Construction Philosophy
Hand Crafted not Machine Crafted

FOR DRUMMERS WHO DEMAND QUALITY CRAFTSMANSHIP, UNIQUELY DIFFERENT DESIGNS AND ABOVE ALL... SUPERIOR SOUND.

Building drums, specifically "custom drums", is more than just slapping together components and expecting them to suddenly "jump to life" when complete. Anyone can throw cheap aftermarket parts on a shell and say "I'm a drum company!"  If someone dumped all the parts to make a car on your front lawn, could you make a great car?  Of course not!!  Maybe you could get it together and drive it a few blocks, but it's not going to equal the quality and performance of a Mazerati. It's not simply the raw materials that make the final product. It's the way in which those raw materials are shaped, formed and crafted by human hands.

At SPAUN DRUM COMPANY we've designed our components with a "sonic purpose" from the beginning. Our SOLID BRASS LUG DESIGN and DOUBLE 45 DEGREE EDGES (copied by many companies, but never equaled) are just a couple examples of our designs with a "sonic purpose" which are seriously lacking in many custom drums.

Today's drums being manufactured by the "corporate giants" are rarely touched by human hands. They have computerized machinery that handles virtually every step necessary to create a drum from beginning through completion. That's great for speed, reducing man-hours, and fattening profits... but at what cost?  At Spaun Drum Company, we believe the continuous handling of each drum is an integral part of it's final sound. EVERY STEP OF THE WAY, THERE IS A HEART AND SOUL, AN ENERGY, THAT IS CRAFTED INTO EACH SPAUN DRUM.

Shell Design
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.  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 exclusive solid brass lug.