Many people ask why our drums seem to be so light.  The short answer to that is because glue (like water) weighs more than wood.  Here’s the long answer:  Most wood species, per cubic inch, are lighter than water.  There are a handful of exotics that are as heavy, or in some cases, heavier than water.  Why do I use the comparison of water and wood?  Because glue, PVA that is, uses a very large amount of water in it’s content and the product itself is liquid.   So, when ply shells are made, each ply has to have glue covering the entire mating surface to create the bond.  When you mulitiply that process by 6,8, 10 plies etc., the overall density of the shell has been greatly increased due to the enormous amount of glue that was used to make the shell.  Because our stave shell design uses far less glue, the shell is lighter and you gain more tonal quality from the wood itself, not the glue.  And,  the whole drum set is easier to lug to the gig!  Pretty good reasons to play stave drums.