Reskin Your Djembe

Guide to Reskinning Your Djembe Drum

I have taken this djembe reskinning guide from Gerard van Dijk, Th. Werenbertszstraat 14, 6574 AM, Ubbergen, Pays-Bas. E-mail: inibara@wxs.nl

I've used it several times and it's the best guide around. It starts from scratch but if you already have the rope and ring in place then skip down on the page to the appropriate section. Good luck!

Getting Started

Remove the cords but not from the rings, unless they are worn or have a bad quality. Check if the rim of the djembé is nice and smooth (use a sander to correct). You may correct the outside appearance of the kettle of the djembé now as well. I normally treat an unvarnished djembé with brown shoe-polish.

The new skin

The new skin should be a dried or unsalted fresh goat skin (if it is fresh, let it dry-out first before soaking prior to final use.

Preferably you would buy a chemically treated skin, free of any hair. This will save you a lot of trouble. Plus, you can immediately see if the skin is torn or punctured in the middle. Very small (insect) holes are no problem. I simply wash a skin with hair in the washing machine in lukewarm water with some shampoo. Do not centrifuge. Unwashed, your razor (electric or other) will be dulled in no time. To trim the hair, simply go, with the skin wet and the water dripped out, to a dog hair-trimming shop. They will be able to shave the skin in a few minutes. What will remain will be very short hair that can be sanded away with fine but new (sharp) sanding paper once the skin is put on the djembé and dried.

The cord

Three main functions of the cord can be distinguished as follows: (see drawing)

The cord on the rings. This cord must be in perfect condition !

The cord that will connect the rings: The connection cord. It must be in perfect condition too and absolutely free from any knots.

The tensioning cord, woven horizontally between the connection cord.

The skin

Soak the skin at least four hours in clean water. If your basin is small take care not to ply the skin untill it is soaked. You will need three to four hours of time to do the following work. If you need to stop (for an hour or more) prevent the skin from drying by covering it with a wet cloth.

For a perfect fit: Take both rings freed from the old skin and find the ideal position on each of them and compare this to the form of the djembé kettle. Fit the rings with two pieces of thin yarn (see photos 4 and 6). Also mark the djembé kettle at the spot where you positioned the yarn.

Remove the skin from the water and let the excess water drip off. Put the skin on the floor or a working table. The playing surface of the skin should be visible.

Take the bare ring and put it on the skin. Leave sufficient space on all sides. Hammer holes (6 mm or so) in a circle at least 7 cm outside of the ring.

Take a thin cord (2-3 mm) and pull it through the holes you just punched, photo below.

Pull the cord and make a temporary knot, photo below.

Turn the djembé upside down and hammer nails in the body in such a way that the bottom ring is centralized and held in position.

Now put the skin with rings on the djembé and position this, respecting the yarn and the marking on the djembé kettle. Now take a thin but stronger cord and use it to temporarily hold the skin on top of the djembé. See photo 8 ! Centralize the skin and rings as much as possible.

Photo 8

Take the cord and make a "non-choking" loop knot (see photo) on one side. Melt the beginning of the cord and roll it between a wetted thumb and index finger to make it pointed. Then push the cord (some twenty meters !) through the first loop of the ring-cord.

Photo 9

Use strong tweezers to help pushing the cord through the loops of the ring cords. The tension of the cord is very loose now !

Photo 10

Remove all folds from the skin squeezed between the rings.

Photo 11

Now the first tensioning starts. The first "round" do this only with the force you have in two fingers. The second "round" use three fingers. Again centralize. Use a rubber hammer to make small final corrections.

Then remove the cord that connected the top and bottom rings temporarily.

Centralize the skin on the kettle. Make one more "round".

Photo 12

Remove the knot of the thin temporary cord shown on pictures 3, 4, 5 and 6 and release it fully. Do not remove it. Now again make one or two rounds to put more tension on the cord.

Now you have the choice of cutting the skin in such a way that the top ring will be visible afterwards (the African way). If you do not need to make child and baby djembés (in which case you could use small pieces of the rest of the skin too) you might use the excess skin to protect the top ring cord and your hands while playing !

If you do it the African way take care not to cut the new skin. Ideally, use a strong pair of scissors and protect the skin with a piece of hard plastic. If you want to do it "my" way follow the directions further down.

When you want to do it "my" way you may do that now (see the pictures 13 and 14). Fold down the excess skin and reconnect the thin cord. Additionally wrap tape that will allow the skin to "breathe" (i.e. bandage) around the skin to let it dry in the right shape. Cut of excess skin !

Photos 13 & 14

Drying

Now put the djembé away to dry for at least 48 hours in a warm and well ventilated room.

Remove the tape and temporary cord. Cut excess skin (see picture 24).

Now a difficult job is coming up: further tensioning of the connection cord ! The first and second "round" do not use all the force you have ! Use a a pair of grip pliers to prevent the cord from releasing each time when you want to make the central end-knot.

Pulling the cord

The rest of the cord (at least two meters) will now function as tensioning cord. Pictures 18 and 19 and 20 show how to start with the first level. Be sure to carefully follow the drawing and pictures.

Photos 15 & 16

After picture 17 the cord is ready to be pulled; as shown on pictur 18. Keep the level as near as possible to the bottom ring. When going round to do this weaving the tension on the skin will only mount slightly.

Photo 17 & 18

Photo 19

Picture19 shows how you skip from level one to level two. You want to see the Mali weave system in more detail look here and come back later ! Notice that in the example shown there they work the other way around (which does not change the principle).

When you start with level two, the tension on the skin will increase rapidly. If you used high quality cord your djembé will soon have a playing pitch ! The skin will stretch for a number of days and weeks. Each time you can correct this by doing some additional weaving !

If you used a skin with hair, then there is still some additional shaving to be done. The shaving is done with fine grained new sanding paper (fine grained being more important than new !) Be especially gentle where the skin is lying on the kettle (the rim). With super-finegrained sanding paper give the skin its final trim. It will feel like a baby's skin.

When you play your djembé with the skin stretched to the maximum (only a solo-player would do this) undo the cord for three to four knots. If not, a dry day or dry room will stretch the skin above it's limit. It would be a pity to have to start all over again !

Your djembé now is ready for playing ! Good luck and I hope this guide helped

Copyright (texte et photos), Aout 2000. Gerard van Dijk, Th. Werenbertszstraat 14, 6574 AM, Ubbergen, Pays-Bas.

Adresse E-mail: inibara@wxs.nl