My unpopular opinion is related to drum shell materials
Many perplex over drum shell materials as though there is some vast difference, when in engineering understanding the difference is nil related to wood.
This is a marketing induced problem which most drummers fail to understand. Wood drum shells have very little to do with drum sound. Drum shells are structural in nature, providing an air chamber, tensioning structure and edge for the drum heads. Its the vibration of the drum heads which provide sound. Don't believe that? Try beating on your drum shells without any heads attached and see what type of drum sound is produced....
Drum shell hype makes for good marketing but thats about where the story ends. A good drum shell (no mater the material) will provide an acceptable drum sound. This has been proven time and again by many people.
I would state as an engineer that wood is probably the least desirable material from which drums should be made, simply because wood reacts to both temperature and moisture, causing the wood to expand and contract accordingly. Metal is far less affected by temperature and almost never affected by moisture in relation to changing material size. Plastics will move based upon temperature (like wood) but are unaffected by moisture. The problem with plastics is they need be fairly thick in order to be structural, unless they are infused with fiber.
Therefore all this talk about the types of wood used in drum manufacturing is simply hype. Any wood which provides solid structure is capable of being drum wood. The air pressure within that drum will never ... penetrate the drum shell lamination, glue and finish... ever
The important issues related to wooden drum shells are the processes with which the drum shells are constructed. The tooling and equipment used to laminate the shells together. the finished roundness of the drum shell (concentricity), the process of making sure the shell ends are square with the shell, the process of cutting the bearing edges and keeping their flatness consistent, the process for finishing the bearing edges and the interior and interior of the drum shell to avoid the effects of moisture. These are all things which affect the sound of wooden drum shells, regardless of the material used.
Think about it, when was the last time someone stated during a concert ... those are great sounding maple drums or basswood drums or metal drums? Never....that is when. Because generally an audience will never know the material a drum is constructed of. They will only hear the sound the drum produces. Its all about the shell manufacturing process and how that shell construction provides a structure for the drums heads to react to with the atmosphere, which is how drum sound is produced.
For these reasons, its very important when changing drum heads not to treat your drum shells with disregard. Take care not to damage the bearing edges when changing heads, and always clean the tensioning components before reassembly, no matter if your drum shells are made of basswood (Luan), poplar, birch, rock maple or some mixture thereof.
Believing their is variation in wooden drum sound because of the wood used is simply hype. Any variation one might hear between wooden drums is the attention paid during drum shell manufacturing process, not the shell material itself. Engineering wise, the material (as long as its structurally sound) will make no difference in the final sound of a drum given that identical manufacturing processes are employed, and identical heads are used. Yes there will be variation in drum sound based upon drum lengths or thickness but that is true no mater the material used. Drum sound is the direct relationship of drum head vibration reacting to the atmosphere within and external to the drum. That is the basic engineering of drums.