Michael Pluznick has been recording with a variety of musicians with great pleasure and success for over 25 years. He has collaborated with Todd Rundgren, Jerry Garcia and Mickey Hart ( both of The Grateful Dead),Clarence Clemmons (Bruce Springsteen), Raul Rico (Santana) and Jim Chappell, among others. Designed and manufactured in Bali, Michael worked closely with master carvers and artisans to create a djembe drum that he believes rivals most high-end African made drums in sound, look and definitely 100% in quality. One of the major upgrades to this drum is additional carving on the inside of the drum which creates a larger “choke” or opening for the sound to exit from. The choke should always be larger then your fist size when placed in the opening. He also added a bicycle tire to the bottom of the drum to protect your floors, other peoples floors, to stop the drum from whacking and splitting and to make it easier to hold when you are drumming sitting down. Once you try a drum with a tire on the bottom you will want one on whatever drum you are playing. Legally Harvested Wood Michael’s goal in making this signature drum was to try and design an “eco” drum from “good wood” and also to make a drum that looks, sounds and feels like the best west African drums at a price of almost half their cost. The trees used in manufacturing these drums are replanted and it is regulated and observed closely. The wood that these drums use cost twice as much as the “smuggled” and illegal wood, but to Michael it is worth the cost to try to at least be conscious about it. Kiln Dried The Eco Pro djembes are kiln dried and tested for humidity and moisture. This prevents long term problems with the shell cracking or changing shape over time. The Sound Please watch the videos and see for yourself. These drums have full rich tone, deep bass and a snappy high with slaps that really “POP”! The larger 13″ drum is really remarkable in that it covers so much ground. You can use it as a solo drum, accompaniment drum or anywhere in between. Because of the remarkable strength of the wood and roping methods you can pull these drums as tight as you want. They won’t warp like some lighter drums do. The smaller drum at 12″ is still a nice size, relatively light in weight and has remarkable presence and projection of sound. Despite being a screamer on the high end (if you crank it up) [...]