I am no wood whisperer by any stretch of the imagination, but a lot of the boutique companies are building drums, especially snares, with various unusual combinations of wood. They basically tout generalities such as "the warmth of mahogany, the punch of maple, the definition of birch, the attack of the killer tomatoes, etc. It is always worth giving any shell layup a try. I certainly wouldn't pay a hefty chunk of change if you couldn't hear it first however.

True. It's ear candy...and lord knows I wouldn't pay $500 for "mouth" candy that I hadn't tried before :) I guess at the absolute most basic it could be made of recycled shipping pallets....but if it sounds fantastic to you when you close your eyes and listen.....it's THE one :)

Ha, haaaa!! I like your last reference.

I can understand how different woods will posses different resonances/timbres. What is very interesting to me, is getting to understand how the different woods enhance or cancel the resonances/timbres of others/work together. I can also appreciate how the way the grains are run, will also affect the matrix of the shell. Is there a woodologist in the community. It would be interesting to get a better understanding of how these processes work.

Applauding the OP's question.

B

To your point, Famous Drums (George Lawrence and Joe Partridge) created a drum called the 2x4 which may have started as a joke but is basically a segmented shell made from garden variety 2x4's. Having seen and heard the drum myself I can say it is absolutely a keeper. Tons of crack and a great, throaty tone.

I don't think the type of wood in a drum means diddly. It's , once again a lot of smoke and mirrors, like the Tama Bell Brass thing. It isn't that the material isn't important but it is the understanding and manipulation of that material that really matters. The reference to the 2x4 drum is a really good case in point.

I do some work with violins, too and I can assure you that compared to drums , the discussion around wood , species, grain, thickness ,pretreatment, shape,glue, groundcoat, varnish totally blows the drum discussion away. So, try to transit these two videos , I will present: to the drum world and you will see how all this shell magic stuff( and while I am at it---bearing edge: malarchy, whew!) is just marketing mumbo jumbo.

http://vimeo.com/52129103

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpfYt7vRHuY[/ame]

I got a fever. And the only cure for it is, more carrot?!! WTPH?! Dude, those are wind instruments, mostly. Also, popping your finger out of a cucumber, does not an instrument make. You're gonna have to do better than that! Not buying your dismissal of wood density, etc.

Everything has a resonant frequency. Everything. There's got to be someone who knows about wood, laminations and cross-grain, x-grain, or whatever the heck it is. Also, the bearing edge (contact point of the head/shell, be it larger or smaller), has to have an affect on head resonance. If not, those Emad systems wouldn't be around and expensive. Is there a Dr in the house?

B

Yes. and it is me. Presumably, you did not watch the Vimeo link, that I also provided. I also handle cases of perceptual handicap.

Bearing edge is important, in so much as it provides a seal. It is a gasket and needs to be smooth enough to prevent an air leak. The shape of the bearing edge, whether it is dead true, the much vaunted angle are all irrelevant. People have laboured over routering a 30 degree angle or altered a perfectly good half round , to a bevel. Of course they put on new heads and tuned the drum after that but it was the bearing edge that made the difference , they dubiously perceive. It is a seal. The air needs to go out the vent, not between the head and the shell.

All good. I missed the link above the Veggie Tales "Orchestra" youtube clip. Have to watch later. Fingers crossed.

B

Wonder why no drum company ever put a rubber o-ring in place where the bearing edge is then?

Not being persnickety here, but if the bearing edge was merely an air seal, there are far superior products, that are very cheap and readily available, that would be a much better seal than simply mylar cranked down on wood. Also, the products would allow for some variance in the bearing edge and still seal 'er up.