Played a Sleishman

A buddy of mine has had a Sleishman drum kit for a year or so and yesterday was the first time I got to see it and play it.

Firstly, very cool kit. It's a 6 piece Jarrah/maple ply kit with an outer veneer they call sassafras, 10, 12, 15, 16, 22, 14x5.5 snare. Lovely. My mate had only the snare, 10, 16 and bass drum at the gig which was at a wonderful outside winery venue. He was playing with a great friend who was over touring from the Eastern states whom I used to play with, and I was privileged to be asked up for a couple of songs.

I must say that I didn't get to hear the kit in all of it's glory as my friend had tape on the snare and the floor tom as he said it just rang on too much. He also had a huge blanket in the kick, (shake my head and sigh). Still sounded pretty good but you know.....

Anyway, on inspecting the kit I noticed that the bearing edges were very unorthodox. It appeared that they were cut in a reverse 45 degree, that is to say that it was opposite of what you normally see bearing edges cut like. Like the counter-cut was all there was. They also appeared to be very sharp with no round-over at all.

To me this seemed counter-intuitive. Because of the hardware set-up in the Sleishman, and how it is a 'free-floating' system, wouldn't a flatter profile on the bearing edge give more shell resonance? That is what they say they are going for with their system. Interesting.

I've played a blackwood set and an omega set and loved them both. Surely they've thought it through. I only noticed the bearing edge on the snares I was testing, they have a double bearing edge and really sharp. I don't know if it's because of this but they all had a pretty quick decay and a dry sound. Actually I liked the toms and kick more than I liked their snares.

Yeah, the snare was, to me, the least impressive of the lot too. Initially I thought it must be a tuning thing...and maybe it was, but didn't care for it from the front or the drivers seat.

I'm sure they have thought it through too, I just found it interesting that they would have such a sharp edge. Maybe they do a different bearing edge profile for each type of drum. I didn't inspect the snare too closely as it had a coated batter on it, but the toms had clears and the edge was without a doubt reversed.

Anyone know WHAT size Pearl tom arms fit into Sleishman tom block/mounts?,
I have a early 90s Sleishman kit &my tom arms wont go all the way into the tom block! .

Bonzo, I have a '92 set , the Pearl tom holder on mine is 22mm diameter. These drums to me are meant to be played unmuted except for maybe the kick drum. Why have a free floating system just to choke it up. If i have played smaller venues with the Slieshies i just played softer, that's an art in itself. The older kits are hard maple with sharp regular bearing edges, i actually prefer my snare over the rest of the kit, it's Killer.

sonnygrabber said:

Yeah, the snare was, to me, the least impressive of the lot too. Initially I thought it must be a tuning thing...and maybe it was, but didn't care for it from the front or the drivers seat.

I'm sure they have thought it through too, I just found it interesting that they would have such a sharp edge. Maybe they do a different bearing edge profile for each type of drum. I didn't inspect the snare too closely as it had a coated batter on it, but the toms had clears and the edge was without a doubt reversed.

Click to expand...

I know this is from a while ago, but I'd wager they do that to get a lot of head resonance, which is oft mistaken for shell resonance when played up close. I agree that a flatter profile, like variations of a half-roundover, would probably produce a lot more shell tone and be a bit more pleasing overall. I know I had to adjust significantly when I moved from my Tama Superstars (ply birch w/ double 45) to my DaVille (stave purpleheart w/ varied half-roundovers)- the Superstar had a lot more head sustain but out front it got lost and just sounded dead. The DaVille, however, projects crazy.

I only noticed the bearing edge on the snares

online pokies

What kind of hoops were on it?