Spirit in the wood also offers djembes built on African shells. When imported drums arrive they almost always have problems that effect the drums sound or tuning stability. Spirit in the Wood African shell drums are usually rebuilt with thicker no-stretch cord heavier steel rings. Conrad has recently started exporting his special djembe tuning cord to his drum builder contacts in Africa to help them produce better instruments.

The African shells are mostly the hard woods of West Africa such as Lenge, a heavy brown wood traditionally used to make djembes; Balafone wood that very hard and has white and black patterns. They are carved from a solid log in the traditional way using a narrow adz hand tool.