My latest idea for a drumset

Larry

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
So eventually, I am getting a new set of drums from Vaughncraft. (was supposed to have them by now, but the economy stinks)
At first I was going to go all Birdseye Maple, 1 ply steambent

Lately I've been getting it in my crawl that I want to do this:

8 and 10" rack toms made from Birch

12" rack tom made from Maple

16 x 16 floor tom w/ legs made from Mahogany

22 x 16 virgin bass drum made from Bubinga

The bigger the drum, the darker sounding the wood.

Not too much unlike Pearl Reference series. If anyone has Reference, I'd like to hear their opinions on the different woods for different drums approach

I'm trying to imagine how this would sound. All my drums now...you can tell they are all from the same type wood. I think I'm going to go for this. A Bubinga kick just has a certain tone that can't be had otherwise.

It will be my studio kit, and if it really rocks, perhaps I'll get a 2nd set just like it in the future to gig with...

I was also considering a thicker shell for the smaller toms and going thinner as the drum size increases, with the exception of the kick, I want that to be on the thicker side.

I want nice bright sound from the 8 and 10" racks, a warmer sound from the 12" rack, and an even warmer sound from the floor tom, and a subsonic bass drum sound.

Any opinions, yes/no, good idea/bad idea? Doesn't this sound like a better idea than a set of all the same woods? I guess I don't want them to sound too matched to each other timbre-wise.
 
My initial reaction is your birch toms won't play well with the maple and the mahogany floor tom will be too quiet.

I'd imagine that maple rack toms, a birch or walnut floor tom, and the bubinga kick would be a better fit.
 
I wouldnt mix the toms up with different woods. The kicker, though, could certainly be something different, and snare of course too. If you want to get the tomtoms to have more 'spread' you can use a thicker shell for the smaller toms and work down to a thinner shell for the bigger toms. You might even consider adjusting bearing edge shape as you do that, probably sharper for small toms and rounder for low toms.
 
Crazy8s said:
I wouldnt mix the toms up with different woods. The kicker, though, could certainly be something different, and snare of course too. If you want to get the tomtoms to have more 'spread' you can use a thicker shell for the smaller toms and work down to a thinner shell for the bigger toms. You might even consider adjusting bearing edge shape as you do that, probably sharper for small toms and rounder for low toms.
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Larry, I'm going with Crazy on this. I'm guessing you're going for single ply to get the greatest possible resonance. Birch & maple really do operate at different frequencies. Maple being biased very much in the lower mid range, birch bringing out highs & lows. I think mixing tom woods would make tuning difficult, & certainly an issue balancing sustain. I'm very much liking the change of bearing edge approach, that makes a lot of sense to me. Apart from anything else, if you're going to go for a natural wood finish, it would look like a dog's dinner IMO.

I very much embrace the different treatment for different drums principal. To me, it makes perfect sense to augment bearing edges, shell thicknesses, & even wood types to achieve optimum performance of each kit element, but mixing wood types within a family range of drums (i.e. toms) worries me a bit.

My own custom build will embrace the "different design for each drum" approach, so I'm a fan, but there's also a temptation to custom for custom's sake.
 
I don't know I think they would sound really cool. I really don't see a huge volume gap, after all, its all wood. Different timbres for sure, but really volume differences shouldn't be an issue.

What tuning problems? Each drum would tune normally. Perhaps blending issues are what you are referring to, but I don't want to blend.

Probably have to wrap them if I was going to gig them, but for the studio kit, I'd go natural oil finish, as wacky as that would look. I want totally different timbres from each drum, the goal is to not make them all sound like they were cut from the same cloth as it were.

The only thing I'd keep the same were the bearing edges. I like double 45's, I want as much attack as possible from all the drums, so rounded edges are out. Basically I'm going against everyones opinion here, sorry!

Viva la difference!
 
I say go for it. Although I'm not sure you'd notice that big of a difference. It's not like we're talking guitars or violins here where it really matters. They're drums, wood bent by a machine, stained or covered, and then drilled with hardware bolted to it. I remember borrowing different drums from different wood kits to make up one drumset and after a careful tuning, I couldn't tell they were different, audio-wise. It would be interesting to see what you find out though.

That must be why I'm saying you should do it!
 
I for one really don't care for a hodgepodge of different woods comprising the shells of a drum set, as in the Reference series. I tried many times to appreciate their sound, but it just wasn't happening for me. Every time I was auditioning for a new kit I included the Reference, and every time I chose something different. I always like the same woods in each shell with only the size of the drum, the heads and particularly the tuning to establish the sound of the kit. I talk from much experience with drummers coming into the studio and trying to get a well balanced sound from their kits. Most just ended up using the studio kits.

Dennis
 
I think that this is a cool idea. Let your rack toms sing and your floor toms growl.

However, just because it seems like a good idea, you never know what the finished kit will sound like. On that note, I agree with KIS that you may be customizing just for customization's sake.
 
The bubinga bass drum idea never occurred to me. I think it's not a bad idea.

I think making thicknesses go in opposite descending order, however, will make the kit sound unbalanced, naturally. Lower frequencies and sounds are less prevalent to the human ear, after all.
 
i think it's a good idea in theory. there's no right or wrong so why not? go for it...

personally i'd have 2 of each, like 8 &10 in birch 12 & 14 in maple and 16 & 18 in mahogony so 2 blend with each but not the rest but that's probably getting into too large of a kit for most people. but i would also maybe test this theory with a couple of other kits before dropping a bunch of cash on something your not quite sure of. it would really suck to invest all this time and money then find out you hate it once you get it and then be stuck with it....
 
Steelie, my logic for the shell thickness going from small drums thicker shell to large drums thinner shell is mainly about the projection of the smaller drums. Thicker shells project unmiced better, so with a smaller shell (and smaller sound) the added projection will (hopefully) help it keep up with the larger drums sonically...That's my logic, flawed as it may be.

The tide here is definitely for a uniform wood set. Makes me want to rebel even more lol. Every last stinking set of drums I've ever owned was from the same wood. Been there, done that. I wanna live on the edge baby!

Viva la difference!
 
azrae1l said:
i think it's a good idea in theory. there's no right or wrong so why not? go for it...

personally i'd have 2 of each, like 8 &10 in birch 12 & 14 in maple and 16 & 18 in mahogony so 2 blend with each but not the rest but that's probably getting into too large of a kit for most people. but i would also maybe test this theory with a couple of other kits before dropping a bunch of cash on something your not quite sure of. it would really suck to invest all this time and money then find out you hate it once you get it and then be stuck with it....
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I love birch rack toms, or maple. I love mahogany floor toms. Bubinga kicks just sound so rich to me. I cannot see how they would sound wrong together.

I have this thing where I don't want 2 of the same size drums on my kit. So since I play a 14" snare, no 14" toms allowed. I like the sonic jump from 12 to 16 anyway.

I'm going to build them just to see what really happens with them now. We shall see if the naysayers were right or if my vision was just one. What's the worst that could happen? Coupla grand, nothin to it.
 
Go for it Larry,
It will be interesting to see what you come up with.
 
exactly, whats the worst that could happen? your not quite happy with it and have to get a few more toms or something to even it out.

but on the other hand, whats the best that could happen? you end up with a completely amazing kit that drops everybodies jaw in a big pool of drool and you can run around going nah na nah nah nah nah!

i say let the imagination loose man, follow it and see where the journey takes you...
 
Yea azrae, I am gonna let loose. Everybody outta my way!
 
Great idea! I think the builder pros posting here like Crazy 8s and keep it simple have given you some good advice. I think the only reason this has not been done before is simply that it has never been done before. It will be more difficult to get right but you could have an amazing sounding set on your hands.
 
The big tonal jumps are from the rack toms to the floor toms and then again to the kick.

So, I'd doubt that it would even occur to most listeners that you have a different wood for each.

I know that the Bubinga kick has an amazing and consistent deep tone but I'm not sure I'd want that for every drumming situation.

Apologies that's not what you asked.

Davo
 
Deathmetalconga said:
Great idea! I think the builder pros posting here like Crazy 8s and keep it simple have given you some good advice. .
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Whoa there DMC, Crazy's a pro builder, I'm certainly not. I'm just a simple rock drummer who has a slightly wider view of sound creation than some of my peers.

Anyhow Larry, I'm glad you rebuffed some of my advice, I'd expect nothing less of you, lol! I'm all for experimentation, & especially against the tide. If you don't take the wild path, you'll never know, & some of the best ever discoveries have spawned from that attitude.

My new kit is extremely experimental, as such, it will hang over the cliff of failure. Risk & reward are inextricably linked in all walks of life. Creating drums is no different.
 
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