Show your wood

I like wood. Here is my 5x14 Bellwether Stave. The shell is Cherry with Birch and Hollywood inlays. The rerings are hybrid wenge and maple and the modded Trick strainer is fitted with African Blackwood. This is my favorite wood snare that I own and Tony does incredible work. The total thickness of the shell is 1/4" with the rerings.

IMG_4671.JPG


IMG_4675.JPG


IMG_4674.JPG


Here is my Sonor SQ2 heavy beechwood kit finished in high gloss American Walnut

IMG_4725.JPG


Here is a shell I assembled. The veneering was done by drum foundry. 5.5x14 10 ply Keller shell in Mapa Burl.

IMG_4283.JPG


Sonor S Classix in Rosewood veneer

2012-04-25_22-07-31_595.jpg
 
The Signature has an incredibly thin layer of clear laquer giving the drums a waxed look; no staining whatsoever.




The Yamaha's have laquer over stained finishes, so probably they shouldn't be included.

I shall go horsewhip myself with a very large horse. ;-)

HA! I think there used to be a thread here for green kits. You should start one as you have a stunning green set. The ebony kit is incredible.
 
This stave kit is made by Unix. African Mahogany and yellow birch. Frank really expressed his love for his craft in this kit.
 
Hope the pics attach this time.
 

Attachments

  • stave 4.jpg
    stave 4.jpg
    278.3 KB · Views: 2,070
  • stave 5.jpg
    stave 5.jpg
    286.2 KB · Views: 2,122
Thanks friends.
It is not only a prety drum, my olive drums also sounds awesome. Someday i will upload a video.
I'm just not sure if i should varnish my drums. For the moment i just put Teak Oil because i want my drums to be as much natural. Any opinion???
 
Thanks friends.
It is not only a prety drum, my olive drums also sounds awesome. Someday i will upload a video.
I'm just not sure if i should varnish my drums. For the moment i just put Teak Oil because i want my drums to be as much natural. Any opinion???
Varnish (if we have the translation correct) certainly no. A lacquer might look good, but a stave drum sings best when not coated with layers of acrylic or whatever. A lacquer just adds to the mass.

I would advise keeping the external finish natural, as a regular treatment of teak oil will help keep the wood from shrinking too much. I notice you've turned rerings into the drum. That's fine, but they're not as good at keeping the shell round as rerings made with the grain running around the shell. It's the difference in grain direction that helps counter warpage. Nothing to concern yourself about, so long as you keep the shells well oiled & don't expose them to extremes.

Again, the olive looks beautiful - great stuff!!!!!
 
Just Finished my 10" x 8" Tom tom by olive.

Mindblowing. Big, thick, irregular grain is very dramatic. Everyone is obsessed with getting tiny uniform grain so when I see a kit that looks this natural, it is very beautiful and striking. Even the knothole adds tons of character.

If you can, don't varnish them. My ironwood drums have no varnish and no stain, just some preservative. I think it's great to have drums with very little processing, as much in the natural state as possible. Thank you for making this great contribution to the thread and welcome to the forum.
 
This one has been a horrendously long build. It is what I am now 95% certain is Bloodwood. Super hard, sinks like a rock in water. I sprayed the clear, hand wet sanded through all the grits and polished it 3 times. It is a 5.75 X 14 and is about 5/16th of an inch thick. It has all brass plated hardware and pure sound blaster wires. I also re did the edges and bed a couple times, and now it still does not play up to my high standards. The snare response is a little hard, sounds good but not great. So I may tear it down and do a little more tweaking. The dual custom vents give it some good volume, as well as the hard wood shell. Lots of resononant ring. Let me know if the picture sucks, I used my IPad, which does not take good pictures. No stain or colour, just clear 2 part DuPont Urethane.

image-26_zps7b1e4e75.jpg


image-26_zpse0c891e6.jpg
 
This one has been a horrendously long build. It is what I am now 95% certain is Bloodwood. Super hard, sinks like a rock in water. I sprayed the clear, hand wet sanded through all the grits and polished it 3 times. It is a 5.75 X 14 and is about 5/16th of an inch thick. It has all brass plated hardware and pure sound blaster wires. I also re did the edges and bed a couple times, and now it still does not play up to my high standards. The snare response is a little hard, sounds good but not great. So I may tear it down and do a little more tweaking. The dual custom vents give it some good volume, as well as the hard wood shell. Lots of resononant ring. Let me know if the picture sucks, I used my IPad, which does not take good pictures. No stain or colour, just clear 2 part DuPont Urethane.

Bloodwood! Even the name is insane. Not many woods sink in water - this has some serious attitude. Looks as good as any stained drum except it is not stained!
 
I love the wood grain on my baby :)
 

Attachments

  • anchorkit2.jpg
    anchorkit2.jpg
    208 KB · Views: 2,112
This one has been a horrendously long build. It is what I am now 95% certain is Bloodwood. Super hard, sinks like a rock in water. I sprayed the clear, hand wet sanded through all the grits and polished it 3 times. It is a 5.75 X 14 and is about 5/16th of an inch thick. It has all brass plated hardware and pure sound blaster wires. I also re did the edges and bed a couple times, and now it still does not play up to my high standards. The snare response is a little hard, sounds good but not great. So I may tear it down and do a little more tweaking. The dual custom vents give it some good volume, as well as the hard wood shell. Lots of resononant ring. Let me know if the picture sucks, I used my IPad, which does not take good pictures. No stain or colour, just clear 2 part DuPont Urethane.

image-26_zps7b1e4e75.jpg


image-26_zpse0c891e6.jpg
Looks like bloodwood. Very expensive, super dense, & usually oily too. These ultra hard woods can be a bit of a bugger to get sounding good in a snare. They're always going to be bright, & overtone control can be a bit of an issue too. The only one I really like in this category, is ebony. It's dry enough to let it's character shine through. that bloodwood should give you a very sensitive & articulate instrument though. Maybe try rounding the edges substantially, especially the batter. That should tame it a little, plus drive some more shell tone into the mix.

Great looking piece though, & as always, superb workmanship :)
 
Posted elsewhere on the forum, but I think this should be included here. I'm not sure I've seen another drum in satinwood, & certainly not a full kit. It shimmers like mother of pearl under lighting, or when you change your perspective. Incredibly soft to the touch too, yet it's both heavy & very hard. Incredible tonewood :)

Sound clips in my signature.
 

Attachments

  • x900 top.jpg
    x900 top.jpg
    689 KB · Views: 1,828
  • satinwood front 900.jpg
    satinwood front 900.jpg
    756.4 KB · Views: 1,826
  • satinwood side 900.jpg
    satinwood side 900.jpg
    735.8 KB · Views: 1,874
  • satinwood toms 900.jpg
    satinwood toms 900.jpg
    767.2 KB · Views: 1,880
My newest project. Wild oak 14x 5,5 with oak reinforcement rings.
K.I.S. This is ana amazing work on that drum set. How thick is the shell???
IMG_9811.JPG

IMG_9813.JPG

IMG_9818.JPG

IMG_9819.JPG
 
Back
Top