Wavelength
Platinum Member
Still waiting for some sound clips... *nudge nudge*
Still waiting for some sound clips... *nudge nudge*
very nice
where abouts in australia was the wood from?
Thanks for your interest.
Cooktown ironwood grows only one place in the world: Queensland, Australia, which is the little horn that sticks up from the north and almost touches Indonesia (actually the area is about the size of Texas).
Obtaining ironwood is very difficult as the area is primarily wild (see www.spritdrums.com for an explanation). The area is very dry so the wood grows slowly and is so dense it sinks in water. The tree from which my set was taken was about 300 years old. So far, only about a dozen Spirit kits have been made, although many djembes, congas and snares have been made. They purchase the logs from a couple of Crocodile Dundee-type loggers.
The Australian government encourages timber cutting in the area and has very stringent environmental laws. Most of the ironwood gets turned into fence posts and railroad ties and decks and a tiny bit gets turned into very high-value items like musical instruments (it is also prized for flutes and guitars) and sculptures. Ironwood leaves and suckers are extremely poisonous to cattle and must be cleared from areas where ranching is permitted.
Spirit drum makers do all their manufacture locally, using local labor and fabrication for their hardware, and the money for the kit directly supports their families and local merchants. So this kit was made in a socially sustainable way, not just an environmentally sustainable way.
love the cymbal arms on the new setup what brand are they i need some.
I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned in this thread, but I'll put it out there anyways. I was briefly talking about exotic woods with a carpenter this past week on a mutual job. He mentioned iron wood, and how it is one of the densest woods out there. So dense you need a metal cutting blade to work it.
So what does this equate in terms to drum sound with this kit DMC, in comparison to other commonly used drum woods?
My bet is on incredible attack (note that Oak is denser than Maple and has more attack(at least I think so...))
Ya, I was going to assume they had great attack because of the density. But I had wondered if it was a double edged sword at the cost of resonance.
I'm listening to a sound clip on that website and they sound nice.
I thought you'd like this DMC; Paul Warry at Metro Drums (in Queensland) sent me a pic of a drum he just did. It's a 13x6" Cooktown Ironwood stave. I'm assuming it's a cheaper yet similar alternative to the Spirit Drums solid shells.
WOW That's one of the most unique kits I've ever seen, and you've got a Hang Drum! AWESOME!
Do you have videos? Forgive me if I missed them somewhere in this thread!