An Overview of the Most Common Drum Woods
There are countless factors that determine the sound that you get out of a drum. In order to really understand the character of any drum, you must first understand it’s origin and makeup. This knowledge begins with the type of wood your kit is made of (provided of course that your kit is made of wood and not carbon fiber, acrylic plastic, metal, etc…) There are surprisingly only a few that most standard drum kits are made from, but each type is very different, and will produce very different tones.
Drum companies take a few things into consideration when choosing types of wood to build kits from. The wood must be in great supply making it affordable, and profitable for sale. It must also be workable, or easy to shape and manipulate. This minimizes the amount of labor each drum requires. It must also have an attractive grain (depending on what kind of finish it will get such as a clear lacquer, or a stain.)
The most common types of woods used in most kits are poplar, maple, birch, and mahogany. Let’s go through each one, and explore the differences:
Poplar-
This is the lowest quality wood out of the four listed above. This doesn’t mean it sounds terrible, as I believe it’s a great beginner kit wood, but it will not even compare to a quality birch or maple. It will somewhat mimic the tonal quality of birch as it will be bright, and punchy, but will also maintain some low end. This wood is also often used for inner layers of maple or birch kits, and does not have a grain conducive to staining.
Maple-
This is in my opinion the best all around drum wood for a lot of musical situations, as it’s extremely versatile, and abundant in supply. It is a medium/hard wood that will produce a very even, warm tone. It has a fair amount of punch with a good low end, and is great for live situations, and recording. It also has a very attractive grain, and is great for clear finishes, and stains.
Birch-
Birch is the hardest of these woods and will produce the brightest tone. It can also have a great punch, and a lot of attack, but with a beautiful low end. Birch kits can be great for live situations as they cut through the mix well, and sound very powerful.
Mahogany-
This is a very soft wood (the softest of these four.) It is commonly very punchy and has the most low end of the group. These drums can sound amazing when tuned well, and sound great on recordings. They are more delicate than birch, and definitely cut through.
This is just a brief overview of the most common drum woods out there. You should definitely do significant research into these woods, and generally know the sound they are going for before buying a kit.
