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Acoustic's Page "At Boom Theory, when I say inovation, I don't mean a new finish" Al Adinolfi
http://boomtheory.com/v-web/gallery/BTAcoustics
Boom Theory was founded on the advancement of electro-percussion. It was only after building the first “X Series” Electracoustic kit and patenting the “Bridgedeck” design that I decide to give acoustics a shot. Not that I hadn’t built acoustic drums prior to that time. But it was not until that point that I became a Drum Builder and not a Drum Assembler. There’s a big difference. I’ve figured a few things out about what works and what doesn’t. So, here’s my truth about the way I build drums. Step 1:Basic approach to the build Thin walled, all Maple shells rule in my shop. Rarely (if ever) will I use anything more than a 6 ply shell and for good reason. Thin shells resonate better! You can get deeper, richer, fatter tones from a thin shell than from a thick shell. Need proof? Find a cardboard towel roll and an industrial tape role of the same diameter and cut them to the same length. The towel roll is about a third the thickness of the tape roll. Now hold them by the end and tap them. The towel roll had a dramatically lower tone than the tape role of the same diameter. Why? Cause the thinner walled tube resonates better. The same thing holds true with drums. I can get huge sounds from small diameter, lightweight kits. Is there a down side? Yes! Thin walled shells can flex under medium tuning pressures and choke. In other words, they can go oval and sound like shit. The other problem is that the thin contact point on the batter and resonant baring edges doesn’t make for great projection. There’s a simple way to overcome these problems and that brings us to: Step 2:Why I reinforce my drums I reinforce my drums for three reasons. To increase shell integrity and thwart choking. To thicken the baring edges and offer a better contact patch to transmit vibrations down the shell wall, and to “persuade” the shell into perfect round. You’ve all seen reinforced shell. Now, look closely. Notice the point at which the reinforcement hoop joins. It’s always cut to an angled overlap and then glued in. Now look at mine. They’re “butt joined” and pressure fit by hand into each drum I make! Pressure fitting forces the drum into a near perfect round. And, assuming that the heads we use are also perfectly round, it allows for unencumbered resonance. The addition of 3,4,5 or 6 ply’s of reinforcement, fattens the baring edges and enables me to fine tune that drum to the customers spec’s. By manipulating the round over to the outside edge and the cut to the inside, almost any sound can be achieved. Depending on application, I can hand form the edge to control the decay rate of that drum. I can shorten sustain (my personal favorite sounding drum) or make it ring for 5 or 6 seconds. This is particularly critical when playing live and the reason I designed Boom Theory sets to excel in live conditions. Most of the drums I build end up on stage. Having a resonant shell with short decay is an engineer’s wet dream. Need proof? What’s the first thing they do when you go into a studio to record? They tape your drum heads! Why? Cause under mic’ing conditions your average acoustic drum rings way more than needed to allow for good recording. I compensate for this by reducing the area that I refer to a “passive harmonics zone”. This is the area that acts as a tuning fork between the outer baring edge and the flesh hoop on the drum head. I discovered this area while doing R&D for the Bridgedeck X Series snare. The results? Stuff that used to get lost in the mix as mud now comes thorough the PA loud and clear. Most noticeable is the articulation you now experience from your rack and floor toms. Step 3:Fit, finish and focus I use low mass, billet zinc or aluminum lugs. There are no springs, stoppers or insert sleeves to come loose or rattle around. I like stamped, 2.3mm triple flanged super hoops on pretty much everything but will on occasion use a die cast hoop on the snare. I use 12 lugs per tom up to a 14” diameter and 16 lugs per bass drum up to 22”. All my bass’s utilize 8 or 10 ply counter hoops. I prefer a wrapped drum to a stained or painted because I really hear the focus of a wrapped shell. However, there are several new paints that I’ve seen lately that I may be tempted to offer. They’re very thick and could be the best of both worlds. I’ll keep ya posted. Prices Acoustic pricing is pretty much quoted on a per order basis. An average 5 pc set would run somewhere under $1800 depending on options. Speaking of which... Options
Just like building a high performance motorcycle, all things are possible if you have enough cash : )
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