Djembe Manufacturing Process used by Drumculture

The images shown below are not intended as a guide for you to build your own djembe, but simply for you to see some of the processes and techniques that we employ when we manufacture our drums. Not all of the processes are shown. Visit the site again in future, however, to see updates of the manufacturing process.


The wooden shell of the djembe drum is roughly carved by the artisan in the forest. It must then be smoothed to remove the rough edges

The djembe rims are then planed to make sure that they are square and that the skin will sit properly on the top rim

The first (long!) sanding process of the drum then begins to remove any irregular surfaces



Then the carving of the djembe can be done..

Followed by even more sanding!!!





The finished djembe shell is now varnished, using a high-grade lacquer; now the hard work is beginning to pay off, it's looking fantastic and the drum is now ready for skinning

The djembe rings are wound with cloth to protect the wooden djembe shell

Then the small rope loops can be woven. Poor-quality djembes will only have a small number of these loops; we aim for 35!!

The skinning process is quite lengthy but here are just a few images so you can see part of what's involved.

The finished article...