Any drummers out there?

[Michael Gibbons]

I was cruising the web the other day and found out that DW drums made 30 Neil Peart/ Rush 30th anniversary drum kits. The cost? $ 30,000.00. Yes, thats the correct number of 0's. If I had unlimited funds,I would have bought a set. Actually, the price doesn't seem too out of line. I have a 30th ann. snare drum and I paid 950. 11 drums and all the hardware which is 24 karat gold plated, all matched and timbre tuned. I really suck though, so I'll settle for the snare. Yes I know, Neil is overrated by many, but not me. He's the Proffesor.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Make your own~!!! I have been planning to do so for a long while. I thought I wanted straight sides but I think I want conga shapes so I have been trying to work out how to make precision machined barrel staves.

I think it can be done with a heavy fixture on a jointer by steam bending it into the the conga shape and passing the stave through a rolling fixture. The angles of the joint of the staves are constantly changing from the center of the stave toward the ends. It's a mathematical nightmare.


If you don't want conga shape it'd be way far easier and because you'll not be using laminated plys you won't have all that awful glue interfering with the sound. Once you get used to the better sound of solid wood drums you won't ever want anything else.

The difference really is like the quality of sound you can distinguish between a Yamaha guitar compared to a Martin. The Yamaha sounds dead, dull, lumpish. The Martin rings like a silver bell on a clear night.
Solid wood drums ring like no plywood drum can.

Once you sort out the number of straight staves and making & gluing 'em it is all a question of buying good hoops, hardware and stands.

The glue should be resourcinol. Not for strength (it's not any stronger than Tightbond) but because it hardens up much harder than any PVA or epoxy. So it'll yield better tonal clarity.

I should probably make a set straight sided and figure out producing a machined Conga geomety later.

The money you save making your own can go to some sweet Zildgian cymbols.

[JayStPeter]

I'm a big Peart fan also. I currently have a '70s Ludwig set that I bought with my lawn mowing money in '79 with some upgrades over the years. I will make my own set at some point, but probably use Keller shells. You should watch the video on the DW site about making the R30 set. It's pretty cool to see the equipment DW uses to make custom drum sets.

[Chuck Saunders]

I am working on a Keller shell snare for my son right now. Vaughncraft does single ply bent shells of exotic woods.

[Pat Germain]

I don't play myself, but nobody can spank the plank like Peart! Wow, $30K makes my $900 Taylor guitar seem pretty cheapy...

[jeremy levine]

I'm a big fan also but..... I think he did all his best work on his Tama kit. The price is a bit of a joke.

[Roy Wall]

I use a DW 6 pc set and am a long time fan of RUSH/Peart also!!! A very creative and talented group indeed.

RUSH was in KC this summer and put on a great show - of course, my eyes were fixed on Peart most of the time.

Thanks for the link on the DW drums......I'll look it up....don't have $30k!!

Roy - who listens to Rush and those great drum sequences every day....

[Steve Kubien]

I guess I've got 8 or 9 Rush shows under my belt, which is fairly easy living in Toronto (ok, 20 minutes east). 30K for a kit? Not unless he actually used them on stage.

Steve Kubien
-who thinks Neil is highly UNDER-rated