An Email Compilation

----- Original Message -----
From: Moon Bear <moonbear_@email.msn.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 1999 3:51 PM
Subject: [djembe-l] Re: nothing to do with three rings...

> Hello Carl,
>
>     You asked: "So my question is: what is other peoples feelings about the
> benefits/detractors of more or less laterals?"
>
>     The number of verticals (laterals) in the lacing on you djembe
> definitely are an important factor, if only for these three simple reasons:
>
> 1. The greater the number of verticals, the more consistent the tension that
> is applied to your drumhead.  The closer spacing allows a more even
> distribution of tension around the ring.
>
> 2. The greater the number of verticals, the easier your djembe will be to
> tune, i.e. when you pull knots into the lacing to tune the drum, the
> relative distance between the verticals will be less and thus easier to
> pull.  When your verticals are farther apart, each successive pull becomes
> more and more difficult.  Thus you can see the advantage of having those
> verticals closer together.
>
> 3. The greater the number of verticals, the easier it is to fine-tune your
> djembe.  As in example #2 above, when you pull a knot into the lacing to
> tune the drum you will be pulling less tension per knot, as contrasted with
> having fewer verticals where each pull would then increase the tension
> greatly (how is that for a run-on sentence!).  Thus, more verticals offers
> greater control for fine tuning, i.e. it allows you much greater control in
> fine tuning when you can put exactly as much tension as you desire, exactly
> where you desire it, no more, no less.

From: Kevin Marshall <Kevin.Marshall@Eng.Sun.COM>

On the subject of verticals -
This is my good friend Fred's system of using rings and verticals.

 ___________________________
/                            \
-----------------------------  top ring
   O        O         O          he hangs small rings from the top;
  / \      / \      / \         the tension moves the verticals
 /   \    /   \    /   \        so that they even themselves out
/     \  /     \  /      \      because they slip in the rings
       ()       ()        ()    instead of being held tightly
------------------------------

He has done two drums that way now and the vericals can adjust
themselves by slipping through the rings. It's easier to see than
describe...

K
http://home.inreach.com/kekuja

From: Denis Robinson <dj.robinson@auckland.ac.nz>

R said:

>I know this is going to sound a bit silly and this is how I do it. I decide >how many knots I want and measure the diameter of the ring... then here it >comes... I plug the numbers into the DrumCalc program (for building a staved >Ashiko) from Dan Sterantino putting in the measured diameter for the top
>ring and the number of staves desired and random numbers for the height and >bottom diameter, click on 'calculate' and poof there is the distance, center >to center, for the knot spacing. Then I tie the first two knots and measure >center to center to reflect the value given for the top of the stave in
>DrumCalc. This done I cut a soda straw to fit between the two knots and >clamp it in a pair of hemostats giving me a T-gauge to easily measure what >distance the knots need to be side to side and then do my macramé' work with >the rest of the lark's heads.

whereas Jerry Z said:

> You don't need drum calc to measure your knots. Starting with the bottom hoop you know that the rope will go between the knots twice, down >and then up. I use a short piece of wooden dowel 3/8" dia as a gauge between knots to space knots perfectly. the knots can be pushed together tightly with the temporary gauge in place. Count the number when you're done (usually 22-26) divide by 4 and start the corresponding top hoop. By going only 25% of the way around and checking the number you can avoid
>taking the whole thing loose if the number and evenness aren't right. This method works great for me and you don't need a computer to figure it out.
>             -     JZ


Alternatively, if you *do* have a computer and enjoy fooling around with it (and don't have DrumCalc), you can do what I do, which is to use a drawing program (I use Freehand for Mac). These programs
usually have the facility to draw polygons and/or stars for any chosen number (within limits) of points. You can also choose how pointy to make the points on the stars. If you make them real pointy
they turn into spokes of a wheel. So if I'm going to be tying 24 knots I draw a wheel with 24 spokes. I superimpose on it 2 or 3 24 pointed stars of different sizes because it looks cool and helps for
centering the rings (small lower, large upper). You just print it off (maybe you have to tape some extra sheets of paper round the edges and use a ruler to extend the spokes). Then you lay your spokes and
stars diagram down flat and lay the ring you're tying over it. The spokes show you where the knots go. So long as the ring is centered on the diagram you get the right result regardless of the size of the
ring.

I have a 24-knot version and a 32-knot version of this diagram folded away in my stuff-for-messing-with-drums cupboard and it's nice to be able to just pull 'em out when I want them.

Cheers again,

Denis

P.S. tonight at Jimi Dale's drum class we were practicing for a  performance tomorrow night. We were drumming for dancers and Darryl, whose drum I described in the post that began this thread  -  the one
with two rings and a cord  -  was playing the breaks. I guess he decided he wanted to be just that little bit more audible, and pulled ---  just one more    --  diamond. Pop!! Head busted. But hey! ... the
rings didn't slip!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: "Tim" <timkrk@earthlink.net>

I have gotten in the habit of rubbing talc into the head and rim when I
rehead or restring ( I like to change colors, static climbers cord (no stretch Dacron) has so many). This serves to let the head slide easily.
Kind of cool too, when you play it the first few times, the excess talk comes out like a fine smoke from the pipe.

This is easiest done by applying the head and letting it set to a shape, as you would a conga head. Then loosen and lift the head once dry (you only need a couple of inches gap, so it is not needed to remove the
lacings.) and dust with talc. Easier upside down. Sort of twist the body into the dust on the head, where it meets the body. When righted the excess falls out so watch wood floors (get very slick, like just waxed).

This works wet or dry. the head will still move easy.
Tim Kirkpatrick