Ed Mendel: Creating Drums From Ancient Sunken Timber

Scott K Fish

Silver Member
The Gainesville Sun - Business Profile
Marching to the beat of a different drum
Ed Mendel creates drums from timber recovered from local rivers
By Carl McKinney, Correspondent, Sunday, 12/21/14

mendel_ed.jpg

Ed Mendel shows a selection of drums made from lumber pulled from local rivers. (Matt Stamey/Staff photographer)

Ed Mendel started building drum kits when his business building houses slowed down.

Mendel opened Ancient Rhythms Drum Shop...in September. [C]ustomers can find percussion instruments from the major manufacturers [and] Mendel's custom kits.

He started his custom line, Ancient Tree Drums, about five years ago when the housing market crashed and slowed down [his] contracting business....

[C]ollecting high-end drum kits, Mendel began taking them apart.., studying the materials and...design.

Video of Ancient Tree Drums at NAMM 2013

The instruments are created with wood from timber recovered from local rivers....

Some...logs have been submerged...more than 100 years.

"It makes incredibly beautiful and excellent tone wood," Mendel said. "When I found out I could get local material that nobody else has tried to build a drum with, that's what got me really excited."

"I don't feel like I'm selling instruments," he said. "I feel like I'm selling a happier lifestyle."

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Great read Scott,as always.Your posts don't dissapoint.Didn't DW,do something along those lines a few years ago?

Steve B
 
Scott,

You shed light on areas I didn't even know existed. I used to read your stuff in Modern Drummer back in the day and I can't tell you how cool it is to have you here. And you're still doing it. It's so appreciated, thank you. You have so much stuff. Prolific would be a good description.
 
Didn't DW,do something along those lines a few years ago?

From their website http://www.dwdrums.com/info/dwstory.asp:

In addition to expanding its product line, DW continues to create new drum concepts. John now carries the nickname as DW’s “woodologist,” continually searching out different wood to create unique sets. In the late ‘90s, John learned of 500-year-old hardwood that had sunk in Lake Superior 100 years ago. The logs were harvested by underwater treasure hunters and used to create DW’s Timeless Timber line, featuring 25th Anniversary Lake Superior Maple sets in 1997 and DW’s 30th anniversary Lake Superior Birch sets in 2002 (pictured at left). DW has also continued this tradition by releasing rare woods as limited edition Private Reserve kits.

I read somewhere else that they get a lot (most?) of their wood from Michigan.

Actually a few years ago I stubbed my toe in lake Michigan on a big 4 or 5' plank. It's in the basement now. Maybe it would make a great "tonewood" for a stave snare or something...
 
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