Modular Floating Shell™ Design

Organic Custom Drums feature a cutting-edge Modular Floating Shell™ (MFS) design that maximizes the drum’s resonance, tonality, and bottom end punch, while providing a cost-effective way to have multiple snare drum sounds without the need to purchase multiple snare drums.

Our exclusive Tone Ring/Resonant Shell™combination increases depth and body by providing maximum energy transfer between the resonant (bottom) shell and center Tone Ring™ and enables all hardware* to mount to the Tone Ring, not the drum shells.

With the MFS design, the top drum shell floats within the drum’s overall structure, offering several benefits when compared to “traditional” drum designs. First, there is absolutely no hardware touching the shell, nor are there any mounting holes drilled into the shell. With no hardware dampening the shell’s resonance, Organic Custom Drums provide substantially more tonality and clean sustain than standard drums with attached hardware.

Secondly, Organic Custom Drums enable you to mix(or match) drum shell types to create unlimited sounds without the added expense of purchasing multiple snare drums. The MFS design enables you to quickly swap out drum shells to change the tonal characteristics of your drum at the drop of a hat. Why carry three, four, or more snare drums to a gig or studio session when you can use one Organic Custom Drum and several drum shells to maximize your sound palette with minimal cost when compared to the expense of purchasing multiple snare drums.

* Throwoff is mounted to center ring/bottom shell combination.

Tone Ring/Resonant Shell™

Mahogany was the industry standard drum shell material for more than fifty years. Most of the “vintage” drum tones you hear on many classic recordings – whether they be rock, jazz, country, bebop, fusion, or blues - come from mahogany drums. While the industry decided to move away from mahogany for various reasons, we think it is time to bring back this time-tested wood.

We chose African mahogany for the Tone Ring/Resonant Shell due to its low fundamental, warm, rich tone, smooth middle frequencies and focused bottom-end punch, not to mention its durability and beauty. We use 100% African mahogany, not the cheaper and less tonally pleasing Philippine mahogany or Luan commonly found in lower-quality drums.

Drum Shells

Wood Drum Shells: Segmented Construction — After considerable research and experimentation we decided to utilize a segmented drum shell construction for all Organic wood drum shells.

Segmented drum shells offer superior tonality, structural stability, and esthetics when compared to ply shells. They use less glue than ply shells, are easy to keep “in round” since there is no stress being placed on the wood to bend it into shape, can incorporate mixed wood types for unique designs, and offer improved contact shell-to-head contact for a clearer, richer sound.

Organic wood drum shells are available in a wide variety of domestic

and exotic species, including (but not limited to):

Metal Drum Shells

Bearing Edges

While all components of a snare drum, including the shell material, hardware, drum heads, snare wires, and even finishes, contribute to the drum's overall sound characteristics, the bearing edge is perhaps the most influential factor in determining the quality of sound the drum produces. Properly cut and finished bearing edges ensure the drum heads seat properly so the drum can be tuned evenly and produce a consistent response at all tuning levels.

Organic utilizes a 45 degree inner and outer cut for both batter and snare side bearing edges. On the batter side, the outer cut is "rounded over" by hand-sanding to produce a fatter, fuller tone. The snare side outer cut is slightly rounded, leaving a sharper profile for increased snare response and resonance. All bearing edges are checked for flatness to ensure drum heads are properly seated.

Lug Assemblies

People often underestimate the importance of having a good quality drum lug. The abundance of cheap foreign parts makes it easy for "custom" drum manufacturers to match a finely crafted instrument with not-so-finely-crafted hardware. Cheap lugs break; inconsistent threads make it more difficult to tune the drum and allow tension rods to loosen.

Organic steel tube lugs are crafted in USA, precision cut and threaded one at a time. These are not mass-produced, cheap imports with inconsistent threads and sub standard material. A musical instrument is only as good as its weakest link. By using high quality materials and manufacturing our tube lugs locally, we can maintain the quality and consistency you expect from a custom drum manufacturer.

Throw-off

Each snare drum features the  industry-leading Trick GS007 precision aluminum throw-off. The GS007 is manufactured in total from solid close-tolerance CNC machined components consisting of billet aluminum, stainless steel as well as hardened steel. Trick's cam operated, helical groove design provides the user with the smoothest, quietest, most durable and road worthy throw-off ever made.

(Copyright Trick Drums; used with permission)

Snare Wires

Puresound Custom Pro Brass snare wires are the ultimate in ease-of-use.  They're designed with Anti-choke™ end plates that significantly reduce annoying snare buzz and also allow the player to crank up their snare tension for a tight response without choking the drum.  The Speed Release™ straps allow the player to disengage the snare wires without releasing the straps from the strainer or butt clamps, enabling quick and easy head or wire changes.  The brass coil models produce a bright and resonant snare response.

(Copyright D'Addario & Company; used with permission)

SlipNots

A highly effective method for minimizing tension rod "slippage," SlipNots washers snap into any regular triple flanged hoop to securely hold tension rods in place. SlipNots also guarantee no metal to metal contact between tension rod and hoop.

Proudly Made in USA
At Organic Custom Drums, "Made in USA" is something we take very seriously. We believe it is vitally important to use American-made and American-sourced components whenever possible, not only to maintain the high standards for quality that American made products represent, but to support the hard working people who make this country great.

More & more of today's top session and touring drummers are choosing to add Organic Custom snare drums to their equipment list. Experience the difference yourself!