When shopping for a new rope, pay attention to the following features:

• Look for a "braided" or "woven" rope
• Get a rope of 4 - 5mm thickness
• The rope should be "pre-stretched", "non-stretch" or "low-stretch" to keep the drum in tune
• "high resistance to abrasion" prevents the rope's surface from becoming frizzy when tuning
• Polyester and nylon have the advantage that they can be fused, to prevent the ends from frizzing

TIPP:

Alpine rope and sailing rope have all needed features and make the best drum ropes. 

Different types of rope can be used as well though. Here a selection of affordable ropes available on Amazon.com:

There are two different ways of roping a Djembe. Click on the tabs to view each method:

Single Weaving

Double Weaving

<div id="dog2" class="tabcontent">
<br />This is a newer way of roping a Djembe. It takes more rope and makes it impossible to attach shakers. But it looks nicer.<br /><br />
<strong><font color="#620900">2. Remove the old rope</font></strong>
<li>Cut the rope at the verticals with a sharp knife and completely remove it.</li>
<li>Remove the skin from the drum</li><br /><br />
<strong><u>TIPP:</u></strong> If the skin is still in good shape, you can reuse it. Don't remove the iron ring from the skin, just remount it like this later on.<br /><br />
<li>Cut and untie the loops from the crown and bottom ring.</li>
<li>If not done yet, wrap the rings with a strip of decorative cloth. This prevents cuts and rust damages to the rope.</li><br /><br />
<strong><font color="#620900">3. Double Loops</font></strong>
<li>Take the crown ring and continuousely tie the rope around it. Keep some extra rope but don't leave any space between the knots.<br/>    If done properly, the ring should be completely covered with the rope.</li>
<li>Use the flame of a lighter or candle to fuse the beginning and end of the rope together.</li>
<li>Count the knots. The first and last knot together represent only one count.</li>
<li>Take the bottom ring and tie the rope evenly around it. Make sure you make <em><strong>half </strong></em>the number of knots you made on the crown ring.</li>
<li>Use the flame of a lighter or candle to fuse the beginning and end of the rope together.</li><br /><br />
<strong><font color="#620900">4. Preparing for the verticals</font></strong>
<li>Place the crown ring on the drum and push it over the rim so that it stays put.</li>
<li>Place the loop's starting/ending point of the bottom ring, right under the starting/ending point of the crown ring.</li>
<li>Make sure that the knots of the crown ring face upwards, while the knots of the bottom ring should face downwards.</li>
<li>Estimate how much rope you need for the verticals: At least two feet or 50cm per 2 knots.</li>
<li>Generousely calculate extra rope for tuning.</li><br /><br />
<strong><u>TIPP:</u></strong> You don't need to cut the rope, just unwind it from the spool and mark it with a knot. Knowing how much rope you need will help you estimate how far you need to pull it through the loops when performing the next steps.<br /><br />
<strong><font color="#620900">5. Verticals: Double Weaving</font></strong>
<li>At the bottom ring, locate the first loop to the left of the fused starting/ending point. </li>
<li>Slip the rope through that loop <em>from bottom to top</em>. Pull the rope until the mark reaches the loop. That's your starting position.</li>
<li>At the crown ring, locate the <strong><em>first two loops </em></strong>to the left of the fused starting/ending point.</li>
<li>Slip the rope through <em><strong>both loops </strong>from bottom to top</em>.</li>
<li>Then, still at the crown ring, slip the rope through the <em><strong>next two loops </strong></em>to the left <em>from top to bottom</em>.</li><br /><br />
<img height="0" src="/images/doubleweave1.JPG" style="WIDTH: 266px; HEIGHT: 196px" width="0"/><img src="/images/doubleweave2.JPG"/><img src="/images/doubleweave3.JPG"/><br /><br />
<li>Then, back at the bottom ring, slip the rope through the same loop that you started with, <em>from top to bottom</em>.</li>
<li>Pull the rope through, so that the bottom ring hangs loosely below the crown ring.</li>
<li>You have completed the first pair of verticals.</li><br /><br />
<img src="/images/doubleweave5.JPG"/><img height="0" src="/images/doubleweave4.JPG" style="WIDTH: 175px; HEIGHT: 197px" width="0"/><br /><br />
<li>To continue: At the bottom ring, locate the next loop to the left and slip the rope through that loop <em>from bottom to top</em>. </li>
<li>At the crown ring, slip the rope through the <em><strong>same two loops </strong></em>that you came from the last time, <em>from bottom to top</em>.</li>
<li>Then, still at the crown ring, slip the rope through the <em><strong>next two loops </strong></em>to the left <em>from top to bottom</em>.</li>
<li>Then, back at the bottom ring, slip the rope through the same loop that you started with, <em>from top to bottom</em>.</li>
<li>Pull the rope through, so that the bottom ring hangs loosely below the crown ring.</li>
<li>You have completed the second pair of verticals. Continue like this around 3/4 of the drum.</li><br /><br />
<strong><font color="#620900">6. Finishing</font></strong><br />
The rope is now loosely woven around approx. three quarters of the drum.
<li>Make sure you keep a few feet of rope at the beginning and end and cut the rope.</li>
<li>Loosely tie it so that it will not be in the way.</li><br /><br />
<strong><font color="#620900">7. You are now ready to mount the skin.</font></strong><br />
<li>Learn how to do that on my <a href="/changeskin.aspx">Djembe reskinning guide</a>.</li><br />
</div>

To visualize the African technique, watch the video

at the bottom of our Djembe production page!

 

Need more tipps and advice? I am happy to help. Just contact me!