Mark Tucky Lectures On The Advance Level Of Playing And Drum Set Purchasing Part 2.

At this stage you have mastered the books I recommended in the last article: Advanced Concepts by Kim Plainfield and Complete Drum Set by Frank Briggs .These books are gems I tell you! Your playing now is on the top of the top; Keep up with all of your studies and now for the fun part, the best of the best in drum set buying. As you might guess price is no option here so be prepared for this upfront. But you get what you pay for, so let's roll up our sleeves and get right to it! 

DW Collector's Series! 

These drums are way on top here. But before I tell you about these let me tell you a personal story .Going through the DW factory in Oxnard, Ca. and as our group is watching all that is going on at the factory from shell construction to finishes to hardware, company president John Good comes around the corner and asks us how "we" like the finish on a new drum color he is working on .The drum was just beautiful to say the least .This guy has the greatest job on the planet! He gets to make incredible drums and is so passionate about going to "work" .Just awesome to see firsthand.

I will never forget it! Ok now to these masterpieces. First let me say these are totally customizable to the max! All –Maple or All-Birch{horizontal grain] Maple Shells with reinforcing hoops have a longer ,slower sustain ratio while birch shells without reinforcing hoops have a shorter and faster sustain .Maple produces a warmer ,lower fundamental tone than birch .The outer face ,or veneer ,has very little influence on sound. The core plies and inner ply have the most influence and significant influence on sound, respectively. 

 In experimenting with different exotic woods as alternate shell making materials, DW'S Custom Shell Shop discovered that in addition to the different tonal qualities inherent in every unique type of wood, slight alterations in the shell's construction can also greatly influence sound. Some of the woods sampled possessed a vertical grain pattern that when tested, dramatically lowered the pitch of the shell. Thus VLT (Vertical Low Timbre) was born. For those players who prefer a lower overall tone while still maintaining maximum resonance and attack, VLT can be ordered as an option on all Collector's Series Maple Drums. 

VLT consists of arranging the grain pattern of the plies in the shell so the outermost and innermost plies run vertically , and not the traditional horizontal .The vertical grain pleases less tension on the shell ,allowing it to vibrate more freely ,resulting in the lowered fundamental pitch. 

As for the finishes of these babies you can imagine every color of the rainbow from fades to sunburst to sparkle finish ply to Lacquer Specialty !The finish is nothing short of the finest furniture you could ever buy. I have a recommendation here get creative here and go to the fabric store and make some fingerprint and set up covers for these beauties. My girlfriend was big into making these for me and they turned out wonderful. 

 Now for the best part, the sound coming from the stage is just awesome! These drums sound so deep and alive you will be totally impressed with the clarity .Put all this together and you have the best of the best! But like I said the price is scary! You can expect to pay from 4,000 to 10,000 for a set of these and if you don't see them in stock ordering them will be minimum of 3 months to get .But once again you get what you pay for. Hope this helps you in your quest to be the best! If you have any questions feel free to contact me: Mark Tucky @drummdoc@yahoo.com