Could this be it?

sonormapex

Senior Member
Looking back about 25 years we have seen so many new products used to make drums from.eg; glass, plastic, fiber glass, sawdust, metals I,ve never heard of etc.
List goes on forever!

Can you think of something that has been over looked that you think we should try using to make the "bestest drum ever"??
 
I would think if there was a better material for drums, that isn't cost prohibitive, it would already be known. Unfortunately, economics plays a major disproportionate role in drum tone. Like if solid gold made a great tone, who could buy them?
 
Well. DW has only made snares of concrete. Not a whole kit yet. Actually, there are quite a few matrials that have only been used in snares and not whole kits. e.g. titanium.

Certainly agree with Larry on the cost factor.

Must say I haven't seen much in the way of spruce, cedar, pine etc.., though.

Miron glass?

Clay? (Poor drum tech)

Vulcanized rubber.

Silver

Gold and platinum is used in flutes. They start at $60.000 or something. lol


Better to use some semi-finished products, like gluing togeter som lego, guitar pickups, car tires or beer cans.


How about baking some drums....with whole grain organic spelt.
 
Carbon fiber has been done a fair amount. And Dunnett did a full titanium kit... Thing was crazy expensive though, IIRC. There's also a Japanese company called Kitano that makes titanium kits.
 
Looking back about 25 years we have seen so many new products used to make drums from.eg; glass, plastic, fiber glass, sawdust, metals I,ve never heard of etc.
List goes on forever!

Can you think of something that has been over looked that you think we should try using to make the "bestest drum ever"??

Maybe a graphite composite of some sorts would be an interesting material.

You could make very thin ply shells with a layer of graphite for strength.

No need for reinforcing rings.
 
I would like to see someone make a drum shell with a center ply of some sort of membrane.
For instance a 3 ply shell: an outside ply of maple, next a ply of honeycomb or vertical strips with air in between them, then a maple ply inside.

I was thinking it might allow the shell to resonate more as air flows through the center of the shell.
Or it might allow the inside and outside plys to vibrate; producing some new and interesting tones.


.
 
I would think if there was a better material for drums, that isn't cost prohibitive, it would already be known. Unfortunately, economics plays a major disproportionate role in drum tone. Like if solid gold made a great tone, who could buy them?

Good point about cost.
 
Going the opposite route, I've thought of creating drums made out of PVC pipe for the extremely budget conscious, i.e. low-income school districts, residents of poverty-stricken nations, etc. I don't know how much cheaper it'd be vs. wood, and I have no idea how they would sound, but it's an interesting premise.
 
Going the opposite route, I've thought of creating drums made out of PVC pipe for the extremely budget conscious, i.e. low-income school districts, residents of poverty-stricken nations, etc. I don't know how much cheaper it'd be vs. wood, and I have no idea how they would sound, but it's an interesting premise.

There was a company around in the late 80s/early 90s called Ugly Percussion that made PVC drums. Never got a chance to try them, but seemed like an interesting idea.
 
There was a company around in the late 80s/early 90s called Ugly Percussion that made PVC drums. Never got a chance to try them, but seemed like an interesting idea.

Guess I wasn't the first to think of PVC as a drum-making material. I hate it when I think I have a novel idea, only to find out it's been done before :(

Anyway, I tried to find something on Ugly Percussion, but didn't see anything. However I did come across this thread on DW from a few years ago.
 
I would like to see someone make a drum shell with a center ply of some sort of membrane.
For instance a 3 ply shell: an outside ply of maple, next a ply of honeycomb or vertical strips with air in between them, then a maple ply inside.

I was thinking it might allow the shell to resonate more as air flows through the center of the shell.
Or it might allow the inside and outside plys to vibrate; producing some new and interesting tones.


.

I am thinking the honey comb or air layer would just kill the sound as air normally does. I would like to see more solid drums. Logs lathed into one piece drums. The first drums, hollowed logs.
 
Guess I wasn't the first to think of PVC as a drum-making material. I hate it when I think I have a novel idea, only to find out it's been done before :(

Anyway, I tried to find something on Ugly Percussion, but didn't see anything. However I did come across this thread on DW from a few years ago.

Pretty sure they're long gone now. But googling the name, I found them mentioned on a couple forums, but no pics or real info.
 
Pretty impressed with aluminum. I've never played a rolled kit but my seamless kit sound amazing and is super light. Seems like the perfect material.
 
I saw Johnny Rabb play a tom made of a heavy cardboard tube. When miced you could not tell the difference.
 
5 ply candy shells made from hard boiled sweets with liquorice reinforcement rings. Kind of like acrylic except you can eat these drums. The bass drum logo would be 'Willy Wonka'.
 
Merlin..great idea??

Grunter...sono tube is a "cardboard" type material currently used in the construction industry to pour concrete pillars and support structures.
 
Hemp fiber is one I have thought about. Studies have shown its a stronger construction material than wood composites, waterproof, cheap and sustainable. Maybe we could see it in the future as its close cousin is becoming legal throughout the states now...

Make note, I had the idea first! (Past seven years at least)

We'll call it AcoustiKRON!

Well crap. Just googled it. Someone made a snare from it...
 
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