The hand carved shells feature a horizontal ripple motif that suggests a flowing river. This exterior texture also makes the djembe easy to grip between the knees. Hand selected goat heads are secured and tuned by the traditional Mali-Weave system made of high quality nylon rope . MEINL Headliner djembes have outstanding acoustic properties reaching from deep, resonant bass notes to cutting, high-pitched slaps, and are ready to pick up and play right out of the box. For added protection of your instrument, MEINL specializes in carrying bags for their percussion products. The MEINL djembe gig bag (Model# MSTDJB) is perfect for all djembe sizes and is equipped with heavy duty nylon stitching and a strong shoulder strap.