DW buys Slingerland!

With ply construction, each ply the grain should wrap one way per ply, and 90 degrees the next ply etc.
If you want rigidity, yes. If you want a lowered fundamental, then all, or mostly vertical, is the way to go. Essentially, you can mix it up whatever way you want.

After everything's been bolted to the shell, any differences in result are fairly nuanced, but DW have pretty much made a living on the back of this, have approximately 22,700 videos on the subject, and the marketing equivalent of death by acronym ;)
 
If you want rigidity, yes. If you want a lowered fundamental, then all, or mostly vertical, is the way to go. Essentially, you can mix it up whatever way you want.

After everything's been bolted to the shell, any differences in result are fairly nuanced, but DW have pretty much made a living on the back of this, have approximately 22,700 videos on the subject, and the marketing equivalent of death by acronym ;)

I have noticed that, in addition to a LOWER fundamental, my stave toms have a much CLEARER fundamental....a much more defined pitch, unlike my copper shell kit, my spun fiberglass kit, or even my hollow log kit. What are your thoughts on that? It’s almost like my stave drums are resonating like the marimba bars the staves resemble?
 
My first kit was a Slingerland. My parents bought it for me. It was 1977 . Marine Pearl with a 24" bass drum. The kit was way to big for me as I'm a short Italian guy all of 5'4". It didn't matter I had that kit for years. I have very fond memories of Slingerland and my early days of drumming. It was so different back then. I'm glad Slingerland is being revived. I could care less about all the technical stuff you guys are discussing. Ply's, reinforcing hoops or rings or whatever. The hardware, the glue, don't care in the slightest. I probably won't ever own a Slingerland again but I'm still glad their being revived.
 
Even a multi-ply drum can have wood grain all going the same way. In fact, most of them do.

This is actually an incorrect statement. Multiply drums will have plies where the grain orientation changes on certain plies for rigidity purposes. This has been the standard for decades. Noble and Cooley’s Horizon series snares are mostly made up of Horizontal plies but they still have 2 vertical grain plies for shell stability.
DW has discovered that by manipulating the grain orientation of the plies certain sonic qualities are attained. For example if you have inner and outer plies of vertical grain , it will increase the lower fundamental tendencies. This is not some marketing smoke and mirrors . I have two drums sets made by to builders ( Noble and Cooley ; TRS ) that both have a maple shell with inner ply of Mahogany. You would think they would sound almost identical. They don’t. The TRS Custom Drums Kit has an inner and outer vertical grain ply. The TRS kit has more bottom end.

Sonor has been using vertical grain orientation for inner and outer plies on their high end kits for years.
 
This is actually an incorrect statement. Multiply drums will have plies where the grain orientation changes on certain plies for rigidity purposes. This has been the standard for decades. Noble and Cooley’s Horizon series snares are mostly made up of Horizontal plies but they still have 2 vertical grain plies for shell stability.
DW has discovered that by manipulating the grain orientation of the plies certain sonic qualities are attained. For example if you have inner and outer plies of vertical grain , it will increase the lower fundamental tendencies. This is not some marketing smoke and mirrors . I have two drums sets made by to builders ( Noble and Cooley ; TRS ) that both have a maple shell with inner ply of Mahogany. You would think they would sound almost identical. They don’t. The TRS Custom Drums Kit has an inner and outer vertical grain ply. The TRS kit has more bottom end.

Sonor has been using vertical grain orientation for inner and outer plies on their high end kits for years.

Sorry, I’m ignorant about multi-ply drums because they are, to me, the McDonald’s of drum construction. Popular, but only because most people don’t know better.
 
I like single ply drums. I only have two. One is a Radio King, the other a Longo walnut. Are they "better" than the others, no, I don't think so. I think all my drums have their place. That's why I have them.
 
Solid wood ( steam bent ) drums have similar properties to solid wood acoustic guitars, bent to shape and they sound good. that's all. I prefer them to ply drums.
 
Hey bro, Solid ply is totally on topic as far as Slingerland goes. Discussing the ins and outs of lay up is relevant too! DW will do what they do in the meantime we discuss no? sheesh.
 
Sorry anything else annoying you? and while we are on it explain to me the irrelevance of a ply versus solid debate as you put it when discussing Slingerland. I have both versions from Slingerland and I like both but I do prefer solid. is that ok with you? As far as DW goes I doubt if I will purchase anything. and do you think they will use the old style internal washers? I doubt that too.Maybe they'll reissue the Black Beauty. That's right it was originally Slingerland or is that irrelevant too? there! back on track.
 

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..But this is/was turning into a ply vs. solid debate and there are plenty of those already on-site..


And what..?

Lol..

Literally everything regarding drums has allready been discussed at least 100 times on this site..

But besides that, the whole "wood/ply discussion" is actually the only interesting part of the whole thread in my opinion and even for a complete non-gear-obsessed guy like myself completely on-topic..
 
So maybe I'm the only guy still enjoying my plywood drums... 'cause Slingerland made plywood drums too, and my plywood Gretsch actually has that both deep and cracking thing going on. (y)
 
No you are not, I enjoy plywood drums a lot especially for gigging mic'd up. Gretsch and Rogers I'm into at the moment. Solid wood drums come into their own in acoustic settings and recording I feel. So in that lower volume setting I do prefer solid shell. The thing with Slingerland is that it is virtually possible to create your own " Slingerland " drum from accessible parts so hopefully DW will keep it real so to speak.
 
Sorry, I’m ignorant about multi-ply drums because they are, to me, the McDonald’s of drum construction. Popular, but only because most people don’t know better.
Popular because that's what most people can afford. I would have all steambent if I could afford it but I can't.
 
Andy’s post proves my point. I see no reason to cover up nice-looking wood with a wrap, if the shell is designed primarily for sound quality (stave, segment, steambent, etc.). If it’s a thick multi-ply shell, no big deal.
Although if they knew they were going to put a wrap on it they wouldn't have to use such good wood for the steambent shell. Call it one ply or steambent but use a less than fine looking wood.
 
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