DOES THE WOOD TYPE REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE? - DRUM KIT COMPARISON MAPLE VS WALNUT VS TULIP WOOD 

I really like the advice about buying the best looking kit that inspires you to play. That is the best advice I have heard that I can really relate to regarding drums. Especially when beginning until you learn what sounds you like and have skills to try and find, or get that sound.

I think the wood used is the least important factor. Depths, bearing edges, shell thickness, how much shell resonance gets inhibited all matter more when looking at the shell only.

I listened to these on my Bose headphones. They was very little difference I found. Like he said no one in the band or audience would tell the difference. So if you’re more of a groove player, look for the one that the has the best kick and snare sound. A busier player might pay closer attention to the toms. The finish in the kits could play a big factor in your decision too. So all in all, you can’t go wrong with any of these great drums.

The resonant frequencies of the shell are complex to compute (there are three kinds: radial, circumferential, and longitudinal or flexural) but the solutions all contain a factor that combines the intrinsic properties of the shell material. If you look at the value of this factor for many of the wood types used in drums, you find that most fall within 10% of the value for maple and virtually all fall within 20% (the intrinsic properties are density, Young's modulus, and Poisson's ratio). As others have said, many factors affect how a drum sounds but this explains why different woods sound so similar. Just as my audiophile friends claim to be able to tell the difference between copper speaker leads and gold plated leads, so folks will detect differences in how different wood types sound. But if you build two as nearly identical drums as possible, and tension them as nearly the same as possible, thus isolating the material properties, it becomes clear that they do not differ greatly. There can be some difference as to how internal reflections play out, but if the inside of the drum is coated or painted, this difference fades as well. Cheers, The Curmudgeon Drum Maker

So interestingly.... My favourite did end up being the Walnut kit each time! But they are very similar

Great video! I just have to say, in my experience, I’ve found subtleties in different types of woods. But none of them so recognizable, that when you hear them in recordings, or live at a concert, you go, oh they’re playing walnut drums , or maple, or that’s a birch maple hybrid! Plus, the way your drums ultimately sound, is entirely up to you with your head selection and tuning.

GREAT VIDEO....NICE INFORMATION...

I have found that the wood type plays more into resonance/ring than sound of a kit. Much like pickups are the deciding factor for an electric guitar vs body wood material

Dave! I preferred the Walnut toms, and the Tulip snare (I LOVE Tulip snares). Honestly, the kicks I couldn’t differentiate, my ears are beat up! Great vid, I love the idea! Cheers man!

Honestly maple wood is my choice it fits me better my 7 piece maple set is awsome I also have a birch set it’s a 8 piece set but I love my maple set more then the birch set my maple set is a Tama superstar classic set great drums they are

If you guys haven't seen it, have a lookout for the DW film they did and the guy who went for a drum lesson with the orig. DW guy, and failing at his lessons and wanting g to be micheal VH w kicks ablaze, etc, could see no point learning any rudiments, so he saw no point teaching him... DW had put together a little device that was a seat as well as hardware case, and he ended up w a job filling a large order he had. This crazy dude ended up 2ic in the company, and knows more than maybe 5-10 other ppl. about the wood. It's really interesting, and it's got a very special guy who the drumming community will possibly never meet his equal. It's special because of his part in this, and what comes from a dark place in the carnation catchment I Europe is the start of a very special story. It has soo much info about what he has learnt about shell weights, timber types, ply thickness or number, combinations. If you are interested in this very occult part of the drumming story, after you watch this, you might end up a professor too.... OOPS,,,,,!!!!!

Awesome video Wow! With all of the fuss about wood the differences were small! Not enough to say one wood is superior. Maybe each kit has an optimal tuning range. Walnut my be the best kit tuned high whereas maple may be better tuned low. Craftsmanship, and drum heads and most importantly we are paying for the name on the drums.

The walnut was my fave but I love a tighter sound and a a higher tone so I have a strong bias XD they all sound great though

All sound good.

I picked the walnut one in all instances. Felt like it would fit best in a rock mix

Great VID , Dave ! I do prefer the maple , although that has been influenced by my love of Rogers drums . What I really like is Birch , again because of Rogers . Rogers did make maple drums when the shells were being made by Jasper and they switched to birch when Keller started making the shells for them . I will add that I am a cabinet maker for over 45 years and know my woods . What I said above will *iss off some people , who are under the impression that ALL Rogers drums are of maple . I did cause quite the stir on a particular forum years ago when I mentioned this . If you really want to know what a particular wood sounds like , get a length , say 2 ' - 3' by about 3 " wide by 3/4 " thick and drop that piece on an end of the board and you will HEAR the difference big time . I'm a complete drum nut , I own 70 drums ! All Rogers except for 4 drums which are Ludwig . Another detail which I have found that really effects the drums' sound is the way the shell is constructed along with the bearing edge . As always Thanks Dave .

Walnut sounded best on first run. the other 2 seem to "ring" more. Second round Maple sounded a little better, then Walnut, then Tulip Third round- Walnut, Maple, Tulip in order of sound I prefer. I'd honestly play any of them!

Hi...Personally I could not hear a noticable difference between kits A,B or C. I own a Tama Acrylic set that I love. Since the shells are not wood, they don't change with the weather conditions, and they never go out of tune, because the bearing edges are perfect. They are glass clear so I don't get tired of the color. Tama makes great drums. TY S.R.PURDY 🥁 GOD BLESS

Oriollo drums is challenging all the wood theoricians of the drums manufacture and giving a favor to the trees 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Well I had a Yamaha recording custom and played a classic maple Ludwig so birch vs maple with 45 degree edges on both and the Yamaha’s were super tight with zero resonance and didn’t cut really while the Ludwigs roared off the stage and opened up with the slightest touch of the heads and they were way warmer then the Yamaha’s. My Gretsch USA customs are absolutely different sounding then all other brand kits. I played a sonor sq2 also and man no other kits I played beside my Gretsch USA’s sounded close to those.

Hey Dave. I kinda preferred the maple sound, as it turned out. Like you said, though, not a bad drum amongst them. Doncha just love all drums???

Maple kick with walnut toms. I guess I just talked myself into buying a Mapex drum set … love them Saturns. Had anyone heard or made a poplar birch hybrid?

I was surprised that I liked the sound of the Walnut the best. But frankly I'm a believer that the heads and how they are tuned have more effect on the sound than the wood. I have 3 birch kits, one Maple and one Luan and I certainly here more differences depending on the heads used.

I was actually pretty shocked in the beginning, the walnut and tulip wood could have easily been mistaken, where the maple stood out on it's own easily. What I will say, is the density of the wood has a level of effect on the depth of the sound and resonance in my opinion. Walnut carrying a deep, rich and throaty sound where the Tulip offered a similar experience with more punch. I would say Tulip Wood is great for my Pop Punk drummers, and Walnut is great for people like me who specialize in post-hardcore type sounds. At the end of the day, I've found my favorite kit is Walnut, and my starter kit was maple. You learn to make due when budgeting is a big deal, so I found that heads/tuning made the majority of the difference in finding my sound, and the wood choice was simply a base preference of resonance. Shout out to my Evans EMad family

"Acquired a lot of drums!!!" ... I'll be happy to unburden your load ... happy to take your walnut kit off your hands ;-) NATAL is hard to come by in the states. Cheers and thanks!

Surprised I liked the Tulip, here's a q, what about old drums, the wood used in drums int he 60s and 70s is not the same old growth wood used today, I'm wondering if that's why old drums sound so good. I'm partial to Zickos and fibes, I have a fiberglass fibes and if the band doesn't mic the drums in a club it's no problem.

Walnut for me funny thing is it allways has been my favorite tama star walnut for me

I can't distinguish exact case, but my best was always walnut. I guess Wood is still important.

C sounds great!

Smaller bass drum and floor, tune it up a bit and that would make an exceptional walnut jazz kit

Nice idea. Here's a thought for next time when trying to record a comparison of wood / shell characteristics: Instead of applying the same EQ and compression etc how about using none? Applying the same recording filters etc seems fair (and arguably it is), but compression and EQ etc take out / even out frequencies and with them also natural resonance, overtones, and other sound characteristics. That is where the differences between those kits (if there is any) will be heard. Thanks for the post though, interesting to hear the various kits from the same maker compared.

Thanks for doing the comparison. The differences are so minor that as you said, mot people won't know a difference. Get the kit that inspires you the most.

I like the Walnut for the studio setting

The tulipwood one has slightly more attack, but honestly all of them sounded about the same, you could get them to sound the same with EQ.

Uhh, wood does have some tonal differences but is lost in the mix. Uhh bearing edges do make a bigger difference! Rounded gives you a warmer more vintage tone! 45 degree gives more overtones and volume! The biggest tone variation comes from mahogany! I prefer maple just because they are super tough , stabile and strong!

Walnut! Hands down the best one!

To me, between Maple and Walnut, it would come down to feel. Walnut is a far softer wood, but has a higher dimensional stability. My guess is the walnut shells and maple will perform very similarly in tone and tuning range. But the difference when it comes to the higher end drums is the feel of the kit, what it gives back to the player. That is determined by so many variables, primary of which is the players style when they strike the head. Second to this, other than the wood’s natural properties mentioned above, would be the rims and the shell construction. The Tulip kit reminded me of Cherry…mostly mids and highs with a Birch quality when it comes to resonance. I’d be a hard pass on the Tulip kit, as it was just not for me and was the one I guessed correctly every time. The Maple vs Walnut would come down to feel for me personally.

kit A My favorite

You end up with a lot of drums because you see & hear one you don’t have,you get the want to need ,that’s the hook & unlike a fish you don’t try hard to break the line

Hmmm, I guessed maple right every time. But there isn't as much in it as the makers would like you to think.

This intro though.... daaaaayyyyyuuuummmm!!

2 of 3 I chose the cafe racer, which is handy as I have one already 😉

Walnut

I just think it's cool that drummers and guitarists (bassists included) can all geek out on wood selection and and their tone properties together and yet have totally different takes on it and every single one of us is like ''Oh, yeah, that wood totally works for you, man!''. Even though we might never make that same choice if it were us, we still respect the fact that someone else actually gives that much of a sh t about it so that WE don't feel like the only weirdo who notices big differences between woods lol. I'm a woodworker by trade and love how walnut works, not so much how it smells in its raw state, but there's nothing wrong with maple, it's just a little finicky sometimes. Tone-wise, it's mahogany all day, baby. Although, I have heard some birch kits that are like wow. It really comes down to knowing how to set up the kit according to the tonal properties of its construction. If set properly, a walnut kit can be punchy and acceptable in place of a maple, and vice versa. I like warm low end that blooms, I also like a bright punchy maple kit on some things, but it all depends on the song, the style, the player's dynamics. It really is like salt, pepper, spices, do you want a lime in your beer or not, it's just that razor edge of a thing until it comes time to place a super sensitive condenser mic 2'' away from it and then you go ''Oh, wow, we got some work to do here''. Definitely something to think about as you listen to others play - what do YOU prefer the sound of? is the question to answer, not what anyone else prefers (unless, of course, you are the engineer). In all honesty, I've recorded kits that in the room (just with my ears) I thought WOULD NOT WORK and then once mics were put up and the kit and room tuned it worked perfectly. That said, if the kit sounds BAD it will still sound bad no matter what you try, my caveat above was for a good sounding kit that I just assumed was wrong for the part (a mahogany/walnut/mahogany ply kit for a heavy rock song, I originally thought it needed a maple kit for extra punch but it did just fine).

20 years ago, I could spend HOURS looking at drum catalogs (of course Tama were amazing :p)! I was all hyped about all drum specs.. 10 years ago I kinda abandoned any interest in high end drums: I felt it was only a marketing scam. Last year, after a nearly a 6 years break (back to school), I resume my playing even more than ever!! That's were the long story begins: I went from: I'll go buy new heads for my rockstar big kit (9 pieces). I saw a big dw performance kit for sale(should have bought it!!): then I lost it!! I bought for THOUSANDS only in the last year!! (A huge drum project (replica) is coming soon!)) So for the last months, I spent soooo many hours listening yt videos on drum comparison: wich woods are doing what and what not.. Ohh man.. The rabbit hole it went!! What it did: now I FEEL I NEED to have a high end drum to have some credibility to make yt videos!! When finally: oh well.. Wood doesn't seem to do much after all!!! The more it goes, by reading HUNDREDS of comments on yt and on forums, the more it seems people listen with their EYES!!!! What seems to stand out is: higher end drum will to sound better MOSTLY because they get better quality control (better bearing edges?, better plys consistency?) ..for the last 25 years, it seems that it's the war on who will make the thinnest shells. And guess what?! You have some drum companies that still offer ultra thick shell only in their top of the line drums. What? Now thick shells are great for some reasons? And say hello to a ton of contradictions all over the place!! So now I'm nearly back to were I was 10 years ago: it's mostly a marketing scam!! I know I know.. I would still rather have a starclassic than a Westbury!!! And something that is blurring the lines even more: the "mid range" kit now evolved so much in the last years (for example: yamaha stage custom birch and superstar classic full maple) that spending a fortune on a high end drum seems less and less reasonable!!! Sadly(?) I will soon enough step up to a high end drum since I think "I'm there" now! But.. What a bunch of b.s. !!!! .. Tnx for having done your video!! Great content! (English is not my 1st language!)

my ears found b as the standout, but i cannot help but think it was primarily slight variations in tuning.

I pick Maple correctly on the 1st and last test The second test I had a tougher time.. But Maple is the standard IMHO

I liked A the best.

out of the three i prefered the walnut

Wow! I really love walnut! If I'm not wrong that sounds are dryer and lower, lovely 💜

Great demo-I prefer both the Maple snare and toms. The walnut toms do have a serious attack, though.👍

The Tulipwood kit was by far the worst, which was disappointing. Maybe it was the tuning or EQ, but it stood out like a sore thumb. I'd seen the bop version of the cafe racer at GC back in the day, and I'm glad I avoided it. The walnut kit was by far the best. I love the more subdued attack and the lack of higher overtones. The first video was super easy to distinguish the kits on, and so there was never a second-guessing period. First kit, based on the EQ could've been anything, but the overtones in the second gave that away and the third was so harsh that it couldn't have been anything other than the Tulipwood. There are very few woods that bring smiles out of me, and one of them is walnut. Cherry is another, for that darker tone with some punch, yet no harshness. And the last major one is birch, as I grew up on rather bright, focused birch kits. To show where my wood loyalties lie, I recently built myself a cherry/gum/cherry bop kit (Canopus Club sizes) and got a Japanese plum wood (stave) snare to match (plus a steel Canopus snare).

walnut for me please ! thanks !

Maple Walnut Tulipwood

Budweiser uses Beechwood.

B walnut

It's funny, I was a little off between the Maple and Walnut . . . but I picked the right Tulip wood on each video . . . the tulip must be speaking to me.

I'm not a drummer, but I know what I like. I like sharp attack and a low resonant fundamental with minimal overtones. I find the types of heads makes a huge difference. My ears are drawn to Mahogany and Walnut.

Thats weird: although they are very similar for me the maple in all of the examples is always in 3rd.

Great demo. I don’t think wood types matter (especially when under microphones).

Do for us a drum fill in 3/4 time

first c then b and after, the c

Maple

Walnut was my choice.

Man I miss my Saturns…

THe snares sound OK on all kites. The toms sound terrible on all kits, if you are into jazz. KD sound OK.

kit c

It really doesn’t. It’s all about the heads

Really close.. And hard to tell the difference. Not much in it, at least from here. The kick n snare are the main things, the toms, esp the floor are most noticeable.

They all sounded the same, especially the bass drums. I could hear a tiny bit of difference in one of the 10 inch toms, but that could be coming from a little difference in the edge on that drum, or maybe a difference in the head. Back in the 90's all the drum companies said you can't mix woods in a drum shell or it will ruin the drum sound. Today, most companies mix woods in a shell even in their high end drums. So it doesn't seem to matter what type of wood is used in a shell, they all sound the same. Probably the drum head, the bearing edge, and the type and weight of the hardware determine the way a drum sounds. Other than getting a fancy finish on a drum, why spend a whole bunch of money on drums if they all pretty much sound the same.

Maple for the win

Poplar is the best

At the end toms are not important... Kick and Snare, make the sound of a drum kit in any song... :)

All sound the same!