. Epizo asked "What do you mean, it's going to break?" "Well, it's making these weird noises."

She was staring at the drum as if she was afraid of it. Then Malin Sylla came out from behind the dunduns, grabbed the drum off her, gave it three really hard bangs and said "No, this one is definitely not going to break" and handed the drum back to Helen, who was staring at it as if it were possessed by a demon. Everyone had a good laugh, and Helen sat for the remainder of the class playing the drum as if it was about to turn around and bite her hands off.

After lunch, someone picked up the drum to look at the rope work and, lo and behold, a horse fly comes buzzing out of the bottom...

I still pity that fly, being trapped inside that djembe for hours with someone setting up major shock waves around it several times a second

Cheers,

Michi.

[e2c]

Though I really do pity that poor horsefly....!

[bubudi]

funny story, michi... made funnier by the fact i know all those guys and can picture how they said each bit!