Much debated issue
Hi! I am debating with friends about the way drum shells should be made: solid wood or laminated. I read your articles and it seems that you are manufacturing shells from solid (being french, “stave” translates as ”bar”, in other words “solid lug”).
I have access to CNC lathes and milling machines (with big size capacity). It’s my belief that drums shells could be produced from solid wood lugs, machined to tight tolerances, to obtain maximum resonnance. My buddies pretend that solid wood is not adequate, since the shells would crack and deform.
What is your opinion?
Thanks!
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I asked a similar question. I know of a few companies that do machine drums out of logs–Luka Percussion is one. They say if the logs are worked properly, strength isn’t an issue. May be, you hear stories about stave shell problems as well, but Curt has addressed those adequately. With the proper adhesive and technique, stave shells should be fine. Something that occurred to me is that even a CNC-machined drum is not really a natural state for the wood, and it’s not likely to resonate uniformly. The sound of the drum even be expected to deteriorate over time as the wood ages. One of the few things good about ply shells is that in many circumstances, they tend to sound a little better over the years as the wood ages. I’d love to hear a stave kit in say, 2048!
Drums that are made from several plies naturally have great wood stability because, like plywood, the shell is very srong. However, there is a compromise in tonal quality in the shell itslef becasue of the enormous amount of glue used in the construction process. Glue has a deadening effect on the shell. Plywood is made for general construction and strength purposes. However, for fine furniture, craftsman use hardwood for it’s beauty and character. In a similar way, we equate the use of hardwood in our drum construction vs. ply construction. More character and uniqueness in sound is achieved. And, unless you use your drums to sit on or play sports with, the way our shells are constructed should pose no problems. We use age old processes that have been used by craftsman for decades. The Lathing process:
We do not CNC lathe our shells. They are “turned” on a lathe by hand with our proprietary tooling and to within .005″ of round (about the thickness of paper). Natural state of wood: The most natural state for wood is to leave it as a tree!:) As far as drum construction, any time bending of wood takes place whether it is bending plies or using heat to bend solid thicker pieces, as are used for one plies, there are crushed fibers of wood that have to move to take on the new configuration. This is what we mean by unnatural and imposed stresses. Hollowed tree trunks and block (stave) shells do not have these stresses. So, in that sense they are still in a “natural” state short of still being the living tree! As far as resonance: If the shell is turned properly, it will be of uniform thickness and round and will resonate as well as any ply shell and with uniformity. In fact, many ply shells have voids in them that can actually cause dead zones in the shell. Stave shells have no voids. Finally, I would disagree on the development( or should I say the deterioration) of sound. In our experience, they sound better with age, just like a good violin!
Thank you for your questions and feedback!
The Artisan