Choosing a djembe drum

[sammakko]

I hope I'll find a helping hand here. Well I'm trying hard to find as good djembe as possible while it's not that easy. Lately I found a one you can see here http://www.perkusje.com/0,1427,djembe-z-wybrzeza-kosci-sloniowej,-srednica-13.html
the describtion says it's from the Ivory Coast, made from African Mahogany but what makes me confused are those colorful strings around the bowl. Have you ever see any other drum with such thing? I'm affraid it can disguise some damages of the bowl or sth. The easiest way would be to see this djeme and examine carefully but unfortunately the shop is a bit far from where I stay. Anyway I'm curious if you've ever seen such decoration of however it can be called.
cheers from Poland

[James]

Hi, I can't figure out what the price of that is in euro as I can't seem to figure out the currency that it's displayed in.

I have seen string around the drum like that. It's decorative and could hide a problem.

In general I wouldn't buy a drum off the internet unless I trusted the seller. You don't even know if the drum in the picture is th one you'll receive.

If I was going to buy a drum off the internet I'd get a Jina djembe from rootsyrecords. Rhythm traders also have nice drums, but they're expensive...

[sammakko]

1 euro is around 4 zl; so in the price is about 165 euro. the fact is that in poland it's quite hard to get a drum other than from ghana or senegal, which are not estimed very much as i found out. else you can get one made in poland. well, i'm more and more decided to cover the distance of about 500 km to see the drum live

thanks for your reply

[James]

If it is Mohogany that's a good price presuming the drum is in good shape. Definetely better to see it in real life if you can though!

[KEANIEirishdjembe]

the drum doesn't look like mahogany to me. it's a nice carve allright but looks like a ghanian drum made of softish wood. Mahogany has a blood red colouring with a strong grain, this one looks more pale with no obvious grain. i don't think it's a pro djembe especially at the price, it's cheap for hard wood!, is probably not. the fabric can hid some defects. even with out the fabric a fixed crack on a drum can be hard to find.
Make sure to check inside and outside the drum. Some carvers cover cracks with a mix of saw dust and glue. when this is sanded it looks pretty unnoticeable.

[sammakko]

thanks for your replies. eventually i've bought another djembe. ivory coast one made of iroko wood. looks great and sounds even better
the one on the left side the big one of course
http://marzena.wojtax.pl/lalunia.jpg

[Rastah]

Im also from poland, and what i know is tahat u should not buy a polish djembe.. polish wood is not the best for djembe.
Im drum maker and i know something about it. U can buy good african drum in poland for 500zl