This is a Sonor 14x5 Blanched Roots drums - the same as Steve Smith uses.

This is one of the few drums I have picked up from ebay. I think at the time there was only me and another guy interested in it - who, very strangely, I've bought two prototype Paiste rides from. If memory serves, I paid £249 for it, which is cheap for a good Sonor drum.

It is quite sensitive, crisp, loud and cutting and the single-flange hoops give it both a nice vintage look and feel, the latter being something you don't get much of with modern drums.

Sonor Website

More photos of this drum.

This is a limited Drum Workshop 14x6 Waterfall Bubinga Edge drum with gold and brass hardware. It is beautiful. It is loud. It is also very heavy.

The Edge format has been around for a long time, however, this for me is a great example of combining a top design with something special. The shell is a combination of 10 ply maple and heavy gauge brass bands which provide the bearing edges. The outer ply of bubinga is from a nearly 800 year old log which DW purchased a couple of years ago.

I picked this drum up about half an hour (at most) after collecting my Timeless Timber from the local Parcel Force depot following its arrival from Chicago. I had previously seen one of these drums with the rest of a Waterfall kit at Wembley Drum Centre. I'd asked if they'd sell me just the snare and they'd said no because it was part of the kit. It was a bit of a surprise to see another one in there, but a nice one, and I couldn't bring myself to say no. I love the look of bubinga wood and the grain on the outer ply is amazing.

A great looking, fat sounding drum which is nice and versatile too.

More photos of this drum.

This is a KD Drums 12x7 segmented purpleheart snare. The hardware is in black nickel and the tension rods are brass.

I first came across KD Drums at a drumshow in Warwick, UK in late 2004/early 2005 when I was asked to review some drums for Mike Dolbear.com. After being suitably impressed with what I saw and heard, I asked about getting a snare made. I think this was the second snare drum I had made to my own specs, around 2005 or so. Keith Keough makes some great drums and this is no exception. It's quite loud, but dry and dark at the same time.

The purpleheart is a visually attractive wood and the segmented shell and the colour of the hardware adds to the appeal. Keith's work recently got a namecheck from UK drummer Steve White for being of top quality. Bloody right too.

More photos of this drum.

This drum represents several things - my first real extravagance, my first very expensive drum and my first rare item. However, most of all, it represents a drum I never thought I'd own.

In about 1998/9 or so, I saw a DW Lake Superior snare drum in my local shop. It was in a glass case and looked amazing. It was up for about £2,000 and I recall having that good old [rather common for many people I'm sure] thought of 'if I had the money...'

Anyway, fast forward to 2006 and I have a week off, it's about 1am and I'm surfing the net for drums (that's unusual). I go to Steve Maxwell's site (I told him recently his website has had such a bad influence on me) and see two Timeless Timber drums - this one and another which had THE most amazing birdseye maple grain. The only trouble was that drum was $3,000 and it was just too much for me. Anyhow, in my late night stupidity I decided I had to have this drum and eventually, after a chat with the bank, it was.

It's a 14x5 600 year old Lake Superior maple shell with 24K hardware, including Trick GS007 strainer with hoops engraved by John Aldridge. I also have my name on the badge. Steve Maxwell said this shell represented the last of the 'best of the best' Timeless Timber shells which Johnny had, and this drum itself is a 1 of 1 limited edition.

I have gigged it - just the once or twice and it was a light/brushes thing - and it sounds as good as you might think: crisp, clear, cutting, full bodied and a bit dry. You can hear how it sounds on the track 'Sugar Sweet' here.

The strangest thing about this drum though is the smell when you take the head off. You know how a new drum smells? This is nothing like that at all. It smells like a museum - somewhere between really nice and really old, but very unique.

I've been lucky enough to get hold of some lovely drums after I got this one, but this will always be the original and most special to me.

Some more (rather supersized) photos.

I think this is the rarest drum I have as far as production runs go: it's a 14x6.5" Dunnett solid shell Ancient Kauri and it's named Ashlyn. The shell is a single piece of 45,000+ year old wood, the hoops are titanium and it has an R2 strainer and a hypervent. Forty-two strand wires compliment the setup.

The drum was purchased new from Poole Percussion in the UK in 2007. I'd seen it on their website about 1am on a tuesday morning and by mid morning the following day it was at my house. Wonderful service from Poole and I recommend them.

This particular drum was number four out a run of five. There are apparently only two other 6.5" drums and a 14x4" and a 13" making this a rare item. I haven't really played it much, although I did put the Remo head on you can see to keep the original logo head in tact when I did play it. You can hear it on the track 'Georgia On A Fast Train' here.

A friend of mine told me he'd love to have a guitar finished in this wood. Whilst it may not be quite as multi dimensional as something like birdseye maple, it still has a regalness about it which is stunning. I have a great fascination with old drums and old wood and although I'm not a huge fan of the large clips over the hoops, it's a small thing against what this drum represents.

Extra photos here.

About Ancient Kauri wood.

These are two Craviotto Diamond Series drums. They are two of some of my all-time favourite drums I've come across over the years and represent what has to be the some of the ultimate in looks and sound.

When I first saw the press release about these drums in early 2007, I never really thought I'd have the two sizes. What I did say at the time though was that I would get hold of one. I'm still not sure why I went after both sizes as aggressively as I did though, but I am glad I did.

These are hand crafted nickel over brass shells made by Adrian Kirchler in Italy. The top one is a 14x6.5" (#7 of 50) and the bottom one a 5.5" (#13 of 50). They look amazing and are very bright and sensitive to play.

The 6.5" came from Steve Maxwell in the US in mid Janaury 2008 and was the second drum I've got from him. I originally spoke to Steve about getting hold of one of his limited versions of this drum with gold hardware, however, me being me, I took too long over deciding about whether or not to wait until one came into the UK and then, of course, missed my chance as they'd all gone by the time I did anything about it.

Much to my delight, this drum sat in the holding warehouse in London for eight days prior to my picking it up thanks to UK Customs not bothering to mention at any point it had been cleared.

The 5.5" is the only one in this size brought into the UK by Craviotto's distributor (only one of each size came in) at that time and was reviewed in Rhythm magazine in early 2008. I got it in late January 2008. The run of these drums will be limited to 50 of each size and then that's it - as of August 2009, there are still a few knocking about in the UK and the US. Ronnie Vannucci has #12.

There are also three versions out there as well - the 'natural' ones like mine, the Steve Maxwell limited gold hardware versions and the 'Black Diamond' version of which there are apparently five. I've only seen photos of this last one and it featured black hardware with single flanged hoops. There is also a full gold version out there somewhere that was a special order.

Ronnie Vanucci used one of these live with The Killers.

More photos of these drums - Large & small.