Tom wood type comparison

Grolubao

Senior Member
Hi all,

So I looked and looked, and it seems like there is no video that does a real comparison on wood types based on the same size of drums. I was thinking:

10" or 12" tom - Maple, Birch, Bubinga, Ash, Beech, Mahogany

All tuned the exact same, same heads, just to infer the quality of the wood.

This gets me thinking: how people actually judge which wood they prefer? Did they actually do a blind test?
 
I suggest that you go to DW's site and look at their collector custom builder pages. They have audio samples of all manner of different woods and grain orientations. I was pretty surprised at how dramatic the grain-based variation can be.

http://www.dwdrums.com/kitbuilder

Warning, if you're like me you might find it a little tedious to use.
 
Did they actually do a blind test?

Great question. I don't think they truly exist.

What people should perhaps prefer is a sound and make that sound theirs. If that sound is ash, so be it. If it be 3 ply, and 2 of the plies are mahogany,cool. That's the drum they like or maybe its 2 plies of maple. Or maybe its even 6 plies of cheap luan? I've had some cheap MIJ drums that really truly sounded quite nice.

I wonder how much marketing hype plays a role in a lot of what is 'preferred' by the masses. Probably a lot.

All the same its wonderful that there is so much selection of woods and science behind it.
 
All things being equal (bearing edges, hoops, hardware, shell thickness, etc.), you'd notice marginal difference between wood types. So many other variables influence a drum's tone more than wood type in ply construction. Manufacturers of course would lead you to believe otherwise, because it is in their best interest.
 
It wouldn't be fair a comparison. If all the shells were the same depth, diameter,ply,and thickness the different materials would still create shells of different mass and therefore a different fundamental. We know this to be the note the shell, without heads or hardware, will make when struck, and is the note the drum wants to be tuned to. So for example, if you have three shells of different material, one will have the highest fundamental note, one the lowest, and one in the middle. If you tune all three exactly the same then two of the drums will be tuned improperly and be at a disadvantage.
 
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Hi all,

So I looked and looked, and it seems like there is no video that does a real comparison on wood types based on the same size of drums. I was thinking:

10" or 12" tom - Maple, Birch, Bubinga, Ash, Beech, Mahogany

All tuned the exact same, same heads, just to infer the quality of the wood.

This gets me thinking: how people actually judge which wood they prefer? Did they actually do a blind test?
Wood species choice is just part of the picture. The difference it makes depends on many factors. It's more noticeable on some constructions & less on others. Additionally, woods at the opposite ends of the spectrum will display the biggest characteristic differences.

It wouldn't be fair a comparison. If all the shells were the same depth, diameter,ply,and thickness the different materials would still create shells of different mass and therefore a different fundamental. We know this to be the note the shell, without heads or hardware, will make when struck, and is the note the drum wants to be tuned to. So for example, if you have three shells of different material, one will have the highest fundamental note, one the lowest, and one in the middle. If you tune all three exactly the same then two of the drums will be tuned improperly and be at a disadvantage.
There's some truth to this, but any good drum should sound full over a fairly wide tuning range. The shell fundamental does matter, but the drum's fundamental matters much more. Tuning to a note generated by striking a bare shell is largely useless. It's useful as a pairing/partnering test when assembling a kit made of different size shells, but after the hardware is bolted on, it bears little reference to the drum as an instrument. Drums resonate/vibrate as a whole, not in component parts.
 
Wood species choice is just part of the picture. The difference it makes depends on many factors. It's more noticeable on some constructions & less on others. Additionally, woods at the opposite ends of the spectrum will display the biggest characteristic differences.

There's some truth to this, but any good drum should sound full over a fairly wide tuning range. The shell fundamental does matter, but the drum's fundamental matters much more. Tuning to a note generated by striking a bare shell is largely useless. It's useful as a pairing/partnering test when assembling a kit made of different size shells, but after the hardware is bolted on, it bears little reference to the drum as an instrument. Drums resonate/vibrate as a whole, not in component parts.

Do you believe that to a certain extent, tuning drums to note intervals doesn't make sense? They should sound harmonically consistent, but stating that one needs to be a 4th apart might not make sense because the shell probably is not going to react well to a certain tuning range?

For example, considering the Tunebot I never understood their reference values for tuning. There's too many variables to consider to assume those values given as reference
 
Do you believe that to a certain extent, tuning drums to note intervals doesn't make sense? They should sound harmonically consistent, but stating that one needs to be a 4th apart might not make sense because the shell probably is not going to react well to a certain tuning range?

For example, considering the Tunebot I never understood their reference values for tuning. There's too many variables to consider to assume those values given as reference
Tuning to specific notes can make a lot of sense. To either complement, or otherwise not clash with melodic passages, is one that immediately springs to mind, especially in a recording setting. Specific intervals can work very well, but are by no means necessary for the majority of settings.

As for drums having only one tuning possibility, frankly, that's a bad drum. Yes, a shell will have an optimum sympathetic resonance frequency, but once assembled as a drum, should have numerous points at which it responds pleasingly. Shell frequency has little value on it's own outside of shell set selection at the manufacturing stage.
 
Tuning to specific notes can make a lot of sense. To either complement, or otherwise not clash with melodic passages, is one that immediately springs to mind, especially in a recording setting. Specific intervals can work very well, but are by no means necessary for the majority of settings.

As for drums having only one tuning possibility, frankly, that's a bad drum. Yes, a shell will have an optimum sympathetic resonance frequency, but once assembled as a drum, should have numerous points at which it responds pleasingly. Shell frequency has little value on it's own outside of shell set selection at the manufacturing stage.

Andy, wasn't it you who posted a "guess the wood species" set of audio clips a couple of years ago? I remember seeing it somewhere.
 
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