Wood vs other materials

Umm... ok.

Fun fact: Plywood is constructed of thin sheets of WOOD glued together! Complete different from MDF or chipboard. Hence the name "ply" meaning a layer (single-ply heads, anyone?) and "wood" meaning... um... wood?

</sarcasm>

Now, if you're talking about SOLID wood drums, yes they are much rarer but generally considered a lot more difficult to make due to the difficulty in guaranteeing the quality of the wood used in their construction. Spaun are an Australian company who make solid wood drums, as well as block and plywood shells.

I'd count stave, block and steambent as being in the whole wood category; natural whole wood drums are indeed rare.

Particle board and oriented strand board are processed wood products, as is plywood. Yes, processed wood products are made mostly from wood, sometimes very high-grade wood. But there are also a lot of binders, like glue, as well as shaping and forming using heat and pressure. That's where the processing part comes in. Steambent, stave and block shells undergo much less processing and have vastly less glue compared to ply.

That's not knocking plywood at all; plywood has superior strength and workability and lower cost than whole wood construction (including steambent, stave and block), which is more prone to cracking and warping. Some of the best drums ever made are made from processed wood products like plywood and particle board.

While plywood is made with wood, it is not the same as natural whole wood, although manufacturers really want you to think plywood is wood. Wood is wood. Plywood is plywood. I am not inclined to confuse them.
 
???????????????????????????????

Indeed, news to me, as well ... I thought Spaun was located in the San Dimas/Chino area of Southern California ... 'bout 30 minute drive from where I live ...
 
Remember it is not just the material of shell that is a deciding factor, a new set of heads tuned well makes a drum sound fantastic.

Not bolting a lot of hardware to the shell also tends to stuff up the sound of drum shell much less, Sleishman Drums uses this principle with its free-floating shell drums (which are also easy to tune).


...Sound is not the only factor.

A solid block wood shell resonates very fully (see DeathMetalConga's drumkit) but it is uneconomical to turn out logs to make these drums and they are also very heavy.
 
Sorry, I must be getting my companies confused - you're correct, Spaun are in California.
 
Nope - wasn't thinking of Brady. I have a feeling someone linked me a number of years ago to an Australian company that does or did make solid drums, I thought it was Spaun but it's entirely possible I may have got the company name confused, or the location.

Edit: Found out! It's SPIRIT drums!

http://www.spiritdrums.com/snare/beat.html
 
I do agree that head choice makes a huge difference in the sound of a drum no matter what it's made of.

I find myself drawn to things that are different. Whether that be Trick's shells or Remo's shells. As long as I like the sound that's what matters most to me. But at the same time I still like the traditional sound of wood. But the idea of the durability of a Trick shell is really cool to me.

On a side note, why doesn't Remo market their drum sets a lot more? From what I have read the drums sound good.
 
I'd be concerned about the propensity of Trick shells to hold heat during outdoor summer gigs where there's no tent.
 
I do agree that head choice makes a huge difference in the sound of a drum no matter what it's made of.

I find myself drawn to things that are different. Whether that be Trick's shells or Remo's shells. As long as I like the sound that's what matters most to me. But at the same time I still like the traditional sound of wood. But the idea of the durability of a Trick shell is really cool to me.

On a side note, why doesn't Remo market their drum sets a lot more? From what I have read the drums sound good.

I totally understand your point of view. I, too, am drawn to things that are different - ABP, or Anything But Ply.

If you play what everyone else plays, you will sound like everyone else.
 
If you play what everyone else plays, you will sound like everyone else.

It's a rare occasion that I disagree with you old mate. But I'll say this. Bonham does/did not sound like Carmine Appice who in turn does/did not sound like Cozy Powell who does/did not sound like any other named player of the day of Ludwig 3 ply re-ringed kits. It's more than just the wood my friend. At the end of the day, it's that player that determines the tone, the texture and the musical voice of said kit. If I played your beautiful Ironwoods.....I'd bet London to a brick that no-one would ever confuse your playing to mine, purely based on the tones we can both draw from the instrument......well, either that or the simple fact that you can play and I can't. :)
 
Last edited:
I recently had a great conversation with the president of Trick drums. He made some really good points as to the lack of resonance of wood. He made a good point that if you take a wood drum shell and hit the shell with a mallet that you get just a little bit of resonance but you mostly just get a thud. I must concur that this is correct.
.

So then we should make marimbas and drum heads out of something else, right?
 
Now wait a second! Have you ever heard an aluminum violin or cello? Ha! I didn't think so!*



*Our bass player has a non-Kramer aluminum neck-thru-body bass that is not as good as wood, IMO.

Not an aluminium violin but perspex or fibreglass - Ponty played one and it sounded great.

Who needs drumshells? Rototoms are due to make a big comeback ;-)
 
Back
Top