Last modified: Sunday, July 13, 2008 10:30 AM EDT John Wells plays a,” Djembe “, that he made. He's got the beat BY RICK FOSTER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO -- African ashiko drums to Australian digiridos, John Wells can be said to be marching to the beat of a different drummer. That's because Wells designs and builds many of the ethnic drums and other musical instruments he sells on the Internet and at Renaissance and cultural fairs across the United States. Wells builds African drums and other products in the garage at his Pocahontas Lane home, But he spends much of the year selling them at booths at festivals like King Richard's Faire in South Carver, the Newport Folk Festival and the Clearwater Festival in New York State. Wells and girlfriend and fellow artisan Jane Lebherz, who makes her own line of jewelry, are riding a wave of interest in world music and cultural diversity that shows few signs of cresting. "With the Internet, there's so much music from all parts of the world right there for you," said Wells, a former auto mechanic who began marketing homemade drums in 1999. "It's all good, and you just can't escape it." Wells, a former auto mechanic, started making his own products after working for a Renaissance fair concesssionaire for two years. He began by distributing reproduction goat horns for use as jewelry, but soon began to branch out into musical merchandise. Besides his own drums, he distributes more than 1,800 other musical items ranging from bouzoukis to wooden flutes and Irish hand drums made or imported to the U.S. by other companies. Although Wells admits to being a bit of a "gypsy" at heart, he says he gets a great deal of satisfaction by being his own boss and creating products with his own hands in his own home workshop. "I can actually say I'm excited to come to work every day," he said. A guitarist before becoming an instrument-maker, Wells doesn't pretend to be an expert musician. "I can probably play the instruments just well enough to sell them," he said. Wells, added, however, that he's constantly discovering new and intriguing instruments, such as a "jug drum" made of clay. Wells constructs two types of vertical African drums from strips of birch plywood. Once the strips are glued together in a tapered cylinder, he turns the drums on a lathe to give each one its distinctive shape. Then cords are used to affix and tighten the drum heads. On one model, Wells offers wooden beads that allow the player to quickly tune the traditional instrument rather than the painstaking method of weaving and adjusting the cords. Besides musical instruments, Wells has also built rickshaws and vendor carts and is currently marketing "fairy wings," pairs of butterfly-like wings made from gossamer material that can be worn by a child or adult. Recently, Wells burst onto the Internet with a broad line of instruments, accessories and instructional materials. His products can be found at www.mystic-rhythms.com. The Attleboro resident said he spent much of the last 10 years on the road "mostly living out of a tent" as he followed an endless string of fairs and festivals. These days Wells and his girlfriend live in a house purchased two years ago. The change was a welcome one, but it had some unanticipated effects. "The first time there was a rainstorm when we were living here, I reacted thinking, 'Oh my God, what do I have to throw tarps over?'" Wells joked. Touring takes Wells and Lebherz away from their home much of the year, but Wells says he still enjoys the camaraderie of the road and maintaining hundreds of personal friendships that stretch from Hudson, N.Y., to Phoenix, Ariz. "You pull into town and people say hi because they know you," he said. RICK FOSTER can be reached at 508-236-0360 or at rfoster@thesunchronicle.com.