Knock on Wood 4mm Evo Pro Djembe Rope (black or yellow)

 GUIDE FOR BUYERS

There are 3 pieces of rope on a djembe : One rope makes the loops around the top ring. A second rope makes the loops around the bottom ring. A third, main rope goes up & down the drum, then round & round to make the Mali weave (fine tuning). When buying rope it is better to be a little generous, as the cost per metre is low, but the frustration can be very high !!!

For the top and bottom (looping) ropes which are attached to the rings

To decide the length of rope for the top and/or bottom rings, measure the circumference around each ring and TRIPLE it. If you can't measure the circumference, you can calculate it as the drum diameter x 3.5

EXAMPLE : A drum has a 30cm (12inch) nominal diameter, so the ring circumference will be about 105cm (42inches ) The top-ring rope length should be 3 x 105 = 315cm  3.15metres  (3x42 = 126inches)               Buy generous at 3.5 metres

Do the same for the bottom ring (approx 50cm circumference = 1.5metres rope) Buy generous at 2 metres

For the main rope

There are three ways to arrive at the length for the main rope

1) measure your old rope and buy the same length if it was satisfactory.

2) measure the height of the bowl of the drum and multiply by the number of times the rope goes up or down the drum, then add about 3 metres for slack & tuning.

3) measure the height of the bowl of the drum and multiply byTWICE the number of loops on the top ring then add about 3 metres for slack & tuning.

EXAMPLE : An average quality, 12 inch drum has 22 loops on the top ring, so the rope passes up or down the drum 44 times, at 32cm each time. The rope length should therefore be  44 x 32cm = 1408cm  (14meters and 8cm). Add 3 metres and buy 17 metres.

NB good quality drums can have as many as 36 loops/ 72 passes, and may need as much as 27 metres for the main rope.