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featured article |
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Drum Shells Explained
To Find a Perfect Sound
Drum shells
are more complex than you may think. They can be made of wood,
metal, acrylic plastic, carbon fiber, and other materials. However,
wood has been the main choice by builders and
drummers alike for many years.
WHY? Likely due to the nice tone, the natural
beauty, and the crafting experience gained throughout history. Since
wood is the most common material used, why don't we take a peek at
how a tree becomes your instrument of choice...
Drum Shell Construction
In order to demonstrate
the ways drums shells can be contructed, custom drum builder
Oregon
Drum, has allowed DrumJunction.com to use some of their
great pictures and contribute information about each type.
So let's get started...
You've seen plywood
before right? Thin pieces of wood called "laminates" or
"veneers" (which are shaved from a solid piece) are stacked
with alternating grain patterns to increase strength of the
finished product.
Thin plies
of various woods are held together with fillers and glue. Heat and
compression molding techniques are used to produce these plywood
cylinders.
Often, only the
inner and outer-most plies of these shells are made of a quality
hardwood. This can result in portions of the bearing edge consisting
of glue, filler or a gap in the wood ply altogether. (Gaps of air
don't resonate very well.) Even with plies or an outer veneer of an
exotic wood, the shell still consists of thousands of square inches
of glue.
Stave drum shells are
made in a method similar to constructing a barrel, where
sections of wood are joined by either spline or butting
methods which is held by glue.
This technique provides phenomenal strength and rigidity
while maintaining the tone and response of a solid wood
shell.
One of the most valuable qualities of a stave drum shell
comes from the vertical grain bearding edges which conduct
vibration and resonance and sound through the shell far
better than any other shell configuration. This method
greatly improves the quality of wood in contact with the
drum head as hundreds of square inches of glue are
eliminated from the process.
Another wonderful characteristic of a solid wood stave shell
is the extremely low "glue to wood" ratio. We all know that
glue is a dead component, it makes no sound at all. Solid
wood allows us to lower the amount of glue used to build a
drum shell and raise the wood content resulting in a truer,
richer, and more melodic sounding drum.
Sean Murphy of
SMD
Custom Drums has provided a great mathematical
comparison of the total square inches of glue joint area
between plywood and stave drum shells.
(note: this
is a comparison of two 6" X 14" snare drum shells of the
same mass. the plywood shell has 10 veneer plys)
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Ply shell: |
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Stave
shell: |
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3.14(pi) x 14" =
43.69" x 6" =263.76 sq. inches x 9 glued plies =
2,373.84 sq. in. |
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0.25" x 6" = 1.5
square inches x 16 staves = 24 square inches of
glued area |
Conclusion:
Stave shells use 0.01% of
the glue that normal ply shells require. Glue has no tone
factor whatsoever in fact it is a tone inhibitor. Wood is
good, glue is dead.
The shell walls on these drums are built
from stacked rings of wood segments. This type of
construction creates a sturdy shell once it is glued
together and turned into a cylinder on a lathe.
This method improves the quality of contact with the drum
head as there are few glue joints touching it. That said,
since each shell is built from a number of these segmented
rings (essentially stacked staves), there is still a
considerable amount of glue content.
Some of the finest acoustic snare drums
offered today are built in a ‘steam bent’ or 'single-ply'
manner. Some manufacturers incorrectly refer to them as 'solid'.
The shell walls on these drums are built from a single plank of
lumber, bent into a circle over time with steam and bending
jigs.
This type of construction creates a sturdy shell once it is
glued together at a single scarf joint and turned into a
cylinder on a lathe. This shell type utilizes reinforcement
rings at each bearing edge, necessary to stabilize the shell
(as shown in the picture). Because of this, they aren't
truly a single-ply shell at all.
This method greatly improves the quality of contact with the
drum head as there is only one glue joint touching it.
Oregon
Drum has found that this shell type to be one of the
most resonant, truly musical construction methods available
Solid
Of the drum shell types discussed here,
the "solid" shell shown to the left is the only one that is
of ONE piece of wood with no support or glue.
Many in the drum industry use the generic term 'solid' to
describe all manner of segmented, stave and steam-bent
single ply drums.
Our friends at
Oregon
Drum are among a handful of companies around the world
offering a 'true solid' shell. In the case of their
Myrtlewood Series, solid is truly a seamless shell lathed
from a round of kiln dried, relaxed wood. In other words, a
hollowed out tree trunk. No other construction method allows
the wood to freely offer it's contribution to the sound of
your drum the way a true solid does.
SIDE NOTE: Danny Brown's
Ultimate Guide for Choosing Drums and Cymbals.
DrumJunction provides not only more detail about drum shell
construction, but he also talks about entire drum kits,
cymbals, and everyting you need to know before laying down
your hard earned money. Check it out
HERE!
Not All Wood is the Same
OK, time to
talk about the wood types. As you know, there are many types
of trees, each producing a different kind of wood. Some is suitable
for shell construction, others aren't. So what make it suitable?
Here a several key reasons:
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The tree chosen for a wood
source must be in great supply, which makes it
affordable.
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The wood must be workable.
This means it can be shaved for laminates and then
molded to form the round shape of a drum.
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It should be attractive.
This applies mostly to higher quality drums which
will have a clear coated finish. Cheaper drums are
usually wrapped.
-
Woods that will have a clear
coat finish should stain well, showing off
the beauty of the grain pattern.
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Woods used in
cheap drum sets (such as eucalyptus, bass wood, & tulipwood) tend to
be in great supply and are very workable, but don't finish well.
This is why they are wrapped with some type of solid or patterned
plastic.
A trick some
companies use it to add an outer layer of higher quality wood such a
maple or birch for staining. Be sure that the drums aren't sold as
"all" maple or birch.
Popular woods used in semi-professional to
professional drum shells include maple, birch, and
mahogany. Each wood type gives the drum a different sound due to
the "character" of the wood. Here's what I mean by character...
Hard vs. Soft
There are always exceptions to the rule, but these properties usually
hold true. Now we have to ask which woods are hard or soft? Let's look:
The Big 3
Starting with mahogany,
it's the softest of the three. Mahogany's sofness gives it the
lowest tone of the group. You can expect good bottom end punch with
this wood.
Keep in mind that the mahogany discussed here is of high quality
(i.e. African Mahogany). Many cheap drum sets are made with the
cheaper mahogany that is commonly found on hollow doors. The price
is less but the tone suffers.
Maple falls in the middle when it comes to both hardness and
tone. The pitch is higher than mahogany's, yet it is considered
"warm" when compared to birch.
Maple is very popular among many drum makers and drummers
alike. Keller Drum Shells has been key to the mainstream popularity
of maples shells. The great tonal range, natural beauty, and large
supply should keep it on the "most popular" list for years to come.
The final wood to consider is Birch. Since it is the hardest
of the group, birch has the brightest sound. It is also very
attractive with a nice staining wood grain. The volume you can
achieve with birch makes it a pick for drummers in live settings
(who like it LOUD!)
Shell Size and Thickness
We all know that small drums have
a high pitch and larger drums have a low pitch. Why is that?
1. Shell diameter (how big around) affects pitch more
than any other factor. Based on that, a 16" tom will sound much
lower than a 10" tom no matter how deep it is.
2. Depth plays a role in the tone (how high or low) but
has a greater role in sound projection. Your personal taste,
type of music you play, and especially the setting you play in
will dictate what shell depth may work best for you.
Thick or Thin?
The thinner the shell, the more it
will vibrate and give a rich wood tone. The volume will be less
than thicker plies though.
The thicker the shell, the less if
will vibrate, but the louder the drum will be, giving preference
to the attack of the head rather than the tone of the shell.
This is why thicker shell are used for snares and bass drums!
In closing, here are several rules of
thumb to keep in mind:
- A broad range of drum shell diameters
will speak more clearly to your audience (i.e. 8", 10", 12",
14", 16").
- If you're looking for good tone, go with
a more shallow shell. They vibrate more freely allowing the wood
sound to come out.
- Go with a deeper drum shell if you're
after projection and volume.
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source:
drumjunction.com |
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