Ironwood drum set

Truly great looking stuff DMC. How do you find the fibreskin heads? I remember using one as a batter on a lovely wood snare I had, back in the day. I imagine they partner really well with your woody organic kit vibe. I'm starting my journey to a second kit. Something very woody & controversial, so I'm very interested in the concept. I'm guessing they really focus on the fundamental tone. I like that, but do they still offer enough attack & cut?
Yes Mr. Death, you still haven't answered mine either. Really interested in your thoughts on the Fibreskin heads as above. Cheers, KIS.
 
Yes Mr. Death, you still haven't answered mine either. Really interested in your thoughts on the Fibreskin heads as above. Cheers, KIS.

OK, here is more on the Fiberskyns. Because they are thicker, they are not quite as responsive, but on the other hand, there are fewer overtones coming out of the head to diffuse the sound, so they are more focused. Since there are fewer overtones coming out of the heads, you hear more coming out of the shell and the amazing ironwood. Thinner heads, like Ambassadors, sound too bright on this set, with not enough focus. Does all that make sense?
 
Wow, that really is one fine lookin kit, very unique. You gotta post some of your playing on it, i would love to hear how it sounds
 
Wow, that really is one fine lookin kit, very unique. You gotta post some of your playing on it, i would love to hear how it sounds

Here you go, a few tracks. Two were recorded on a Yamaha Pocketrak 300 and one in a studio, just the drum track of a song.
 

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  • Spirit set greasy swing.MP3
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  • Double bass 1.MP3
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  • Red Dragon drum track 1.mp3
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I got some really great advice from MFB about how to improve the EQing and sound on the recording. The sound engineer is a drummer with a fabulous studio but he is learning the intricacies of miking drums and MFB is providing some great guidance.

Mediocrefunkybeat advised myself and the sound engineer on the recording these drums. He is a wealth of knowledge about such things.
 
So humour me, each drum is carved solid directly out of each log? So no steam bending, no plys? They must have a way to cut the log out like a giant hole saw, or else the waste would be phenominal. I believe over here in North America, ironwood is very expensive. On my local woodworking site, a guy brought a one foot by one foot block back from jamaica, he paid $10 for that piece.
 
So humour me, each drum is carved solid directly out of each log? So no steam bending, no plys? They must have a way to cut the log out like a giant hole saw, or else the waste would be phenominal. I believe over here in North America, ironwood is very expensive. On my local woodworking site, a guy brought a one foot by one foot block back from jamaica, he paid $10 for that piece.

You are correct, these are milled from solid logs. The wood in the shells is exactly as it was in the living tree. There is no bending involved in the manufacture; I honestly do not believe this wood could be bent or shaved into plies.

They have a way of taking concentric shells from the interior of the log, so one section will produce a bass drum and a couple of toms. They use a giant metal lathe for finishing. The wood pretty much destroys saw blades on contact. This ironwood has a specific gravity of 1.2 - it is 20 percent heavier than water and the shells sink.

The main risk of this manufacturing technique is warping, splitting and cracking. Ironwood is extremely dry and even when freshly cut, it has a lower moisture content than many seasoned woods, so it is structurally very stable. But I sometimes have bad dreams where I find the shells split - seriously. So I check them all the time. These are the kind of drums that appear regularly in dreams.

Erythrophleum chlorostachys grows in a very harsh, dry climate. As you know, basically in Australia everything is more badass so there are termites the size of your index finger. These trees have to be indestructible to survive. If my house burned down, these shells would survive. This wood grows very slowly and these drums were fashioned from a tree that grew to about 20 inches in diameter over 350 years. This set was finished in 2006 and the wood was cut, then cured and seasoned for a few years before that.

Yes, they are expensive. I forget now but I itemize it all in a previous post in this thread. This is the last drumset I will ever own and I view myself as the first in a long line of its caretakers.
 
Thanks for posting, here is a link to my woodworking site. it shows a guy cutting up the ironwood to make knife handles, pretty interesting. Does ironwood grow in jamaaica also or did this guy export an import?

http://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/showthread.php?39191-Safely-turning-a-small-log-into-lumber

"Ironwood" is a generic term referring to any extremely hard, dense wood with a density close to that of water.

Great photos and discussion on that link. Apparently Lignum Vitae, the hardest of all known woods, grows in Jamaica. It has a specific gravity of 1.37 as I recall (it is 1.37 times as dense as water), compared to my puny Cooktown ironwood at 1.22 and maple at 0.65. By comparison, steel has a specific gravity of nearly 8 and gold is almost 20.
 
What kind of music do you play?
Personally, for me the drums (with all the percussion laying around) doesn't match the bright Zilly's (soundwise, that is...). :)

Have you thought of checking Meinl Byzance out? ;)
 
What kind of music do you play?
Personally, for me the drums (with all the percussion laying around) doesn't match the bright Zilly's (soundwise, that is...). :)

Have you thought of checking Meinl Byzance out? ;)

I play a lot of word beat, Klezmer, some bebop and anything out of the ordinary.

You have a point about the cymbals. After playing A Customs for six years, I would like something darker.
 
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