New Drums Day (DW Acrylic inside)

BertTheDrummer

BertTheDrummer

Gold Member
Well I guess I'm not cool anymore since I have a DW kit. (see thread on is DW cool anymore).

Recently I've had my eye on a couple vintage acrylic kits, but just decided to hop on Reverb to see what modern acrylics were up and see if I could find a good deal. I hadn't planned on going the DW route, but saw an open box deal on this and turns out they were localish (about 30 min away) too. So today I went and picked them up. All in, I got these DW Acrylics for less than the Crush or Pearl ones.

I got these put together and decided to snap a quick picture.
 

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Are the shells one solid piece, or is there a seam? I was watching a Ludwig video where they show how they make them, and they're just like plywood drums, where the piece of acrylic is placed into a cylindrical mold. The seam is then reinforced with another piece of acrylic glued over it. I was checking out the Vistalites at NAMM, and I had never noticed that seam with the glued pieces before. It didn't seem like it would hold up long term.

Are the DWs like that?
 
Looks great! I'm wanting to get a set myself too someday. Would be nice if they offered more colors too.
 
drumming sort of person said:
Are the shells one solid piece, or is there a seam? I was watching a Ludwig video where they show how they make them, and they're just like plywood drums, where the piece of acrylic is placed into a cylindrical mold. The seam is then reinforced with another piece of acrylic glued over it. I was checking out the Vistalites at NAMM, and I had never noticed that seam with the glued pieces before. It didn't seem like it would hold up long term.

Are the DWs like that?
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The DWs are extruded seamless shells.

MaskingApathy said:
Looks great! I'm wanting to get a set myself too someday. Would be nice if they offered more colors too.
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More colors would be cool, though for me I'd probably end up getting clear anyway.
 
Did you get a snare drum with it? I see on sites like Musician's Friend they have the snare included but I don't see it in your picture.
 
dirtyclinic said:
Did you get a snare drum with it? I see on sites like Musician's Friend they have the snare included but I don't see it in your picture.
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I didn't, that actually ended up being a bit of a misunderstanding when I drove out to go pick up the kit. The seller had already sold the snare, and apparently it was supposed to be listed as a 4 piece but Reverb's system defaulted it back to a 5 piece for some reason. I ended up getting some money refunded back for it. So, now I'm debating if I want to order the matching snare, another acrylic snare, or maybe just use a snare I already have.
 
drumming sort of person said:
That's definitely the way to go. They should last a long time. I wonder why Ludwig does it the other way... Seems like they're asking for trouble.
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Yep. They stopped making acrylics for a long time. I don’t know why they kept on with the same method. That would have been a good time to switch to seamless.

I’m personally a big fan of the Pearl acrylics, the Crystal Beats. Most any acrylics will sound pretty good though, as long as they’re in round and are tuned right. It’s a consistent and predictable material, unlike wood
 
Very nice! I looked at one of these at a local store recently.
 
Jbravo said:
Nice! Are they loud compared to wood shells, or haven’t you played them yet?
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Sorry for the delay I was playing the drums :)
Honestly, I don't think they are really louder and I know that is a common comment about acrylic. My wife mentioned she thought they were louder than my other kit, from the kit I don't know if I really can tell much of a difference. Though also the kit I have been playing lately is a vintage 3ply with re-rings Slingerland, so yes it is probably louder than that kit. I also don't know if I was maybe just playing louder since maybe I was excited about new drums.

I do have a 12" Design Series Maple tom that I got in a trade. I did a completely non-scientific test and tried to tune that and the 12" Acrylic, so they sounded similar by ear. They both have the stock Clear/Clear DW Heads, so basically clear Ambassador style over clear Ambassador style. I played them similar distance from a dB meter app on my phone and they showed up the same. Though this was tuned pretty low on both toms, I don't know if I tuned them differently if this would change anything.

They do seem a bit punchier though and maybe more fundamental. I've read comments in the past about uncontrolled overtones, but I didn't really seem to have that and I didn't even really take a lot of time to tune up the drums either. I was going to take a bit more time maybe later this evening and actually fine tune them.

Push pull stroke said:
Yep. They stopped making acrylics for a long time. I don’t know why they kept on with the same method. That would have been a good time to switch to seamless.

I’m personally a big fan of the Pearl acrylics, the Crystal Beats. Most any acrylics will sound pretty good though, as long as they’re in round and are tuned right. It’s a consistent and predictable material, unlike wood
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I actually looked at vintage drums, but then read so much about the seam issues that I decided to look at modern seamless drums. Actually if I hadn't gotten the good deal on these DWs, I think I might have ended up with the Pearl Crystal Beats. Though some of that might have mainly been that I have 22x16 and 16x15 bags already.
 
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Rattlin' Bones said:
Hasn't Ludwig been making them with a seam since the 70's???
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You're probably right, but for some reason I just assumed that they didn't have a seam. I was surprised when I saw the seam at NAMM. I know that the old Vistalites had problems with cracking where the holes for the lugs or spurs had been drilled.
 
Those are really nice looking !! Have fun with them and enjoy. What are the sizes?
 
T_Weaves said:
Those are really nice looking !! Have fun with them and enjoy. What are the sizes?
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18x22" bass drum, 14"x16" floor tom, 8"x10" & 9"x12" toms. I think once I sell some stuff I might pick up the available 12”x14” floor tom.
 
LikeToPlay said:
I think a black nickel over brass snare would look perfect with that kit and sound better than acrylic. Very nice!
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Funny you say that. Before I bought this I actually ordered a collectors series Black Nickel of Brass snare.
 
Seen a set of these in GC about a year ago. Guy was playing them and they had Evans Clear Hydraulic Heads on them. They sounded fantastic. I always thought that Acrylics had too much high end attack but these sounded just right. Who ever tuned them had them just right. Might checkout how the hydraulics sound to you.
 
ChromeDrummer said:
Seen a set of these in GC about a year ago. Guy was playing them and they had Evans Clear Hydraulic Heads on them. They sounded fantastic. I always thought that Acrylics had too much high end attack but these sounded just right. Who ever tuned them had them just right. Might checkout how the hydraulics sound to you.
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I was watching a couple of videos with Kenny Sherrets talking about hydraulics on acrylic drums and they sounded really great. I was planning on ordering a set of hydraulics after seeing that.

Edit: I actually just ordered a set :)
 
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