On 1/16/2011 9:48 PM, Zz Yzx wrote:

I recently finished up another drum I've been working on. This one is a
20"x15" bass drum constructed from Black Walnut:

Nice work.

Thanks.

I'm curious as t o whether the choice of wood matters; i.e. are there
preferred "tonewoods" for drums as there are for guitars?

I think it does matter, but only up to a point. Drums shells have to be
reasonably thick to support the stress of the head under tension, and the
tensioning and mounting hardware that's mounted to the shell further reduces
the opportunity for it to resonate to a degree that significantly contributes
to the tone quality of the drum. However, a poorly constructed shell made of
soft, lifeless, and inferior wood (like Philippine "Mahogany") with no tonal
qualities of its own is going to be totally "dead" when you hold it up by one
finger and "thump" it. Such a shell is going to transfer its "deadness" to the
heads, and the drum is going to have very poor tone and reduced volume.
Conversely, any well-constructed shell built from a reasonably hard wood such
that the shell has its own clear tone and "sings" when you thump it is going to
be a good candidate for yielding a good drum. After you've reached that point,
the choice of wood might have *some* further effect, but (in my opinion) it's
going to be of minimal consequence and quite subjective. Other factors are
probably of more importance, such as the "bearing edges" (the point where the
head contacts the shell), and a good smooth reflective inner surface (which
could be a factor of closed pored vs. open pored woods). I'm also a fan of the
shell being as thin as reasonably possible (without compromising strength), not
necessarily because a thin shell is more "resonant" (as in a guitar), but
because it yields the largest amount of air volume in the internal cavity,
which in turn increases both the tuning range (think bottles filled with
varying amount of liquid) and the dynamic range (potential volume) of the drum.

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