It seems that you didn't specify which shell construction you wanted when you ordered the drum. You simply ordered an "8 tom" and they made a standard 8 tom. (as they do when not specified)
Using the serials doesn't tell them what construction your kit was, only a base timeline in which they would have been made.
I regards to what DW said about the VLT, X, Etc...is correct.
For instance my kits are
8, 16 X
10,12,14 VLT
KICKS AND 18 VLX,
This ensure's I can get the lowest possible note from each drum and still be relative to each drum in intervals.
They will not normally make anything other than an X tom (within their own configurations) Unless ordered by a customer.
And even then John will talk most out of it. Haha.
When not specified, they make standards.
The standard drum you have is fine and unless you tune really low like me, you'll never hear a difference.
Cheers
D
I checked with the vendor when ordering to make sure the tom would match the construction of my other rack toms and he said yes, they will know all this from my serial numbers.
You say that the serial numbers only give them an idea of when the kit was made and nothing about shell construction so why then are they implying that an X shell is definitely the correct one due to tonal interval differential between constructions of my existing toms (even though they don’t even seem to realise they made me a maple standard)?
If the vendor didn’t specify the shell construction when ordering and just assumed that DW would match it to the other toms via the info that DW derived from the serial numbers then some of the blame lies at their door.
Why did DW not contact them to have a conversation about shell constructions before starting work on the tom though and more than that, why do DW think they sent me an X shell when it was a standard?
Sounds to me that they lifted the first shell they could find, wrapped it and sent it off.
I have put new heads on the tom this weekend (Evans clear G2 over clear G1) and have tried every tuning combination to try and match it with my kit.
My other rack toms with the same heads are tuned just above wrinkle on the batter and have a moderately tuned resonant head and sound great.
The 8” sounds terrible when tuned like this. In fact its sweet spot seems to be around 80/80 on the drum dial but this makes it sound like I have 1 roto tom and 2 rack toms.
I am disillusioned with DW over this whole debacle and wish I had stuck with Sonor.