Xalam Djeli Ngoni - w/ Hybrid back

Howdy!

The Djeli (pronounced jelly) N'goni is a traditional west african instrument that dates back hundreds of years. It is said to be one of the ancestors of the Banjo. There are five, six, and seven string versions of the instrument. This version is a five string Djeli N'goni with two drone strings and three strings that can be fretted by hand.

This Djeli N'goni is a contemporary take of the traditional Djeli N'goni with many improvements. This instrument is professionally redesigned with the following improvements over its traditional counterpart.

Sky Away Design

- Machine head tuners
- Nylon guitar strings
- Better acoustic coupling (promotes louder sound)
- Removable back cover to modify sound
- Adjustable wooden block to modify sound between banjo like to traditional Djeli sound
- Non-drone strings can be fretted up to an octave
- Bass string can be fretted up to 10 half steps
- Lightweight
- Neck fretboard has 7" radius that is 1.4" wide
- CNC machined neck and hand filed for superior comfort & ease
- 24" long, 4 to 5" high, 8.5" wide

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Below are the specs of the traditional Djeli N'goni to compare.

Traditional Design
- Leather straps
- Thin fishing wire
- Poor acoustic coupling (quiet sound)
- Non-drone strings can be fretted half an octave
- Bass string is difficult to fret
- Two to three times heavier
- Neck is 1" non-uniform dowel
- non-uniform dowel is decent
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BODY

The body of the Sky Away Djeli ngoni is made from a 9x9x6 inch blank that is machined into a bowl shape and fit with goat skin. The resulting sound gives superior resonance and volume! The 8.5 inch ngoni compared to the 5.5 inch ngoni has much deeper low end and more balanced sound. This is recommended unless you are looking for a more compact shape : )

BRIDGE

The bridge and is also custom CNC'd from various beautiful wood species. All are hand sanded and stained. The default bridge for the instrument is crafted with Mahogany.

HYBRID

With this Ngoni you'll have two instruments in one! Every instrument comes with a cedar back cover (other wood options available) which fits in the back part of the resonator to give a closed Ngoni sound. This can be easily removed by hand resulting in an open sound.

* The 8.5 inch Djeli also comes with an innovative means to manually alter the sound between banjo character to traditional Djeli sound. Simply adjust the wooden block between the resonator and neck to modify the sound to your liking.

STRINGS

The Djeli Ngoni is strung using mono-filament Nylon harp strings.

PICKUP & ELECTRONICS

A piezo pickup and electronics installation can be added as an upgrade. Add it to your cart from the item page.  Electronics Upgrade Install

TUNERS

We offer closed back Nickel, black, and Gold colored tuners. Other styles and open tuners are available as well (please send a message for a quote).

Retrofit with strap locks to play with your favorite instrument strap. Strap not included.

If you have any questions, be sure to contact me and I would be happy to tell you more about this wonderful instrument.

** All N'gonis are unique therefore, may be slightly different in appearance. Order can be customized via messages if desired***

**Shipping cost is an estimated price, upon receiving address for shipment, a new estimate will be provided.