Part of Michael’s Drums series of life-long joy
Michael’s Drums 16
June 2023 Update
On a fluke of boredom one night I switched in the 1-ply maple Slingerland. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better than the phosphor-bronze…OMG. This old-school character has pop, crack and just as much if not more sensual and infinitely-coaxable timbre as any drum I’ve ever played. It has Evans clear batter and reso heads and die-cast hoops, all of which are extremely unusual for me (last time I had clear heads was on my then-new maple kit when I was maybe 8 years old). Yes, there’s the appeal of the ‘fresh and new’ drum, heads, hoops, etc., but the playability is just shockingly effortless…and the seamless way the drum tonally slipped into place with the rest of my main maple kit…wooden kinship maybe?…this one drum has ‘shifted my pyramids’ so to speak and I’m now reconsidering lots more than I should. I’m wanting an all-maple 1-ply kit, and another with all phosphor-bronze shells…insane.
A few days later of course I found this gem https://drumheadauthority.com/articles/forget-the-best-drum-wood/ which compellingly makes the case that 80% of drum tone is from heads…though I’m not sure I agree with 80%… A 62-head demo is here, and a best-parts summary of the drumheadauthority article is here.