The Djembe Re-Head and Tuning Kit

Put a new skin on a rope-tuned djembe that fits the first time, and bring it to a pitch you chose: measure, round up, choose the head, read the pitch, climb in semitones, read the sag, and protect your ears

HandDrumHub's Djembe Head Size calculator adds a wrap allowance to the shell's bearing edge (9 cm a side for goatskin, 6 cm for synthetic) and gives the skin the rope needs. Skins are sold in whole inches, and the nearest whole inch is often the wrong one. The Drum Tuning calculator gives a tension in newtons per meter that rests on a typical head density no one can measure at home. The kit rounds every size up and checks the collar on each side before you pay. A 13 in shell needs a 51.02 cm goatskin (20.09 in): the nearest inch, 20, leaves 8.89 cm a side, under the 9 cm the rope needs, and the size that fits is 21 in. For tuning it uses the part that is exact on any head: tension goes with the square of pitch, so one semitone up is 12.2% more pull and a climb from A3 to C4 is 41.4%. A sag of a semitone is 10.9% of the tension lost and 12.2% to put back. It adds the NIOSH sound dose (85 dBA for 8 hours, halved per 3 dB) for the sessions that play a new head in. Every figure is computed from the site's own calculators; the drum and the notes are examples, and tensions in newtons are estimates because heads vary by maker. It gives care-and-fit habits for natural skins, no medical advice, and does not teach weaving the rope. Included: 7 steps, 3 working pages, a skin size table for shells from 9 to 15 in, a quickstart, and a personalised sheet worked from the figures you enter in the head size and tuning calculators.

Look inside

Two full pages from the kit, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The Larger-Reading Rule: measure the bearing edge twice, 90 degrees apart, and size the skin from the larger reading
• The Round-Up Rule: the next whole size, never the nearest, and the collar check on every size a supplier offers
• The Same-Note Rule: goatskin against synthetic, the skin size and the extra tension each head needs, and handling a natural skin
• The Square Rule: tension goes with the square of pitch, so every semitone is the same share of tension on any head
• The Semitone-Step Rule: a climb from the note you read to the note you want, one semitone at a time
• The Drift Rule: a sag in cents turned into the tension lost and the tension to put back
• The 3 dB Rule: the NIOSH sound dose, adding the day's sessions as shares of the limit
• Three working pages: a re-head measurement sheet, a tuning log and a session sound log
• A skin size table for shells from 9 to 15 in, goatskin and synthetic, rounded up, with where the nearest inch falls short
• A personalised sheet worked from the figures you enter in the djembe head size and drum tuning calculators

The kit picks up where the free Djembe Head Size Calculator leaves off. The calculator gives the skin a rope-tuned shell needs; the kit turns it into a whole size you can buy, rounded up and checked as a collar on each side, sets goatskin against synthetic, and uses the Drum Tuning Calculator to turn every semitone of a climb, and every sag, into an exact share of tension. It adds the NIOSH sound dose for the sessions that play a new head in. The drum and the notes in it are examples, the tensions in newtons are estimates because heads vary by maker, and it does not teach weaving the rope.