Oddball,

It appears to be 3-ply plus a thin veneer on the outside just for the outer finish. Found a description and picture of it on Sonor's site (below). Mystery solved. Thanks for the interest and info.

There are two versions available (in a variety of sizes) of this Orff Timpani: Crank and rotary tuning. It's a misnomer for Sonor to call this a timpani, as it is really a variable-tune concert tom, and sounds more like a Japanese Taiko drum than a timpani. Musician'sFriend.com has them currently available at $995 for an 18"!!! Still don't know what I'm going to use it for, but I have nothing else in my arsenal that sounds like this.

Mike

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There were actually three versions. Probably why they called it timpani, this was the non tunable tacked head.

I'm impressed, Oddball really nailed it! Man, if there is a drum in existence, somebody in this mofo knows something about it. The drum could be a one-off made in Ca-ca Hole Wyoming in 1932 and 'somebody' at VDF will know what it is. Amazing :p

Love VDF! Everything drums, all the time!

John