Theoretical Drum Materials

Coldhardsteel

Gold Member
About a month or so ago, I was bored during church and started writing down materials that I thought could possibly be used to make drum shells, of varying possible quality and sound palette. Here are some:

Cherry
Walnut
Bamboo
Hickory
Pine
Plastic(or resin, whatever)

Since I haven't actually heard a lot of these or even seen some of them, I don't know precisely what they would sound like. So, here is the place to discuss the sounds and give new material ideas.
 
i work in a glass shop and i was actually thinking of trying lexan (polycarbonate plastic) its damn near indistructable but nothing works as a glue on it, you'd have to bolt it together at the seem.im just wondering if it would be anything like acrylic which i also work with.
 
i know you can get drums made out of walnut, cherry, and bamboo, but i've never seen a drum made out of pine wood. i think pine is too soft. it probably wouldn't resonate much. i've never seen a drum made out of hickory either, which makes me think there must be a problem with it because hickory is a common wood.

the mapex site has a bunch of snare drums made out of different materials including walnut and cherry. they have sound files for each one.

http://usa.mapexdrums.com/drums/blackpanther/index.asp
 
I want a drum kit made out of balsa wood.

It'd be super easy to move it around, I'll say that much.
 
Well, I thought about the idea of how different woods resonate, and what i found was that denser woods had more lows and generally were "deeper" sounding, like bubinga or mahogany.

Since Hickory is a pretty dense wood, I thought that its resonating quality would be akin, if not surpassing, to those of mahogany or bubinga.

The pine idea was just me picking random things. But I still wonder how it would sound.

Joey, if you could get a snare made of the lexan stuff and some sound files, that'd be great.

Any other ideas on materials?
 
One of the more prodigious snare drums I've ever seen was an built by Gregg Keplinger in the 80's- it was 8x14" and made out of I think quarter or 3/16 inch cast iron. It was enameled hot pink and weighed about 40 pounds.
 
One of the more prodigious snare drums I've ever seen was an built by Gregg Keplinger in the 80's- it was 8x14" and made out of I think quarter or 3/16 inch cast iron. It was enameled hot pink and weighed about 40 pounds.

I can't imagine the wear and tear it had on the reso head.
 
Cherry, Walnut and Bamboo do exist.

I have a theory as to why there are no Hickory drums.

Hickory absorbs shock very well, better than just about any other wood. This is why drum sticks, axe handles, and such are primarily made from hickory. So if you made a drum out of a wood that absorbs shock, in theory, it may not resonate upon being hit very well. It might just absorb enough of the hits to make it sound someone what dead.

Now, obviously when we strike two sticks together, we get a noise. We know hickory doesn't absorb all shock. But I would guess it would absorb certain frequencies more than others to make it unpleasing to most ears.

Because, as pointed out, it is a very common and easy to grow wood, so I would think at someone point some one tried it as a drum shell.

I've heard people ask about pine before. I do think there some thing about the wood makes it unmusical. I'm not sure though.
 
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I'd like to hear a drum carved from a whalebone.
With the skin of this guy who owes me $1700.00 as the drumhead.
Personally removed by me.
 
I'd like to hear a drum carved from a whalebone.
With the skin of this guy who owes me $1700.00 as the drumhead.
Personally removed by me.

ohhhhh man. lol.
i'd love to get a stave drum kit sometime, i'll have to take a rain check on the whalebone.
 
I think Lars Ulrich had what appeared to be a stamped steel snare drum.

You know, that kind of metal sheet with the dashes shaped in to stop someone slipping while walking on it...

...or perhaps it was made of stainless steel and simply stamped for the appearance?
 
I think Lars Ulrich had what appeared to be a stamped steel snare drum.

You know, that kind of metal sheet with the dashes shaped in to stop someone slipping while walking on it...

...or perhaps it was made of stainless steel and simply stamped for the appearance?

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's seen in industrial settings a lot in case the floor could be slippery from water. That's an interesting idea though...
 
Beta-C Titanium Alloy with carbon fiber reinforcement rings. Virtually corrosion resistant, impervious to the elements. Incredible tensile strength (over 200k psi). Phenomenol strength to weight ratio. A 274 gsm shell would probably be as strong as a Tama Spartan series stainless steel drum shell at maybe one TENTH the weight. I would love to hear how such a kit would sound and i would love to be able to tour with such a kit.
 
I think Lars Ulrich had what appeared to be a stamped steel snare drum.

You know, that kind of metal sheet with the dashes shaped in to stop someone slipping while walking on it...

...or perhaps it was made of stainless steel and simply stamped for the appearance?

I think you mean diamond plate?
 
no, even if you rough up the surface nothing seems to want to stick to lexan, but if anyone figues it out theyd have bullet proof drums lol.

Couldn't it be welded/"melted" together? It would theoretically be seamless.
 
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