Birch vs. Maple Drum Kits

[Davo-London]

There's no difference. Ask custom drum builders. They will all tell you they are both hardwoods and you literally cannot tell them apart. So if birch is 75% the cost of maple - go birch. One custom builder has started selling maple because of demand even though they tell their customers there's no difference. It's just snobbery.

Go birch.

Davo

[junior]

Sorry, there IS a difference. Each variable in a drum's construction has an effect on the sound - some more than others. Just use your ears...

[Space Station]

Yes there is a difference. The thing with wood is every piece is unique. No two pieces resonate identically. I have two identical maple pearl ff snares that sound massively different. But as I've said before I couldn't care less what a drum is made of as long as it sounds cool.

[Jerrick]

Originally Posted by junior

Sorry, there IS a difference. Each variable in a drum's construction has an effect on the sound - some more than others. Just use your ears...

My drummer has an all Birch kit that sounds amazing, but just got an all Maple kit about a week or two ago. Huge sound difference. To me, the maple is a little bit more present/snappier sounding, and I was expecting it to be cause im used to the differences in tone woods from the years of playing guitars. Really helps live cause some of our songs I take my low E and tune it down to a A or C. The maple cuts through the mix a lot better.

[Drumsound]

Originally Posted by Davo-London

There's no difference. Ask custom drum builders. They will all tell you they are both hardwoods and you literally cannot tell them apart. So if birch is 75% the cost of maple - go birch. One custom builder has started selling maple because of demand even though they tell their customers there's no difference. It's just snobbery.

Go birch.

Davo

I can say that this is a builder that I would have ZERO confidence in if they really believe that statement. If there isn't a difference in the sound of the drum that they make, I'd guess they are putting so much polyurethane on both the inside and outside that their drums may as well be acrylic anyway. Or they just don't have a freaking clue and should make tables and not musical instruments.

[WorshipThunder]

Originally Posted by RedWallStudio

I think considering the amount of opposing opinions here already, you can go back to my original post and take it from there. IMHO, Waaaaaaaaay too much emphasis is being put on the type of wood here, where I really think that the difference between Birch and Maple is insignificant when you compare it to the other variables that affect the sound:

1. THE PLAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. The Heads (type and age)
3. The Tuning
4. The Room
5. The mics/pre's/comps/eq's blah blah blah
6. The engineer

Fully agree with this. The mid to high end kits are so good today, it is in the ear of the beholder. It also depends on the acoustic characteristics of the venue you regularly play in, which by the way can be altered to a great degree by the sound technician. It comes down to the look, the feel and what sounds good to you and if it matches the signature sound of your band and the music you play.

[Sk106]

Drummer Dave Weckl recorded his second solo album "Heads Up" using a mixture of birch and maple. The 3 high toms birch, the 2 low toms (panned right) plus kick was maple (yamaha recording custom + maple custom). It says so in the CD sleeve notes, he mentioned it in an interview in Modern Drummer magazine not long after, and he confirmed the same when asked about it at a clinic I attended in 92.

Could be worth a listen. Though, he tunes his drums very low (or did back then at least), so the "smack" factor is quite high regardless of birch or maple. 2nd track of the CD, at 4 min 35 sec is a good spot for listening.

[suedesound]

sorry, didn't read through all of this just the first page. just wanted to add that mahogany shouldn't be ruled out. i played all maple kits until i scored my 60's slingerland kit that's mahogany with maple reinforcements (see my avatar, love it so much i got a tattoo of the badge) and it's the sound i was always looking for.

someone said vistalites don't record well, i have to differ on that. i helped on a session not long ago using vistalites and they recorded quite well. we didn't use the snare but the rest of the kit sounded great.

as far as birch goes, not a big fan but i've never owned a birch kit. when i've used them before they sounded thin to my drummer ear, i have recorded others using birch and it was fine though.

[legato]

OK, I'm not a drummer, so perhaps I should hush. I am a passionate wood lover though, with an acoustic guitar background. Maple and birch are more alike than they are different. (The wood, that is.) Structure, color and appearance are similar. And both are known to have a quick rise and decay, tonewise. Mahogany, on the other hand, is very different.

One thing to watch for is the pitfall of the apples and oranges comparison. Both maple and birch have soft and hard varieties. Softness vs. hardness makes a bigger difference than the different species do. Same thing for fast vs. slow growth. And then there's plywood vs. solid wood. Big difference, too. Plus plywood by itself greatly levels out the differences, should they be there in the first place.



Henk

[audiotech]

I see that this thread originally was very old, but me being new to this forum, I'll also give my opinion on this. I originally played a three ply Ludwig kit from the late forties that my dad owned. When I made enough money to buy my own drums they happened to be maple and I used maple drums for many years. I too can hear a difference between maple and birch shells, particularly in a studio environment. Maple sounds smother to me without the upper frequency boost exhibited by the birch shells. It's subtle, but it's also audible. At the present time I own three maple kits, a full bubinga set and a mahogany/poplar/mahogany with maple re-rings kit. I can definitely hear a difference in each set, including the maples, no mater what head selection I use.

Dennis