Soft wood vs hard wood (SFW)

[Matched Gripper]

The preamble
I’m not asking any questions here, just sharing some observations that may or may not be of interest to anyone here. IOW YMMV.

So, over the past 2-3 years I’ve kinda completely bought into the premise that harder wood and thicker shells sound better, play better, and project more than softer wood and thinner shells.

Just about all of the wood-shelled drums that I have owned since around 2018 have met these criteria and starting early last year I went on a hunt to find the hardest-wooded snare drums to further satisfy my needs for hard wood. No joke.

So then at one point about 4 months ago I came across a video of a couple of studio guys comparing the tonal qualities of a range of snare drums and the winner for them was a Sugar Percussion Painted Poplar 5x14 stave snare. It sounded absolutely amazing to me as well and according to the video they were using minimal audio processing.

Below are some hardness comparisons using the long established Janka hardness scale.

My hardest snare, a thick stave shell made by HHG (great company btw): Lignum Vitae wood, 4,500 Janka score (one of the hardest wood species in the world)

Second hardest, coming soon, and also a thick HHG thick stave shell: Kingwood, at 3,300 Janka.

Other snares in Beech (around 1,300) and various Maples (from 890 to 1,100 if I’m not mistaken) and all very thick shells, ranging from 11 to 20 plies.

The Painted Poplar?
Also a stave shell but it looks a bit thinner than the two HHG drums.

Poplar is 540 on the Janka hardness scale. One of the world’s softest wood species.

SO. The verdict.

1. They all sound amazing to my ears
2. The heavier and thicker shells seem to be a bit throatier, dryer, and feel like they have more bottom end.
3. The poplar is more open, has a wider tuning range, a fantastic rimshot crack, and is just as loud as any of the others.

And NO I do not have any sound files for you to compare because anything that I’ve ever tried recording on my iPhone has sounded like total canine excrement.

Poplar is one of the softer hardwoods. Still a hardwood. BTW, according to Jeff Kirsch, vintage 3 ply Ludwigs and Slingerlands are poplar shells with decorative mahogany or maple veneer. So, there’s your poplar sound.

 

[Fingerz]

The preamble
I’m not asking any questions here, just sharing some observations that may or may not be of interest to anyone here. IOW YMMV.

So, over the past 2-3 years I’ve kinda completely bought into the premise that harder wood and thicker shells sound better, play better, and project more than softer wood and thinner shells.

Just about all of the wood-shelled drums that I have owned since around 2018 have met these criteria and starting early last year I went on a hunt to find the hardest-wooded snare drums to further satisfy my needs for hard wood. No joke.

So then at one point about 4 months ago I came across a video of a couple of studio guys comparing the tonal qualities of a range of snare drums and the winner for them was a Sugar Percussion Painted Poplar 5x14 stave snare. It sounded absolutely amazing to me as well and according to the video they were using minimal audio processing.

Below are some hardness comparisons using the long established Janka hardness scale.

My hardest snare, a thick stave shell made by HHG (great company btw): Lignum Vitae wood, 4,500 Janka score (one of the hardest wood species in the world)

Second hardest, coming soon, and also a thick HHG thick stave shell: Kingwood, at 3,300 Janka.

Other snares in Beech (around 1,300) and various Maples (from 890 to 1,100 if I’m not mistaken) and all very thick shells, ranging from 11 to 20 plies.

The Painted Poplar?
Also a stave shell but it looks a bit thinner than the two HHG drums.

Poplar is 540 on the Janka hardness scale. One of the world’s softest wood species.

SO. The verdict.

1. They all sound amazing to my ears
2. The heavier and thicker shells seem to be a bit throatier, dryer, and feel like they have more bottom end.
3. The poplar is more open, has a wider tuning range, a fantastic rimshot crack, and is just as loud as any of the others.

And NO I do not have any sound files for you to compare because anything that I’ve ever tried recording on my iPhone has sounded like total canine excrement.

The preamble
I’m not asking any questions here, just sharing some observations that may or may not be of interest to anyone here. IOW YMMV.

So, over the past 2-3 years I’ve kinda completely bought into the premise that harder wood and thicker shells sound better, play better, and project more than softer wood and thinner shells.

Just about all of the wood-shelled drums that I have owned since around 2018 have met these criteria and starting early last year I went on a hunt to find the hardest-wooded snare drums to further satisfy my needs for hard wood. No joke.

So then at one point about 4 months ago I came across a video of a couple of studio guys comparing the tonal qualities of a range of snare drums and the winner for them was a Sugar Percussion Painted Poplar 5x14 stave snare. It sounded absolutely amazing to me as well and according to the video they were using minimal audio processing.

Below are some hardness comparisons using the long established Janka hardness scale.

My hardest snare, a thick stave shell made by HHG (great company btw): Lignum Vitae wood, 4,500 Janka score (one of the hardest wood species in the world)

Second hardest, coming soon, and also a thick HHG thick stave shell: Kingwood, at 3,300 Janka.

Other snares in Beech (around 1,300) and various Maples (from 890 to 1,100 if I’m not mistaken) and all very thick shells, ranging from 11 to 20 plies.

The Painted Poplar?
Also a stave shell but it looks a bit thinner than the two HHG drums.

Poplar is 540 on the Janka hardness scale. One of the world’s softest wood species.

SO. The verdict.

1. They all sound amazing to my ears
2. The heavier and thicker shells seem to be a bit throatier, dryer, and feel like they have more bottom end.
3. The poplar is more open, has a wider tuning range, a fantastic rimshot crack, and is just as loud as any of the others.

And NO I do not have any sound files for you to compare because anything that I’ve ever tried recording on my iPhone has sounded like total canine excrement.

Poplar is 540 on the Janka hardness scale. One of the world’s softest wood species.

"Of the hardwoods"

 

[Animaldrums]

The best part of the thread = (SFW)

I stopped by to say the same thing

 

[44Ronin]

Poplar has an advantage over other timbers used in cheap drums; it has a closed grain and machines exceptionally well.

Lauan on the other hand has a ton of interlocking grain and open pores. It also has a high silica content.

 

[JimiAllison]

The preamble
I’m not asking any questions here, just sharing some observations that may or may not be of interest to anyone here. IOW YMMV.

So, over the past 2-3 years I’ve kinda completely bought into the premise that harder wood and thicker shells sound better, play better, and project more than softer wood and thinner shells.

Just about all of the wood-shelled drums that I have owned since around 2018 have met these criteria and starting early last year I went on a hunt to find the hardest-wooded snare drums to further satisfy my needs for hard wood. No joke.

So then at one point about 4 months ago I came across a video of a couple of studio guys comparing the tonal qualities of a range of snare drums and the winner for them was a Sugar Percussion Painted Poplar 5x14 stave snare. It sounded absolutely amazing to me as well and according to the video they were using minimal audio processing.

Below are some hardness comparisons using the long established Janka hardness scale.

My hardest snare, a thick stave shell made by HHG (great company btw): Lignum Vitae wood, 4,500 Janka score (one of the hardest wood species in the world)

Second hardest, coming soon, and also a thick HHG thick stave shell: Kingwood, at 3,300 Janka.

Other snares in Beech (around 1,300) and various Maples (from 890 to 1,100 if I’m not mistaken) and all very thick shells, ranging from 11 to 20 plies.

The Painted Poplar?
Also a stave shell but it looks a bit thinner than the two HHG drums.

Poplar is 540 on the Janka hardness scale. One of the world’s softest wood species.

SO. The verdict.

1. They all sound amazing to my ears
2. The heavier and thicker shells seem to be a bit throatier, dryer, and feel like they have more bottom end.
3. The poplar is more open, has a wider tuning range, a fantastic rimshot crack, and is just as loud as any of the others.

And NO I do not have any sound files for you to compare because anything that I’ve ever tried recording on my iPhone has sounded like total canine excrement.

The latest episode of The Drum History Podcast covered many of these issues.

 

[Gretsch One]

Hey Steech.
Wondering if you have tried a Brady Jarrah Block shell? Or even a Brady Solid…
Also from memory Ayotte used to make thick shell snares (I had a 24 ply, but I think they went up to 48?)

 

[Steech]

Hey Steech.
Wondering if you have tried a Brady Jarrah Block shell? Or even a Brady Solid…
Also from memory Ayotte used to make thick shell snares (I had a 24 ply, but I think they went up to 48?)

Hey -

No, I’ve unfortunately never had a chance to try out a Brady snare and have seen a handful of listings over the past couple of weeks for used ones. I’m not sure if I can afford the $2K+ price tag on a used snare at this point, even though I’m sure that they’re incredible drums. I’m waiting on a custom steam bent snare to come in and that might end up being my last super high end drum as I’m pretty much close to done with my collection. For now, at least.

 

[Steech]

The latest episode of The Drum History Podcast covered many of these issues.

Cool, thanks! I’ll go check it out!

 

[DamnSingerAlsoDrums]

Laughed hard at the SFW mention

 

[Drumbandit]

I love an exotic Block drum but in the video below Chris Brady explains how he uses thin hardwood shells to get a nice bottom end to his ply drums. They made block drums too of course.

 

[Drumbandit]

Hey Steech.
Wondering if you have tried a Brady Jarrah Block shell? Or even a Brady Solid…
Also from memory Ayotte used to make thick shell snares (I had a 24 ply, but I think they went up to 48?)

Do you know anyone with Brady Solid snare by any chance?

 

[Sequimite]

Before plywood poplar was used for roofing because it had the property of getting harder, stiffer and held the nails tighter as it aged. I wonder how my 60 year old Slingerland 3 plies may have changed their tonal qualities over time. Even in a new drum wood may to be aged to a specific moisture content by some builders.