All of our shells are made from wood that we have carefully selected for great tone, character, and appearance. We constantly experiment and search out new materials to offer, looking for woods that will produce amazing drums for our players. The woods are grouped by density (or “hardness”), which is directly related to the tone the drum will produce. Our goal is to help you find your perfect drum!

Soft

Soft woods tend to sound warm and woody, with attack that is not too aggressive. They have excellent side-stick and cross-stick tone.

Douglas Fir (fine grain)

• Blond, sometimes with bands of pink running through it.
• The tone is deep and woody with a cross-stick like a huge chopping block.
• The “fine grain” variety of this wood is indistinguishable from Alaskan Sitka Spruce, only more readily available.

Ambrosia Maple

• Blond with broad bands of blue, brown and gray natural staining, caused by a beetle that also produces worm holes in this wood.
• This soft, low-density material produces a great, mellow tone—very controlled.

Butternut

• Tan wood with yellow undertones and brown grain.
• A member of the Walnut family, but unlike Walnut, it is a bright, loud wood with great tone and lots of attack and focus.

Mahogany (African)

• Medium brown with very distinct grain and complex highlights.
• This wood is incredibly sensitive, yet lightweight and subtle, with low fundamentals. It is very controlled.
• Makes a great kit for acoustic jazz and a great all-around snare drum.
• African Mahogany is the finest of the mahoganies grown anywhere in the world. That’s why we use it!

Spruce

• Blond appearance with very fine darker grain, ages to a dark amber color.
• Very sensitive with incredible cross-stick and side-stick. Low fundamental.
• Great for acoustic music of all kinds.

Medium

Medium woods are a bit harder and denser, which adds more volume and attack, as well as brighter overtones, to the drum’s sound.

Lacewood

• Brown color with “scaly” grain figure.
• Warm, woody, midrange tone, great woody crack to the drum tone.
• Great midrange sound that fits a wide variety of musical styles.

Ash

• Blond wood with open grain. This wood may look familiar to you; it’s the favorite for Fender guitar bodies.
• The warm, woody response of this material makes great drums.

Maple

• We look for pieces of wood that are dense and have unique color, to add visual interest to this blond wood.
• The warm tonal qualities that maple brings to a plywood drum set are even more pronounced in our thin-stave shell.
• There are many maple species in North America, with the northern, cold-temperature woods being the best.

Birch

• Blond with darker “heartwood” that contains a lot of “flame-grain.” We look for pieces with “heartwood” so there is a dark-to-light transition in the appearance of the shell.
• Characteristically bright sound, with plenty of attack.

Timeless Timber Birch

• Blond with light brown grain, the “heartwood” is brown.
• Warm and woody, with a bright crack and an incredible presence.
• Our supplier is The Timeless Timber Company, which salvages wood from all over the United States, and conditions the wood for use in new projects. They have provided us with forty-year-old heart birch with eye-popping flame and brilliant tone.
• This material makes your drum or set an instant classic, with incredible tone and presence.

Yellowheart

• Bright yellow with slightly darker veins.
• Bright sound with warm, woody overtones.

Bird’s Eye Maple

• Blond with round figuring.
• Bright sound
• We prefer to work with Bird’s Eye maple for its superior beauty and sound.
• A favorite with drummers in every genre of music—from classical to punk rock.

Oak

• Blond with very recognizable grain pattern.
• Lots of midrange “pop.”
• Makes a great “workhorse snare.” Suited to many musical styles.

Zebrawood

• Another great African hardwood, Zebra is fibrous and has alternating stripes of brown veins on a tan background.
• Excellent woody crack, full-bodied sound.
• It makes great drums with great visual presence. This wood makes an especially great side snare for funk and R&B.

Teak

• Orange-brown in appearance.
• Has the mysterious quality of being the loudest sounding drum shell ever, with a crack that is simply unmistakable.
• We use Teak from Burma, as it is the best of all the varieties.

Hard

Hard woods are extremely hard and produce a lot of attack, often equaling the sound of metal-shell snares, without their thin “ringy” tone. Hard wood snares combine lots of loudness and attack with sensitivity and stick response that is not possible with other materials. The exotic woods are also very complex, with tonal range that is quite unique.

Padouk

• Bright red African Padouk is a really unique material. In addition to its great look, this wood produces drums of outstanding sound quality and sensitivity.
• Very sensitive and lots of sustain. Very “ringy,” snare can be played like a timbale.

Lyptus

• This wood is cherry colored, pink to red, with the grain of a fine mahogany.
• Bright and loud, with naturally low fundamentals.
• Lyptus is a new, hybrid species that is being plantation-grown in Brazil. It is a cultivated hardwood and has been certified a “sustainable-growth” wood by Brazil’s forestry conservation organization: Cerflor.

Purpleheart

• Deep purple. And yes, the tree naturally grows in this stunning shade. We don’t stain the shells.
• Brightest of the hard woods, Purpleheart is the wood you go to for metal shell brightness and pure attack.
• It makes great toms and basses with incredible definition and thunderous bottom.

Hickory

• Hardest of the North American woods.
• Varied color from blond with veins of dark “heartwood,” to predominantly dark, wavy color.
• Bright, articulate, lots of attack, lots of sustain.
• Makes great drums, especially snares, toms and basses.

Wenge

• Dark chocolate or espresso color with light beige veins.
• Bright, articulate, lots of attach and sustain.
• Loud, bright-sounding drums.

Bubinga

• This African Rosewood is medium brown with darker stripes in waves on the grain, with a very dense and complex structure.
• Makes loud and in-your-face snares, as well as great-sounding kits.

Tulipwood

• Pale yellow with strawberry pink/red stripes in it. This lovely wood looks like pulled taffy and is the most spectacular looking wood you’ll ever lay your eyes on.
• Bright and loud.
• It is a Brazilian tropical hard wood, and a cousin of Brazilian Rosewood.

Cocobolo

• Color ranges from orange, to brown, to the occasional purple, usually with black striping.
• Very bright and articulate, with a low fundamental. The drums made from Cocobolo are outstanding.
• This variety of Rosewood grows in the Central American region, with Honduran and Nicaraguan sources being the most dense and hard. If you like the look of Brazilian Rosewood, the similarity in appearance makes this an excellent substitute at a better price, with greater availability.

Ebony

• The Hardest of the Hard Woods.
• Black with some figuring in cream, gold and brown.
• Ebony produces the best articulation and stick response of all the wood species we work with.
• This is IT. Head Drums’ Ebony snares are consistently evaluated by players as superior, even when compared, rim shot for rim shot, with legendary instruments such as the Black Beauty.

A wood you love isn’t on our list? Here’s why:
We offer our customers only the highest-quality drums, in terms of both looks and sound. There are certain woods we avoid working with, because of sound quality considerations. Walnut for example, is hard and dense and makes great furniture, but it is generally not a “tone wood.” Occasionally, pieces have good tonal characteristics but, overall, the material does not conduct vibration very well. Poplar is soft and warm but, similarly, does not conduct vibration very well. Therefore, we don’t offer these woods in our listing. HOWEVER, we won’t deny our customers anything! If you know you want a walnut kit, we will look for the best possible raw materials and consult with you about building a unique drum or drum set.