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Maple: Virtually every drum manufacturer builds a series of drums with maple shells. Maple has been one of the most popular choices among drummers for decades. Maple drums are very “warm” sounding, resonate well and yield an even tone across the spectrum of frequencies. Maple also accepts a variety of finishes very well.
Birds Eye Maple: Very warm in tone but have a brighter attack than true maple.
Birch: Another top-pick of drummers worldwide. Birch will yield slightly less low end than maple (10 percent or so), but it produces around 20% more high-end with the mid range very similar to maple. Birch drums sound brighter and harder than maple drums and project very well. Birch drums are a popular choice in the recording studio due to their natural sound spectrum.
Mahogany: A relatively “soft” hardwood, mahogany will have about a 20 percent increase in low-end frequencies as compared to a maple shell, whereas the mid and high-end frequencies will mirror those of maple.
Ash: Ash produces a dry, penetrating tone, yielding clean and fast stick response.
Oak: Soft, open and roomy.
Walnut: Dark, warm, complex, with emphasis on mid range and low-end tones.
Bubinga: A very “hard” hardwood, bubinga offers an aggressive attack with astonishing full deep tone. Bubinga has become very popular in drum building over the last few years. Drummers are claiming they are getting the best of both worlds between maple and birch.
Beech: The tonal emphasis of beech is its mid-range and low end frequencies.
Falkata: Falkata is primarily used as a substitute for maple because it is cheap and finishes relatively well. Its tonal emphasis is in the high-end.
Basswood: Basswood sounds like a maple/mahogany hybrid. It is less expensive than maple and birch, and is often used as core wood in many drum shells where birch or maple could be used as outer plys. Basswood is a top choice in any mixed-wood shell for core wood due to its tone.
Poplar: Poplar is a medium hardwood that is used as a less expensive alternative to maple or birch. Often it is used as inner ply layers where a more expensive wood such as birch is used as an outer ply.
Acrylic: These Drum shells have cutting tone and increased volume over many hardwoods.
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