PROJECT:
Drums WOOD:
Ash, European (Fraxinus excelsior) CR E ATOR :
David Pimentel, Spaun Drum Company
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like olive ash burl because it has a light base color, is highly figured and has a nice contrast of light and medium tan colors,” says Brian Spaun, president of Spaun Drum Co., which makes custom, handmade drum kits in Chino, California. This kit showing olive ash burl over maple shells is from the company’s Exotic Series. “This makes it very good to use under candy colors, but it also looks great with just a high-gloss finish without any color. I’ve used this veneer under candy flame paint jobs. The color fades and bursts, and it always looks great.”
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urniture artist James Esworthy of Red Star Furniture Design in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, says a doodle he scribbled while on the telephone conjured images of tufted upholstery. The idea led to building his Diamond Cabinet on speculation and of his own design. The main wood is quartercut East Indian rosewood with a very fine and uniform grain, and the black diamonds
Design features that define Spaun Drum Co. include its double 45-degree bearing edge technology to assure the wood shell meets the surface of the drum head and not the collar, as well as a consistent shell thickness to ensure maximum tuning range and consistent voicing from drum to drum. “We glue 100-percent of the veneer and 100-percent of the drum shell it goes on, and then run it through our high-pressure laminating machine to achieve a super-high-quality adhesion of the veneer
are dyed pearwood. Each diamond is individually placed, and a slight misalignment of the grain on each helps pronounce a perception of a three-dimensional quality. The contour of this piece improves the design by carrying the pattern uninterrupted from one side to the other. “I enjoy cutting things up and rearranging them puzzle-like,” Esworthy says. “I try hard to have the viewer’s eye flow around the piece. I love curved form work. I learned early on in my career that curved work would cause many a cabinetmaker’s hair to fall out. It seemed to come easy to me and I enjoyed new challenges.” With only a clear lacquer applied to the piece, the rosewood’s natural opulence is evident. Esworthy says he finds the contrast between the two woods to be a most important quality in the cabinet’s allure. Esworthy tells how the Diamond Cabinet’s striking appearance helped to stage a client’s home. “The buyer loved the way it was decorated and bought everything, including the furniture,” he says. ■
to the drum shell so it will resonate as one,” Spaun says. “Most production drum companies use double-stick tape to put on a veneer or decorative wrap material. When done this way, it really deadens the shell vibration and is bad for the drum sound.” Spaun says because olive ash burl is a thin veneer, it doesn’t change the sound of the core drum shell it goes over; unlike thick veneers that choke the sound of the shell. That’s music to the ears. ■
PROJECT:
Diamond Cabinet WOOD:
East Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia) Pearwood (Pyrus communis) CR E ATOR :
James Esworthy Red Star Furniture Design
INTERNATIONAL WOOD
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