sounds of drum shells

[bobby frank]

i've been drumming for a few years now, but i don't understand how the type of shell you have for your drum affects the sound. like i have metal shells, just cause i have a ludwig starter kit that i'm trying to fix up. what would be the sound difference if i were to put out the money and get maple or birch shells?

[Ironcobra]

It's simple really, different things have different sound characteristics when they resonate, along with different natural frequencies. A birch shell tends to enhance the highs and lows, giving a nice attack. Maple gives good smooth lows and mids. Maple is considered to be the ideal wood for drums because it gives you a nice "THOOOM" on the toms that many of us desire. There are many other wood types in between that offer their own sound properties. Mahogany gives very deep lows but can sound a bit dead on the smaller toms. Bubinga is similar to maple, but with a much better grain. The list goes on and on.

[caddywumpus]

It's simple really, different things have different sound characteristics when they resonate, along with different natural frequencies. A birch shell tends to enhance the highs and lows, giving a nice attack. Maple gives good smooth lows and mids. Maple is considered to be the ideal wood for drums because it gives you a nice "THOOOM" on the toms that many of us desire. There are many other wood types in between that offer their own sound properties. Mahogany gives very deep lows but can sound a bit dead on the smaller toms. Bubinga is similar to maple, but with a much better grain. The list goes on and on.

It's the frequencies that get absorbed and reflected by the natural resonance of a material. Other factors that affect this include thickness of the shell, density of the material, and anything that restricts the natural movement of the shell (the hardware, the heads, reinforcement rings, treatment done to the shell like; hammering, lacquer, glue, etc...).

[Deathmetalconga]

It's the frequencies that get absorbed and reflected by the natural resonance of a material. Other factors that affect this include thickness of the shell, density of the material, and anything that restricts the natural movement of the shell (the hardware, the heads, reinforcement rings, treatment done to the shell like; hammering, lacquer, glue, etc...).

Of course, on a thread like this, I will always point out that glue is a significant factor in the sound of the shell.

Regardless of what kind of wood used, plywood is not natural wood anymore. It is a wood composite, like particle board, oriented strand board, etc. Plywood consists of whole wood that has been shaved into veneers and bonded to other veneers with heat, pressure and lots of glue. That's neither good nor bad, just a property of ply construction. Plywood for musical instruments is obviously a very high grade of plywood, with all the advantages of plywood such as superior strength, resistance to splitting and warping, etc.

Unfortunately, manufacturers never talk about glue. They like to pretend it doesn't exist so they can sell you a "100 percent maple shell."

[shepfu1]

Another thing to be VERY aware of is the tuning of the drums. A really nice maple set will sound like crap if it is not tuned properly and a cheapo set made from lesser quality woods can be made to sound very good if tuned properly.

[mfp1016]

Of course, on a thread like this, I will always point out that glue is a significant factor in the sound of the shell.

Regardless of what kind of wood used, plywood is not natural wood anymore. It is a wood composite, like particle board, oriented strand board, etc. Plywood consists of whole wood that has been shaved into veneers and bonded to other veneers with heat, pressure and lots of glue. That's neither good nor bad, just a property of ply construction. Plywood for musical instruments is obviously a very high grade of plywood, with all the advantages of plywood such as superior strength, resistance to splitting and warping, etc.

Unfortunately, manufacturers never talk about glue. They like to pretend it doesn't exist so they can sell you a "100 percent maple shell."

I'm fairly positive that the intention is 100% maple versus older vintage shells where basswood, or poplar were used on the inner plies.

[Unix]

Of course, on a thread like this, I will always point out that glue is a significant factor in the sound of the shell.

Regardless of what kind of wood used, plywood is not natural wood anymore. It is a wood composite, like particle board, oriented strand board, etc. Plywood consists of whole wood that has been shaved into veneers and bonded to other veneers with heat, pressure and lots of glue. That's neither good nor bad, just a property of ply construction. Plywood for musical instruments is obviously a very high grade of plywood, with all the advantages of plywood such as superior strength, resistance to splitting and warping, etc.

Unfortunately, manufacturers never talk about glue. They like to pretend it doesn't exist so they can sell you a "100 percent maple shell."


It's also funny that only in drum the plywood method is used in very high end kit. In guitar world even a Maple plywood body is considered like crap or low end instruments. Even the cover of a grand piano is made of block of wood.

[Deathmetalconga]

It's also funny that only in drum the plywood method is used in very high end kit. In guitar world even a Maple plywood body is considered like crap or low end instruments. Even the cover of a grand piano is made of block of wood.

Interesting point. I didn't know that. Solid wood is obviously important for other high-end instruments.

But to put things in perspective, the shell composition isn't the only factor affecting the sound. In fact, if you put good quality heads on a cheap kit that is otherwise well made, you can actually get it to sound pretty good. Of all the factors affecting drum sound, I think shell construction is the least important, behind heads, tuning, bearing edges aand overall quality. That's one of the reasons why ply shells are still dominant - you can get some very good sounds from a well-made ply drum.

Once you have good heads, tuned well, on a quality drum, then I think shell composition starts to play a bigger role. That's when stave, steambent and solid shells really start to show they are a cut above ply shells.