[London_djembe_novice]

Hello djembe community,

I'm a female beginner djembe player, based in London. Really enthusiastic, and can't wait to get practising on my own drum.

After research, I'm looking at lenke drums for sale - £260 max budget. Quite hard to know what's decent and what's not. I'm aware that rope should be pre-stretched and (16 plait polyester) with a core and at least 4mm diameter.

I've shortlisted three drums - I'd be grateful if you could provide me with any advice possible (Though I'm aware that there's no substitute in seeing these drums, and playing them)

http://www.knockonwood.co.uk/wood-body- ... -lenke.htm - Is this drum likely to be not top quality, as it's quite a bit cheaper than the others?

http://www.thomann.de/gb/afroton_adm_m0 ... #bewertung - There's a sound sample on the site. I've emailed them asking them what wood this is.

DjembeLenke.jpg (24.41KiB)Viewed 4611 times

- This is photo is of the 3rd drum I'm looking at, through a private seller - £250 and just under 8kg, with a 12.4 ins playing surface

Are there any alarm bells ringing with any of these?

So, with this limited info, if you could point me to the more decent djembe of the lot, it'd be much appreciated Thank you

[michi]

All three drums look reasonable to me. The Afroton one is made of Gueni. (63 cm is at the tall end of he spectrum. If you are short, you might be more comfortable with something closer to 60 cm.)

None of the drums looks first-rate, but none of them looks bad either. I suspect that any of them would be a reasonable choice if you are just starting out.

Cheers,

Michi.

[djembefeeling]

If I had to pick, I'd go with the 3rd...

[London_djembe_novice]

Thanks Michi. Your reply is insightful. I'm sort of petite (5ft 4ins), so I've now ruled out the Afroton one.

It's intetesting that even at £250, it's still unlikely to find a top notch djembe at that price. I guess the first rate drums are £300+ and hard to come by. The US seems to have the most choice in terms of pro djembes and big name retail websites in that respect.

I'm leaning towards drum #3, so I think I'll probably go for that one. It'd be interesting to hear why djembefeeling thinks it's the best of the bunch - maybe because it looks well constructed.

Thanks again guys.

[hrasan]

Hi there,

I am also in London and whilst I have my own nice lenke djembe from Mali I was wondering if there are any good and reliable suppliers around here?

I am meeting londonafricandrumming.co.uk people today for a new skin but I haven't seen what drums they sell. I suppose they might have something decent on them.

Have you got yourself sorted with a good drum then? And what else has your research revealed, London-wise?

p.s. Let's jam!

Best,
Ondrej