I need some information about a Djembe

[kona]

I'm thinking of buying my adult daughter a djembe. I've looked in some catalogs and on the net and noticed there are a lot of "key" tuned drums for sale, but when I go on youtube for example, most of the playing seems to be done on "rope" tuned drums.

I can see the obvious difference, but what would most djembe players prefer, rope tuned or key tuned and why?

Thoughts?

[kona]

Bongobro
I should have done a "search" before I posted. Thanks for the post at the following link:

http://www.drumchat.com/showthread.p...toca-1370.html

Lots of good points to consider.

My daughter was looking at this drum in an LP catalog last week.


BB: Is this the sort of LP drum that you played - the "bowl" shaped or was it a "traditional" shaped drum? The LP drums look pretty nice. It looks like one might be able to grip the bowl shaped drum easier while sitting - as long as the lug ends don't dig into your legs - is that right?

[Gretschhead]

Rope tuned produces a better sound in my opinion as they are usually a natural goat skin and stretched very tight. Key tuned usually use a synthetic skin like the remos or a calf or buffalo skin like the lp might use, these don't produce as nice and crisp a sound as the real thing. The synthetic heads however tend to stay in tune better and react better with changing climates. The rope djembes can be difficult to tune if you don't know how, and even if you do it is very time consuming, a slightly out of tune drum could turn into an all day thing. Whereas the key-tuned drums are as easy as turning the key. Key tuned are definitely the more user friendly drum, however the sound of the traditional drums is unbeatable in my ears.

[bongobro]

Kona--the finish was slightly different, but that's the LP Aspire I played and described in my review...truth is, all djembes have a "bowl" shape to them, whether it's angular like a wooden African djembe or a modern fiberglass one.

Your daughter should like it, bro'....

Gretschhead, no argument on your points, man...I have not and do not intend to tune my rope-tuned djembe myself unless I absolutely positively have to!

Definitely a warmer and more "tribal" sound to the handmade drums, but for people just getting into hand drums, the key-tuned djembes are easier to work with (especially if they've worked with key-tuned kits or bongos before)...

[kona]

Thanks for the advice Gretschhead and Bongobro.
I agree that the traditional rope drums are probably warmer and better drum "purist-wise" but my daughter is not anywhere new there yet.

A local retailer just advised me this a.m. that they could get the LP Aspire Accent - the Rainbow Tie-dye Chrome (Siam Oak I think?) - for $185, sounds good to me. We'll see what Santa has to say about this - lol.

Just to add something here: My daughter that is interested in Djembe drums is the one in my avitar. It's pretty cool how this is turning out after all these years!
Cheers,

Kona

[kona]

Kona--the finish was slightly different, but that's the LP Aspire I played and described in my review.....Your daughter should like it, bro'....

I ended up ordering this drum and bag from Artdrum.
I played a few drums at a local drum store - some rope-tuned with goat skin heads, a Remo with a synthetic Fiberskyn head and some key-tuned fiberglass drums with goat skin heads. I liked the Goatskin heads better than the fiberskyn - they just sounded nicer to me. I liked the wood drums too, both rope-tuned and key-tuned. The price range was $160-$290 for the drums I tried. But they didn't have the ones my daughter saw in the catalogs.

Artdrum had them and they can have the drum and bag to my doorstep out here in BC Canada from 8-13 days they say and $338 for everything including shipping. I may have to pay some Canadian taxes and duty on top of that, but that's life in the North.

This drum is Siam Oak and from what I've read it should be a nice starter drum - and if my daughter grows out of it......I'll be happy to inherit it !

[bongobro]

kona, that djembe's da bomb for your daughter!

[comradesputnik]

I agree. That's probably a great drum for your daughter. If BC is anything like Oregon or Washington, the humidity might be problem with keeping the djembe tuned. Most of mine are rope-tuned and pulling rope all the time can be a real pain.

[kona]

[QUOTE=comradesputnik;118857
If BC is anything like Oregon or Washington, the humidity might be problem with keeping the djembe tuned. Most of mine are rope-tuned and pulling rope all the time can be a real pain.[/QUOTE]

Exactly !
That's why I went for a "key" tuned rather than the "rope" tuned. If she really gets into this she will get a roped tune one later on - they're nice drums. I even liked the Remo with the synthetic head, but I liked the goat skin head more - it had more body to it I thought. This "bowl" shaped design, as opposed to the "hour-glass" common shaped Djembe, LP has come up with is suppose to give the drum more "fundimental tone range" so they say - the 5th point at this link:
http://www.latinpercussion.net/Produ...wl_djembe.html