Our drums begin with your choice of our 100% 8-ply maple shells (Custom Series) or 100% 8-ply Birch shells (Recording Series).  From rack toms to floor toms, snare drums to kick drums, our 8-ply shell design remains constant throughout for an important reason.  This is why...

First, it's important to note that thinner shells produce lower fundamental notes than thicker shells of the same diameter.  To this day, many drum companies increase the thickness of their shells as the drum diameters increase.  Back in the old days when shell forming technology was limited, this was necessary to help keep the drum shells in-round.  Reinforcement rings were also added as a way to keep shells round.

The problem with using shell designs that are thinner on small toms and thicker on larger toms, is the tuning range of the drum kit is diminished.  Imagine a setup beginning with a thin shell 10" tom and ending with a thicker shell 16" tom.  The overall tuning range is less than if you maintained a thin shell 16" tom with the thin shell 10" tom.  Spaun drums maintain a consistent shell thickness to insure both maximum tuning range and consistent voicing from drum to drum.

With today's technology, drum shells can be made thinner, free from reinforcement rings, and still maintain their roundness due to advanced manufacturing processes.  At Spaun, we do not use reinforcement rings unless they are requested or we are specifically trying to re-create a vintage drum sound.  The addition of reinforcement rings into a drum shell disrupts the way in which the shell naturally wants to vibrate.  They raise pitch, reduce sustain, and often created non-harmonic overtones.  Unobstructed by reinforcement rings, Spaun shells have outstanding sustain which is enhanced by our proprietary SBR Solid Brass Resonator lug design.