Is walnut and birch material high end stuff?

They’re both hardwoods, fairly dense/heavy. Birch has a brighter tone quality and a fairly short note that records well. Walnut is a bit darker with more low end, still a short note, but doesn’t record as easily due to the low end resonance.
 
It is not the wood, but the way a drum set is built what makes it high end. A couple of years ago everybody would have considert spruce to be inferior for good sounding drums as well as quality furniture. Today we all know it isn't.

The reason that maple drums are considered as superior and sold at a higher price is probably just a matter of good marketing in the past.
 
Isn't Birch relatively "inexpensive" comparatively speaking? It seems that birch/basswood is often used together in "low end" or "beginner" kits.
 
Isn't Birch relatively "inexpensive" comparatively speaking? It seems that birch/basswood is often used together in "low end" or "beginner" kits.

Recording Customs are birch shells, you know that, and they are not inexpensive drums. Birch and maple are equals IMO, just a little different, not much, from each other.
 
There's no such thing as a high end wood species in terms of sound, but there is such a thing as high quality wood in the same context. Quality varies hugely in all wood species.

Quality can vary in some degree from one end of a board to the other. As will the grain.
 
Does a "quality" board built right, and a "non quality" board of the same material built just as right....does it really matter for sound? Quality of the look is really what quality means, right?

Like will a non quality board sound "less than" a quality board if everything else is equal?

I have this same question with figured as opposed to straighter grain on any instrument. Does it really make a noticable difference audibly?

My first instinct/guess says no.

Like I got cabinet grade walnut on my Yolanda kit (Thanks Andy)

It's darker, and that's the only difference. I think. Sonically, I can't see cabinet grade sounding better than non cabinet grade.

But who knows? Maybe Andy could chime in.
 
Recording Customs are birch shells, you know that, and they are not inexpensive drums. Birch and maple are equals IMO, just a little different, not much, from each other.

I see. . .No! Lol, Larry I actually didn't know that. I've only been back into drums since November of last year. I still have SO MUCH to learn about manufacturing and production and which company does what with what.

Recording Customs. . .Yamaha??? See, I don't even know.
 
Does a "quality" board built right, and a "non quality" board of the same material built just as right....does it really matter for sound? Quality of the look is really what quality means, right?

There's a lot more to it. Here's an interesting image that will give you some perspective.

Of course this is just one aspect...there are many other factors like climate and moisture content...but it illustrates just how different the same wood can be.

E8EXnSf.jpg
 
There's a lot more to it. Here's an interesting image that will give you some perspective.

Of course this is just one aspect...there are many other factors like climate and moisture content...but it illustrates just how different the same wood can be.

E8EXnSf.jpg


That is telling.

I guess I was thinking of 1 batch of wood, some quality parts of the batch, some not as much, from the same tree. I'm guessing they would sound the same.

Another thing I'm not understanding is how do they grow trees with large growth rings. Why don't they grow like the older trees?
 
It's the difference between a real forest and a plantation. Some trees lend themselves to growing as crops, some don't.

The old growth trees were... old, and grew more slowly.
 
It's the difference between a real forest and a plantation. Some trees lend themselves to growing as crops, some don't.

The old growth trees were... old, and grew more slowly.

What's the difference between forests and plantations? They are trees growing out of the earth. I'm not getting it.

If new growth trees were allowed to get old, would the rings be less thick?

Wide rings on new trees, narrow rings on old trees?
 
A forest is an extremely complex system. You can't just plant a sequoia seed or Brazilian rosewood in a field and expect it to grow like it would in a forest. Seedlings might require the protection of larger trees, or certain soil fungi may be required for normal growth.

A plantation is entirely different from a forest. Pines in the South will grow in plantations just fine, but you see the difference in the rings - the growth rate is much different. It's a cash crop, not something found growing in nature.
 
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