It was some 4 years ago on a trip back from Romania. I had the chance to go through the beautiful city of Prague and among this amazing environment, got a meeting with Erik at his shop to chat a bit about drum making.

I was really amazed by the skills and crafmanship of Hanus & Hert drums, from the home made stave shells from nearby forests to the intricate design of wood hoops. Hey instead of bringing back a T shirt from Prague, I got myself a magnificent 13×7 wood hoop stave oak shell snare drum.

This was the first time I tried this type of shell and was positively surprised by the balance between the shell and the rest of the instrument. I submitted an article in my local drum magazine (batteur magazine in France) detailing some quick calculation about the amount of glue used in stave vs ply shells. The ratio is about 40 time less.

We will soon see how this measures in terms of shell damping and sound radiation, but there are some obvious differences in the resulting sound.