I had a djembe that was water damaged and the head completely tore off and ropes snapped. I wrote to Dr. Tom and he said he can bring it back to life and he was absolutely right. I got new rings, drum head and new ropes, plus he did his magic on the shell and the djembe is like new and sounds amazing! The shell looks so good, I almost didn't recognize my own drum when it came back. I have another djembe, and I can't believe how crisp and full the sound can be with proper tuning done by Dr. Tom. I can't stop playing it! Highly recommend. As a side note, for some reason my email stopped going through (no bounce back error nor ever received, which puzzled both of us) to Dr. Tom after my initial correspondence, so we switched to text message communication. read more

I emailed a request for quote the responded asked for pictures which I did send and I never received a response even though I contacted them a third time. read more

I sent Dr Tom my native drum which had a broken part of the skin on the back side. The drum was not sounding good at all. It was easy to send my drum to him per his instructions. He repaired my drum and had it back to me within 2 weeks time. It is completely repaired and sounds great once again. Thank you very much Tom! read more

DrumDrTom is an incredible craftsman. I bought a bunch of used and unplayable tabla drums with the intention of banging out the dents on the metal drums and reheading anything that needed new heads. I quickly found out that at age 74, I am no longer strong or agile enough to pull the strap tight enough to accomplish the reheading part. I have sent about 7 or 8 of my drums to the good DrTom and without delay he has provided the services I can not accomplish, communicated effectively, charged very reasonable prices and promptly shipped my drums back. I am very happy with the results on each drum and plan to continue refurbishing the valuable old drums I can find with his help. I give DrumDrTom my highest recommendation read more

DrumDrTom - Two of my refurbished bayan pots DrTom finish off by putting drum heads on them for me - Musical Instrument Services Near Me - Watsonville, California

Terrible experience. Rendered a $450+ Bodhran unplayable. Took several months of back and forth communication before I finally gave up on trying to tell him how to put a skin on a drum. Was shocked that he was unable to perform such a simple task. Hate to post a negative review, but in this case, I felt I had to. Cannot believe there are any positive reviews out her for these services. Avoid. read more

I am so happy with the service I received. Fast response to all of my correspondence and very helpful information. My family heirloom (doumbek) is back in working condition and sounds just as I remember as a child. I highly recommend Dr Tom. He is very professional and trustworthy. read more

Tom is fantastic. Had an old Sageman djembe whose skin was in need of replacement. My family was headed up to Santa Cruz from San Diego for a vacation, and we brought the drum with us hoping to drop it off to Sageman for a repair. When we realized that Sageman was no longer operating out of Santa Cruz, we looked for Plan B. Thankfully Uncle Google told us that Drum Dr. was a slight detour from our route home in Watsonville. We dropped off the djembe in person and got to meet Tom. He quoted us a fair price for the skin replacement (inc luding tuning) and shipping back to San Diego. He showed us some of his current work, and the 30 minutes we spent with him convinced us the djembe was in good hands. He gave us a two to three week turnaround window including shipping, and with the drum arriving today, he was spot on with his estimate. Could not be more pleased with the entire transaction. Thank you Tom. read more

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I'm thrilled with the job Dr. Tom did replacing the old, ripped head on my Bodhrain. Great workmanship, great result.

I was very sad when I found one morning my favorite djembe with head ripped. I tried to see If I can re-head it myself, but it is not an easy task to properly set and tighten the rope. Found Dr. Tom. Well I got the djembe back three weeks ago; after he re-headed it and it sounds better than before and playing it feels nice. Very much worth the price to have it re-headed with Dr. Tom. read more

DrumDrTom - Musical Instrument Services Near Me - Watsonville, California

I was lucky to find the Drum Doctor online. I sent him my damaged wedding drum and he returned a masterpiece. Seriously-stunning work. I will use his services in the future. Thank you! read more

Fantastic job, bringing new life into an old drum. Picked this djembe up at a garage sale years back, with a ripped head and old rope. Have been waiting to find the right person to handle this. Finally, I found the Drum Dr. Online, and shipped him the drum. Just a short time later, it Looks great, sounds great, and The coconut wood conditioner makes it smell great too. It's an incredible , snappy sounding drum now, that just pops. I highly recommend utilizing the Drum Dr.'s skills to give your drums a rebirth. Thank you for making my day!! Drum on... read more

Drum Doctor, craftsmenship 2nd to none. Seeing & hearing his work will definitely restore, renew, revitalize your percussion (drum) to newness. The work is excellent and reasonable in cost! Try the doctor and see! read more

My drum which was a birthday present from a dear friend of mine had to spent a little bit too much time in the Arizona desert. So the skin dried out. And cracked. Found Dr. drum on yelp and decided to give him a try. Shipped the drum to California. Waited a couple of weeks. Just got it back today and love it. Beautiful work on the head. Beautiful work on the ropes and ties and knots. I'm loving it. I strongly encourage you to let him work on your drum if it needs help. read more

I highly recommend The Drum Doctor. Our drum, which we use as a wall hanging, looks fantastic. You'd never even know it was repaired. I was a bit concerned about mailing our drum to someone I didn't know, but Dr Tom promptly answered all of my emails and informed me of the repair's progress. I'm very happy with the customer service and the repair itself. Thanks Dr Tom! read more

Dr Tom took on my pretty challenging conga skin installation, and did an excellent job at a very reasonable price. I'm very happy and will definitely come back. read more

Dr. Tom really is the drum doctor. He fixed my djembe and even went beyond what I expected. He quoted a very fair price and the work was completed in a reasonable time. He replaced my djembe head with a new goatskin head that he fitted, stretched & tuned and then shipped to me. It plays beautifully. He did an awesome job. I highly recommend him. Very professional. read more

I'm now the proud and happy owner of a beautiful new djembe built by Dr. Tom, which I recently purchased directly from him. Yes, he builds drums as well as repairing and restoring them, and his craftsmanship is superb. I continue to get compliments from people about the drum when they see and hear it. It looks great and it sounds great, with rich and resonant tones. He used authentic high-quality materials including wood and goat skin from Ivory Coast in Africa. His prices are extremely reasonable -- in some cases about half of what is charged elsewhere for comparable drums. Also I want to add that it was a pleasure meeting and talking with him. I had many questions and he answered them all, patiently and expertly, and gave me a lot of advice on how to maintain and tune the drum. I also recommend looking at his website where you can find a wealth of interesting information about hand drums. Thank you, Dr. Tom, from a very satisfied customer. read more

I have a lot of drums of many types and have taken several to Dr. Tom. He can fix anything! I don't know how he mastered so many skills but I'm glad he did. I know my drums are in good hands with The Drum Doctor. read more