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Les bois du djembé : les différences de son, les essences, les défauts, mes djembés perso ... — Transcript

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0:00Hi everyone. Today, we're going to talk
0:01about wood.
0:03Or at least, what I've learned after 9
0:05years, more than 9 years of working,
0:07making it my job to assemble djembes.
0:10So, we're going to talk about color,
0:12sound in relation to the wood, the shape
0:14, the origin, and so on.
0:17It's not an exact science at all; it's
0:19just what I've gathered over the years,
0:22but sometimes it's really more about
0:24feeling than being 100%sure.
0:27Personally, I've been playing the djembe
0:29for at least 25 years and I'm passionate
0:31about it.
0:32When I started playing the djembe, the
0:34only things available were stuff like
0:36this.
0:37So, for those who know a little bit,
0:40they'll recognize this kind of
0:42decorative model.
0:44That famous rope that everyone—well, we
0:47all figured out where these kinds of
0:49djembes came from, and when you had one
0:51with a normal size and shape, you
0:53already had a very high-quality djembe
0:56for the time.
0:57If it already had a fairly normal
0:59diameter and a good height, it was
1:00already an incredible djembe. Indeed,
1:02nothing really sounded all that great.
1:04In any case, they weren't the Formula 1s
1:06that we can have nowadays, at least.
1:09So, we're going to start; I'll show you
1:11a bit of all the wood in my workshop.
1:13We'll talk about it all pell-mell, and
1:15we'll start, actually, simply with the
1:16drying.
1:17Because when I, for example, receive
1:19shipments, I sort them, I mark them with
1:21little signs, and then I put a little
1:23date next to them to know when I
1:24received them, to know roughly when I'll
1:26assemble them.
1:29Because drying the wood is really very
1:32important, and if the wood is actually
1:35too damp, I don't assemble it right away
1:38.
1:39So, the first thing, how do I test the
1:41drying?
1:42How do I know if it's dry or not? The
1:44first thing is the country of origin, my
1:46suppliers. Meaning that, for example, in
1:48Mali, I have a supplier who has been
1:50stocking djembes for, I don't know, he
1:52must have been stocking djembes for 20
1:54years or something like that. And so he
1:56has djembes that have been around for
1:58more than 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15 years.
2:00And so, I know that these djembes are
2:03perfectly dry. So, first of all, there's
2:05the supplier.
2:07For example, in Guinea, the suppliers—
2:09the supplier I have and the others that
2:11exist—often don't keep stock in Guinea;
2:13they don't store them.
2:16They craft the drums and send them out
2:18immediately and sell them immediately.
2:20They don't store them for 10 years to
2:22then sell them little by little. That's
2:24not the strategy; it's really more of a
2:26just-in-time process. Meaning, we aren't
2:28going to start preparing 10 djembes and
2:29storing 10 djembes, decorating 10
2:31djembes just to not sell them. That’s
2:33because they’re already sold.
2:35So, with this just-in-time logic, you
2:38can clearly see that the drums are much
2:40less dry.
2:42So it's very hard to know how long
2:43they've been drying.
2:45That's why I have this little magic
2:47machine that actually shows me the
2:49percentage of humidity in the wood. So
2:51you have two prongs inside, two little
2:53things. That's the B brand; it's called
2:54a moisture meter, or I don't even know
2:56what it's called.
2:57Do you get the concept? You stick it
2:59into the wood and you see exactly what
3:01the percentage of humidity is. For
3:03example, what I received very recently,
3:06it's not complicated. Right there, I
3:08received those very recently.
3:10It gives me an orange mark and it
3:12indicated 17%humidity, which is, well,
3:14there's quite a bit of moisture in there
3:16.
3:17For example, the ones that come from
3:19Mali, if I poke one of those, I'm at 8.2
3:21.
3:23So, knowing that there will never be 0%
3:25.
3:267 to 8%is really the maximum level of
3:28drying. A quick plug while I'm at it,
3:30all of this is in stock. And I have
3:31another place where I have about twenty
3:33more djembes. So if you're looking for a
3:36really high-end djembe, there's
3:38everything. Diala, Iroko, high-quality
3:40wood, Lenke, you have all diameters, all
3:43origins. Honestly, I really have a large
3:45stock right now, so don't hesitate. I
3:47really have everything you need. Drying
3:48plays a huge role in the sound because,
3:50really, a djembe that isn't dry, that's
3:52saturated with water, the sound will
3:54definitely be worse—there's no doubt
3:56about that.
3:58It might have more of a tendency to warp
4:00, but that’s the same thing, that’s one
4:02of those things I’m really not sure
4:04about because there are shells that are
4:06very dry.
4:08I’ll tell you about my two djembes at
4:10the end, my two personal djembes and
4:12what I chose, but for example, one of my
4:14personal djembes has been dry for ages
4:16and it warps, every other mount it warps
4:18.
4:19Anyway, nonetheless, it does have more
4:21of a tendency—it can have more of a
4:24tendency to warp, I think, when it’s
4:26more humid; that seems logical to me.
4:29The sound isn't as good, and most
4:31importantly, you have diameters that—
4:33the diameter reduces each time.
4:36Meaning that especially when you’re
4:38doing a mounting, you take a djembe that
4:39isn't very dry, you do a first mounting
4:41, so you apply very high tension, tight
4:43rings, high skin tension, and so on.
4:46You can be sure that when you take it
4:48off, even—and I’m not even saying 6
4:50months later, I’m saying 2 weeks later—
4:52if your skin breaks, you remove the skin
4:54, you remove the rings, and you’ll see
4:56that your rings are already loose, and
4:58you’ll already have to resize them
4:59because they don’t fit anymore.
5:03So the diameter shrinks significantly,
5:05and even more so when it isn't dry.
5:08That’s it, the base diameter will shrink
5:10.
5:11If you take a shell that’s 39 and you
5:13leave it for 10 years, it’ll end up at
5:1538 or something like that, or 37, I
5:16don’t know.
5:18But it will shrink.
5:20But if you do a big mounting on top of
5:21that, then poof, all at once it will
5:22shrink immediately. In theory, the
5:25drying rate is 1 centimeter per year. 1
5:28centimeter of thickness per year. So
5:30here, the djembe is open from one side
5:32to the other. So there’s 1 cm on one
5:34side; it’s not like a log of wood, for
5:37example, a big solid log, where we’d say
5:401 cm per year. Except that here, it’s
5:42not solid, it’s open. So, as a result,
5:44it will dry from both sides. So actually
5:46, it will dry 2 cm of thickness, let's
5:49say, per year in theory.
5:51Given that the shells are about 2 to 3
5:53cm thick, well, in one or two years, it
5:56has already dried out quite a bit.
5:58Even though drying is a very long
6:00process, honestly, for it to be properly
6:01dry, you really need 4, 5, or 6 years.
6:03At least then you’re really in the clear
6:05. So, drying is very important. So, in
6:08Guinea, generally, the Guinean shells
6:10are magnificent. They are balafon woods
6:12that are incredible. Like this one here
6:14.
6:15Well, there you go, it's just
6:16magnificent.
6:18You see the grain and everything, it’s
6:20insane.
6:21But in Guinea, the shells rarely arrive
6:24dry. That’s fine, though; we just keep
6:26them for a while, and then we mount them
6:28later on.
6:30Speaking of wood, in Guinea, there are
6:33heavy rainy seasons, so they have a lot
6:35of balafon wood available there.
6:39There’s no problem getting any. It’s
6:41more complicated in Burkina, where you
6:42can find balafon wood, but often there
6:44are cracks and such. It’s really much
6:46harder to get it in Burkina.
6:48In Ivory Coast, it’s very rare as well.
6:51And in Mali, it’s rare too. It’s a bit
6:54rare to find very beautiful balafon wood
6:57without too many defects. It’s really in
6:59Guinea that you’ll have the most options
7:01. Although, you can also find it in
7:03Burkina—I’ll show you mine, one of mine
7:05—or, for example, in Ivory Coast, like
7:07this one.
7:08So, you see, this is an Ivorian shape,
7:11but it’s balafon wood. For those who
7:14know well, it looks like an iroko shell
7:17, as we often find in Ivory Coast. In
7:20Ivory Coast, 99%of the shells are made
7:22like this, but in iroko.
7:24And this one comes from Ivory Coast and
7:26is made of balafon wood. Otherwise, most
7:28of the time, in Ivory Coast, well, it’s
7:30like this—shells made of iroko like that
7:32. Now, let’s talk about the shapes. So,
7:35in terms of wood, really good quality
7:37wood, we tend to find the same ones over
7:40and over.
7:41Lenke, balafon wood.
7:44That’s the stuff you’re going to find
7:45most of the time.
7:47Next, you have diala.
7:49You have iroko, you have blacksmith wood
7:52, Dougura, or it’s also called Dooki. So
7:56, those are the main species; it’s still
7:59going to be Diala, Lenke, and balafon
8:01wood.
8:03Take Douga, for example, it's a bit
8:05harder to find nice ones.
8:07"Bois de forgeron" is the same, it's
8:09rare, it's a bit more uncommon too.
8:11And Iroko, well, for instance in Ivory
8:13Coast, it's not rare at all. It's the
8:15wood they use all the time. But they
8:17don't always ship good Iroko, good Iroko
8:20wood from Ivory Coast. It's not all the
8:22time that they ship it. Regarding the
8:23sound by wood type, well, that's going
8:25to be great. And by the way, if you want
8:28to leave a comment about what you think
8:31of the sound, like I say every time,
8:33it's super hard, even after, I don't
8:36know, mounting one or two djembe, let's
8:38say, one a day for 9 years, of every
8:41possible species.
8:43It's still super hard to say, "Yeah,
8:45this sounds like this."
8:47"This species sounds like that.""That
8:49sounds like this."
8:51It's super hard because depending on the
8:53skin thickness, the size of the interior
8:55, the shape of the djembe, and a
8:57thousand other things, you can get a
8:59really different sound.
9:01In any case, for everything regarding
9:05balafon wood and Lenke, at 67, 8
9:12percent, I'd tell you that Lenke is
9:15brighter, more metallic, and balafon
9:19wood is a bit duller.
9:22A bit more,
9:24I don't really want to say that, but a
9:25bit duller, let's say. So, that remains
9:28very theoretical. Sometimes, you hear
9:30the opposite from people who are very
9:31experienced. So, honestly, it's hard to
9:33say. I personally really feel, at least
9:35for my own tastes, that I love Lenke,
9:37and it's because I like that sound which
9:40is slightly metallic, very incisive, and
9:42a bit aggressive. Well, and aggressive,
9:44likewise, you can't really say that,
9:45because you take some balafon wood, you
9:47put a super tight skin on it, well, it's
9:49aggressive too. Any wood with any super
9:52tight skin is aggressive. So I wouldn't
9:54call it aggressive, but there you go.
9:56Metallic or a bit duller.
9:58A bit brighter, a bit duller, let's say
10:00.
10:02It's like talking about varnish, you see
10:03, very glossy things versus very matte
10:05things.
10:06Well, I’d say the matte ones are mostly
10:07everything that’s balafon wood, and
10:08everything that’s very bright, I’d say
10:10that’s more likely lenke.
10:12As for the other species, I really have
10:14a hard time weighing in. Uh, the sounds
10:16can be so different. Diala, I get the
10:18impression it’s fairly neutral. I
10:20personally like the sound of Diala. It’s
10:21quite neutral. Douga, no, it’s Dougura
10:24and blacksmith wood, I like those a lot
10:26too.
10:28It’s, well, it’s a sound that’s great,
10:29but I wouldn't be able to describe it to
10:31you in words, it’s impossible.
10:33And as I often say, if you blindfold me
10:35, give me four djembes of four different
10:37wood species and have me play them, I’m
10:39sure I’d get all four species wrong.
10:43So that goes to show you how complicated
10:44it is. Each djembe is truly different,
10:47and for example, in the same batch, from
10:49the same supplier, by the same carver,
10:51using the same wood, you’ll have djembes
10:54that sound good, djembes that sound
10:56extremely good, and djembes that sound a
10:58bit less good. So it’s so variable based
11:01on so many things that it’s very hard to
11:03say.
11:04Now, regarding defects, it’s true that
11:07many people look for djembes without
11:09defects, without cracks, without knots,
11:12and so on.
11:13So we’re going to talk about that a
11:15little bit. Why do we mostly look for a
11:17djembe without, uh, without defects?
11:20Well, just like everyone else, really. I
11:21mean, you buy a guitar, there’s a crack
11:23like that right in the middle, you’re a
11:24bit bummed out. Especially at the price
11:25of djembes, you’re a bit bummed out. So
11:27I completely understand why we look for
11:29something without defects.
11:31After that, it’s very hard to avoid
11:33seeing defects appear over time anyway.
11:36For example, balafon wood.
11:38You can have a piece of balafon wood
11:40that’s pristine, brand new, perfect,
11:42with no cracks, and I let it dry and I
11:44look at it two months later, and I see a
11:46crack appearing at the bottom, one on
11:48the top, and one on the base starting to
11:50appear.
11:52Balafon wood specifically cracks a bit
11:55more than lenke, for example.
11:58So, a piece of wood that seems flawless
12:01at first, and especially, for example,
12:03on the edges, there on the curve, you
12:05...there are no defects.
12:08You assemble your djembe, it's perfect,
12:10it has no cracks, you play it for a year
12:11, a year and a half, you take off the
12:13skin, it's very possible you'll see
12:15cracks on the edge and cracks at the
12:16bottom, near the...near the hole.
12:19You see, right around the hole, you can
12:21see cracks appearing. Sometimes, they
12:22can even go all the way through.
12:25So cracks, the wood moving, that happens
12:27all the time and it happens for all
12:29types of wood, but especially balafon
12:31wood.
12:32Quite a few cracks can appear, and I
12:34highly recommend you always check the
12:36inside of your drum shell. When you
12:38change the skin, look closely at the
12:40inside of the wood, on the edges, and so
12:42on, to make sure no cracks are appearing
12:44.
12:45In that case, apply a little superglue,
12:47wipe it off, sand it to get a bit of
12:49sawdust in it, and there you go, that
12:51calms, that stabilizes the cracks at
12:53least.
12:55So, while talking about cracks, there's
12:56also the issue of sapwood. So there for
12:58example, you see the sapwood, it's the
13:00white part that is there or that is
13:02there for example. And so you have two
13:05types, let's say two types of...well,
13:07sapwood is really the outside, the outer
13:10layer of the wood.
13:12And for example, if you take this djembe
13:14here, it's 35cm, it has a little bit of
13:16sapwood here.
13:18If the guy had decided to make a 33cm
13:20djembe, we wouldn't have seen the
13:22sapwood, because here it stops, let's
13:24say, on a piece of wood 2cm thick, it
13:26stops at about 5mm, the sapwood, it
13:28shows here on the edge, it stops there.
13:34I don't know if you can see it well.
13:36So sapwood is the outer part and it's
13:38generally not appreciated, the sapwood.
13:41I mean, it's pretty, it's stylish, but
13:43generally it's not appreciated because
13:45it's a bit soft, because I don't really
13:47know what, actually. Why is it not very
13:49appreciated?
13:50All I can tell you from experience is
13:52that—and by the way, once again, I'm
13:54going to talk about my djembe which has
13:56a large patch of sapwood and is full of
13:58flaws—is that just because there is
13:59sapwood doesn't mean it won't sound good
14:01.
14:02I've seen djembes that didn't sound good
14:04at all with zero sapwood and djembes
14:06that had sapwood here and there and
14:08sounded great.
14:10So, if the sapwood goes all the way
14:12through, meaning you see it on the
14:14outside of the shell and you also see it
14:17on the inside, that's a bit much.
14:20But if it's just superficial, like more
14:22than 5mm, it's fine, it's not a big deal
14:24.
14:25That's not what's going to make your
14:26djembe sound bad. Primarily, if your
14:28djembe doesn't sound right, it's going
14:30to be the mounting, or it's going to be
14:32your hands. Your hands. Do you know how
14:34to play? Are you working on your strokes
14:35? Are you, well, do you have a very good
14:38technique to begin with? Then, did you
14:40have a good mounting job? Do you have a
14:42good skin?
14:43And, well, before talking about sapwood
14:45, there are plenty of other things to
14:48check first to see if it's good or not.
14:52So for me, personally, sapwood and
14:54cracks are the same thing.
14:57If the djembe sounds good, whether it
14:59has sapwood or a crack, I don't care.
15:03But know that if you buy a djembe that
15:04has no cracks and then, with summer,
15:06winter, humidity, the wood, you know,
15:08the wood expands, it contracts, it
15:10expands, and actually cracks appear that
15:12way too.
15:14For example, you take a djembe that
15:16comes from Africa, it's very hot there,
15:18and suddenly it arrives here, it's cold
15:20and humid, the thing will move, it will
15:22contract, it will expand, I don't know
15:24what it will do, but temperature changes
15:26make the wood move and so cracks appear
15:28.
15:29And so, you could very well buy a djembe
15:32that is completely new and have cracks
15:35appear. That's not very serious in that
15:37case. Still regarding defects, let's
15:38talk about ovalization.
15:40So, regarding ovalization, I've come to
15:43the conclusion that I feel like balafon
15:46wood is more likely to warp than lenke
15:49wood, for example.
15:51I'm really talking about the two I know
15:52best, mind you. I know diala a little
15:54bit, but I'm not yet, well, I haven't
15:56seen as many as I have of lenke or
15:58balafon wood.
16:00And often when I have deformations, I
16:02still feel like it's cheap wood, but
16:04that's not exactly scientific either.
16:06What I also wanted to say is that the
16:08more I adjust my rings, the less
16:10deformation I have.
16:12Because what I often observe regarding
16:14deformations is that when the ring, for
16:17example, is a hair wider than the wood—
16:19I mean the ring that's under the skin.
16:23If the ring under the skin is a bit
16:26wider than the wood, and well, I feel
16:28like, um, if the top one isn't
16:30well-adjusted either, the fact that the
16:32wood has space means it thinks, "Well, I
16:35can move left, right; the rings aren't
16:37holding me tight enough."
16:41So, I have a bit of room to move here
16:43and there, and so rings that aren't
16:45well-adjusted give the wood the chance
16:47to shift a bit left or right depending
16:49on where it has space.
16:52Um, drums for example that had wood with
16:55poorly adjusted rings—well, when they
16:59are well-adjusted and tight, I see much
17:02less ovalization.
17:05Now, about ovalization, if I had to buy
17:07a djembe like that from someone, if I
17:10see a crack, sapwood, or an oval shell
17:13...Honestly, for the crack and the
17:15sapwood, I wouldn't even look at it.
17:20But if the shell is oval, well, I'm not
17:21saying the sound is that much worse, but
17:23oh my, it's so unpleasant to play on a
17:25djembe that looks like a balloon.
17:28Ah, it's honestly so weird. It's like
17:31having a djembe where the spine is
17:33really 10 centimeters too far to the
17:35left. You know, that's just too
17:37distracting. Anyway, now I'm going to
17:38show you, I'm going to tell you about my
17:39djembes.
17:41I'm going to, while talking about flaws
17:43, tell you a little bit about the
17:44specifics.
17:47So this is a djembe that I originally
17:50wanted to sell on the website, which is
17:52linked, but it sounded so good, so clear
17:55, clean, sharp, without any weird
17:58resonance or anything, that I said, "
18:00I'm keeping this one."
18:03And yet, it's not pretty.
18:06Frankly, it's not very beautiful. The
18:07decorations aren't great and it's
18:09crooked. You can't really tell here. I
18:12don't think it's visible, but the base,
18:14you know, is a bit crooked.
18:16The base is a bit like this, really.
18:19And frankly, most people, if they saw it
18:22, they'd say "no, that's not possible"
18:24and all that. But yet, it sounds
18:26incredible.
18:28It's not especially heavy, because
18:30sometimes people say very heavy, dense
18:32wood is best.
18:33It's not very heavy, it's actually
18:35rather light.
18:36The wood isn't particularly dark, and so
18:38on. It's really just a basic linket, but
18:41I don't know why, inside it’s made in a
18:42way that it sounds amazing. Sometimes
18:45something a bit more crooked, a bit
18:46simpler, but with the right shape, the
18:48right form, the right thing, it sounds
18:50amazing.
18:51My second GB, just to show you that
18:52flaws aren't really that critical.
18:54So, this is Balafon wood from Burkina.
18:58It was from the Haruna signature series
19:00.
19:01I kept one for myself, just to show you
19:02. Look, this one has a hole. It's not
19:05just a crack that I repaired. We're
19:06talking about something else here. We're
19:07talking about an actual hole.
19:10It had some really rotten knots. I
19:11started scraping and I went right
19:13through it. Bam, I went straight through
19:16, everywhere. So, it's full of wood
19:18filler now. It's full of resin I used to
19:21plug it, and it doesn't cause any
19:23problems at all. The sound is very good
19:26. Also, as you can see, there's a large
19:27patch of sapwood here.
19:29I don't care at all; despite a hole in
19:30the base, and there are cracks on the
19:32top too, cracks here and there that I
19:34repaired.
19:36Despite a hole in the base, despite the
19:38fact that it often goes out of tune,
19:41even though I have the rings
19:43well-adjusted, it still goes out of tune
19:45half the time, and it has sapwood, it
19:48still keeps a really great sound.
19:51Now, I also wanted to talk to you a
19:52little bit about the colors.
19:54So, there can really be, well, in terms
19:55of the grain, it's always the Balafon
19:57wood.
19:59Here, you see, these are all Balafon
20:00wood. It's always the Balafon wood that
20:02really has exceptional grain.
20:04You see, for example, a linket is a bit
20:07more basic.
20:09The color is a bit more basic.
20:12The color can also change depending on
20:14the origin, whether for the linquet or
20:15the balafon wood. So, for example, here
20:17you see a linquet from Guinea, and here
20:19I am showing you a linquet from Mali.
20:22You see how red it is, how dark it is.
20:25And it's the same for the balafon wood.
20:27You see the difference between this one
20:29and that one, for example.
20:32And both are still balafon wood, or even
20:33more so between, for example, this one
20:35and that one, which is almost completely
20:37red, and this, for instance, is Diala.
20:40Diala is the same. Diala that comes from
20:43Guinea. And here look at the Diala, this
20:46magnificent Diala that has over 10 years
20:48of drying time, which comes from Mali,
20:50very dark. We are going to talk a bit
20:52about the shape and, uh, you see for
20:53example the difference between a shell
20:55from Guinea and a shell here from Ivory
20:57Coast in Iroko.
20:59It’s not that visible here, but here you
21:02have the hole reaching about here, and
21:05here the hole reaching really over here
21:07, and plus it's taller.
21:10So, really a resonance chamber like this
21:12, and here a resonance chamber like that
21:14.
21:15I am really talking to you about two,
21:18two shapes that are really very distinct
21:21. This one from Guinea, inside it really
21:23goes like this.
21:25Or even sometimes it goes a bit like
21:27this and it almost curves a bit like
21:28this before going into the hole.
21:31And the one from Ivory Coast, where it
21:33really goes like this.
21:35So it's really very different and you
21:37can imagine that the sound doesn't
21:39behave the same way at all.
21:41At least that’s what I think, in any
21:43case for these really very
21:44characteristic shapes.
21:46This one from Guinea, this one from
21:47Ivory Coast.
21:48For example, for Burkina, it's a bit
21:50harder to say because, uh, the shape of
21:52Burkina drums sometimes is a bit similar
21:54to that of Guinea. For Mali, I would say
21:57the inner shape of the shells is between
21:59Ivory Coast and Guinea. Meaning it’s not
22:02quite like this, like this.
22:05It’s also not quite like Ivory Coast,
22:07like this, like this with very long
22:09resonance chambers and a smaller foot.
22:12It’s more of a mix of the two. So to
22:14speak of the extremes, the sound of
22:16Guinea shells, what I’ve always found is
22:18that they are super easy to play.
22:21It sounds great right away. It is easy
22:24to play. Your tonic and slap come out
22:26right away. It's clean, it's clear, it's
22:28precise.
22:30There it is, it's—it's very, very, very
22:32good.
22:33And then, you have this shape, a bit
22:35like the Ivory Coast style, like I
22:37showed you with the solid bal wood, etc.
22:39So there, it's not the same at all.
22:42There's more volume, you have more power
22:44, you might have a bit less precision, a
22:46bit less clarity, and it's perhaps a
22:49little less easy to play.
22:51It might require a bit more technique,
22:52it might need to be appreciated a bit
22:53more. It's a bit, well, it's a bit—and
22:56that's why here, you see, we're getting
22:57into something where I can't tell you, "
22:59Yeah, this is precise, this is—this is
23:01more powerful."
23:03There, it's more about feeling.
23:05Still, when I play with one—with a
23:07Guinean shell, I immediately have a
23:09blast, it's the best.
23:12But when there are 4, 5, 6 of us playing
23:14over each other, I have a harder time
23:16getting more volume, even if I hit super
23:19hard.
23:20I feel like at a certain point, I could
23:22hit even harder. It might well be my
23:24technique, hey, I'm not saying otherwise
23:26, it might well be my technique, but my
23:28current feeling is that at a certain
23:29point, I could hit the hardest in the
23:31world, the hardest possible.
23:33I have—that—I have the impression that
23:35I'm limited in the power that I—that I
23:37can get from the Guinean drum.
23:39In any case, I have trouble getting a
23:41lot of power. The harder I hit, it
23:43doesn't give me more power, but it
23:45doesn't give me too much power either.
23:48So that—and it's very different with
23:50this Ivory Coast shape where, on the
23:52other hand, when I hit harder, I get
23:54more power.
23:56When I hit the tonics harder, I feel it
23:59in my body, in my feet. If I have my
24:01feet not far from the bottom of the
24:03shell.
24:04When I hit the tonics and I go for it
24:06hard, it vibrates.
24:08I feel a "boom." I really feel that—
24:10there, the sensation of the tonics and
24:12the power is not at all the same. It has
24:14nothing to do with it, and it's ultra,
24:17ultra pleasant to feel that.
24:20So I find that this is indeed perhaps
24:22easier to play, very clean, very
24:24aggressive, very precise, but I find
24:27that this one is super powerful and
24:29super pleasant to play. They are two
24:32very different things. There you go,
24:33I've told you a little bit about
24:35everything I know about the wood, the
24:37flaws, the stuff, the origins, the odds
24:39and ends. If you have any questions,
24:41don't hesitate to put them in the
24:42comments, and especially if you have any
24:44corrections, because I'm telling you,
24:45it's not an exact science, I'm sharing
24:47my own perspective. It can be very
24:49different for others. So don't hesitate
24:50to tell me what you think, which GMB has
24:52the best sound in your opinion, or how
24:54the lenket sounds compared to the ball
24:56wood at full tilt. That's what interests
24:58me too, to get a little bit of that
24:59feeling, that slightly different feeling
25:01that others might have. Don't forget to
25:03subscribe and see you very soon.

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