Instructions to head with Goat skin an African Djembe Drum, preparing the djembe drum

Instructions for how to head an
African Djembe Drum with Goat skin

I have re headed over 100 djembes and discovered many tips and procedures to get the best result. As with anything start with a sound shell with a good playing edge, good rope, and a fine African Goat skin!

While there are many ways of doing things, (and I have tried most of them) these work the best for me, and so must BE THE RIGHT WAY ! {grin}. I typically do this whole job from start to end, in under two hours. I put the goat skin to soak in cool water right away and within an hour I have prepared the drum and am ready to mount the skin on the hide ring. You can take shortcuts here an there but you risk the result occasionally. Know this is a skill using both hands, and judgment, and don't expect a good result till you've done several.

PICK OUT YOUR GOAT SKIN!

First some definitions:

Shell - The whole drum body

Bowl - The top part of the djembe

Trumpet - The base of the Djembe

Head - Both top of the drum and the process of adding the skin

Top Ring - The ring with rope near the Head

Hide Ring - The ring the hide wraps around, second from the top

Bottom Ring - The ring with rope at the bottom of the bowl

Cradle - The series of knots on the top and bottom rings

Half Hitch - The first half of tying your shoes

Neck end - The end of a goat skin from which the hair all flows away from

Tail end - The end of a goat skin from which the hair all flows toward

First inspect Shell and Skin. Hey, you are about to put a bunch of work into this drum, better make sure you don't need anything. Is the shell sound? Any cracks to fix or sanding to do? Do the rings fit well (about 3/8 gap all the way around if bare metal)? are they sound, with good welds? Hold the skin up to strong light. Is there a large enough area centered over the spine area to get a circle at least 3-4 inches larger than your rings? Is their any blemishes, scars or loose bot scars (small insect bite thin spots) that might affect head life.

Want more information before you start?
See Drum repair and What to look for in an African Djembe !

This process is in several pages besides this one:
Roping the Djembe

Mounting the Goat Skin Head

Shaving the Head

Tuning the Drum

Final touches

Here is a tool list:

Cloth or leather gloves
Athletic Bandage
Custom cloth for rings
Small locking pliers
Needle nose pliers
Scissors
Smooth curved blade knife
Razor knife
Bic or Lady Bic Razors
Pulling stick or Rope Wizard
120 or finer sand paper
butane lighter
100 - 120 feet Drum rope
Goat Skin
Piece of Bees Wax

Let's get Started!

You should have the djembe drum body all ready to go. Here I touched up and leveled out the head profile before beginning. Some maintain it should have no waffles and be perfectly flat. I haven't found a big difference. To level it, put on a course level concrete floor, head down, and rotate the body until all surfaces touch. I round off with a belt sander, but you can use a good rasp as well. Many drums have the bottom ring welded on, as here, because the trumpet flares toward the bottom and other wise it would ride to high up the bowl. A local welder can help you out if you need rings or to make the existing ones smaller to fit more snug. The whole drum body or shell

This is what a good head edge profile should look like. a look at your thumb sideways is a good guide. Sometimes it may be thick enough to round all the way over to the inside, leaving the high point right in the middle of the thickness. In hardwood drums this is the easiest area to carve thin and sometimes carvers try to make up for weight here, leaving a sharp uncomfortable edge. Consider lowering the whole edge down till you find thicker wood to allow some rounding. Theoretically the edge shouldn't matter, your hand should not hit it. No big consolation when you do however! This edge just has a tiny bevel on the inside to assure a clean edge for hide to take off from the wood. Profile of head edge of djembe

This view shows you the typical spacing of the rings around the drum. Typically I leave about 5/8" total gap (just under 3/8" on each side). If you are making the rings, you can refer to this Ring Sizing Chart I made up. If your drum is oval, I hand bend the rings (a knee works good here)so they match the shape. If your drum has no decoration that determines front and back for you, you might consider aligning the goat skin spine on the widest sides of the oval. The thicker skin at the spine may help pull your drum back round over time. Ring spacing from the top of the djembe

I check to see that the skin is big enough here. This one is marginally big enough. I wanted to use up this smallish hide. a little more room would be better, and if I have the choice I cut the circle nearer the neck end (above in photo) than the tail end. I tend to center it like this if the neck skin is a little too thick compared to the rest. Is the skin big enough?

Now I flip the skin and cut out my circle. Yup, wish I had more room outside the rings because I want to be able to trim it a little and also wrap it back down over the rings when finished. Hide flipped and circle cut out

This is important, so I do it as soon as I remember to, else I end up forgetting! Take a bit of Bees Wax, or any candle in a pinch, and wax the head edge profile. It coats and effectively lubricates the surface and allows the hide to slide over more easily when tuning. Remember wet hide makes glue, and you don't want the goat skin glued here! Be sure and Bees Wax the head profile!

I always wrap the rings. I believe rust forming against the goat skin forming sharp particles is a major cause of head failure. Here I wrap "on the bias" the hide ring with textured medical cloth tape.

... and the top ring with electrical tape. Wrap the top ring with electrical tape.

If I have a choice, I make the top ring a little smaller than the hide ring, like this. If they are equal that is fine too, as long as they are snug. Never put a larger ring in as the top ring, it may pull right over as you tune the drum later!

You can see there is just barely room between the top ring and the drum body for cloth, cradle rope, and two layers of skin (the skin comes over the wood edge, goes behind the top ring, wraps under - around the hide ring and the goes back behind the top ring, making TWO layers there) . Two different ring sizes is an option

Here is how I start the decorative cloth wrap. it is about an inch wide but I fold over what becomes the exposed edge as I wrap on the bias, making one side have a hem. All it take is a little glue to hold the start and then keep tension on as you wrap. Now wrap the rope ring with decorative cloth

As I get to the end, I fold the other edge in as well, cut it all at the wrap angle, add glue and smooth it around. If it take two pieces just end one and restart over the first's ending. Double hem on cloth end

Here the drum is flipped, and I am going right over the old ratty African cloth, done without the folded hem. I swear I have found rings wrapped with old underwear. I know when I get to Africa there will be tales of underwear thieves! Redoing the bottom ring

On TO:
Roping the Djembe

Mounting the Goat Skin Head

Shaving the Head

Tuning the Drum

Final touches

Let's get Started! You should have the djembe drum body all ready to go. Here I touched up and leveled out the head profile before beginning. Some maintain it should have no waffles and be perfectly flat. I haven't found a big difference. To level it, put on a course level concrete floor, head down, and rotate the body until all surfaces touch. I round off with a belt sander, but you can use a good rasp as well. Many drums have the bottom ring welded on, as here, because the trumpet flares toward the bottom and other wise it would ride to high up the bowl. A local welder can help you out if you need rings or to make the existing ones smaller to fit more snug.
This is what a good head edge profile should look like. a look at your thumb sideways is a good guide. Sometimes it may be thick enough to round all the way over to the inside, leaving the high point right in the middle of the thickness. In hardwood drums this is the easiest area to carve thin and sometimes carvers try to make up for weight here, leaving a sharp uncomfortable edge. Consider lowering the whole edge down till you find thicker wood to allow some rounding. Theoretically the edge shouldn't matter, your hand should not hit it. No big consolation when you do however! This edge just has a tiny bevel on the inside to assure a clean edge for hide to take off from the wood.
This view shows you the typical spacing of the rings around the drum. Typically I leave about 5/8" total gap (just under 3/8" on each side). If you are making the rings, you can refer to this Ring Sizing Chart I made up. If your drum is oval, I hand bend the rings (a knee works good here)so they match the shape. If your drum has no decoration that determines front and back for you, you might consider aligning the goat skin spine on the widest sides of the oval. The thicker skin at the spine may help pull your drum back round over time.
I check to see that the skin is big enough here. This one is marginally big enough. I wanted to use up this smallish hide. a little more room would be better, and if I have the choice I cut the circle nearer the neck end (above in photo) than the tail end. I tend to center it like this if the neck skin is a little too thick compared to the rest.
Now I flip the skin and cut out my circle. Yup, wish I had more room outside the rings because I want to be able to trim it a little and also wrap it back down over the rings when finished.
This is important, so I do it as soon as I remember to, else I end up forgetting! Take a bit of Bees Wax, or any candle in a pinch, and wax the head edge profile. It coats and effectively lubricates the surface and allows the hide to slide over more easily when tuning. Remember wet hide makes glue, and you don't want the goat skin glued here!
I always wrap the rings. I believe rust forming against the goat skin forming sharp particles is a major cause of head failure. Here I wrap "on the bias" the hide ring with textured medical cloth tape.
... and the top ring with electrical tape.
If I have a choice, I make the top ring a little smaller than the hide ring, like this. If they are equal that is fine too, as long as they are snug. Never put a larger ring in as the top ring, it may pull right over as you tune the drum later! You can see there is just barely room between the top ring and the drum body for cloth, cradle rope, and two layers of skin (the skin comes over the wood edge, goes behind the top ring, wraps under - around the hide ring and the goes back behind the top ring, making TWO layers there) .
Here is how I start the decorative cloth wrap. it is about an inch wide but I fold over what becomes the exposed edge as I wrap on the bias, making one side have a hem. All it take is a little glue to hold the start and then keep tension on as you wrap.
As I get to the end, I fold the other edge in as well, cut it all at the wrap angle, add glue and smooth it around. If it take two pieces just end one and restart over the first's ending.
Here the drum is flipped, and I am going right over the old ratty African cloth, done without the folded hem. I swear I have found rings wrapped with old underwear. I know when I get to Africa there will be tales of underwear thieves!
On TO: Roping the Djembe Mounting the Goat Skin Head Shaving the Head Tuning the Drum Final touches