OK, here’s one for all the drum builders! Sick and tired of being called a “Keller company?” Not that there’s anything wrong with Keller shells but they have become synonymous with the custom drum market…well…that may be about to change. I bring you Twin Cities Drum Shells and Percussion LLC.
Right off the bat, Twin Cities offers not only 100% maple shells, they also offer the following shells,
Maple/poplar
Walnut/poplar
Mahogany/poplar
Maple/Mahogany
Bubinga/Maple
The Gold Standard shell is “a thick maple face with 1/8 mahogany core and the inner plys are maple. (Maple/mahogany/maple).”
Their Vintage shell has a thick core of Mahogany with your choice of the inner and outer species ply.
They also do a “Ribbon Stripe” shell that looks incredible!
But guess what? Ply shells aren’t the only thing that they make!! They also make stave shells and hoops! You can even have them make you hoops to match the shell! The best part is that their wood hoops are priced very nicely!
With all this info on their webpage, I had to check out one of their shells, so I bought an 8 ply, 6.5 x 14 Bubinga/maple shell. It got here pretty quick (good sign). I opened it up and took a look at it. It’s sturdy and it’s BEAUTIFUL. It’s still in it’s raw stage, I haven’t started working on it yet but as a raw shell, it surpasses Keller. I placed it on top of an 8 ply keller maple shell and noticed immediately that the Keller shell was out of round. I placed the TC shell on my DF drill matt and sure enough, it was perfectly round! Not just acceptable, but PERFECTLY ROUND!
I will post photos when the drum is complete, I have an idea of what I want to do with it, I wanted to do this review for the raw shell so drum builders can check them out and know that there is an alternative to Keller shells.
Price wise, TC are higher priced than Keller but then the quality appears to be higher as well. I’m not trashing Keller shells I use them quite a bit but it’s nice to know that there is another high quality source with some more variety in species to choose from.
Will Twin Cities put Keller out of business? Probably not, but like I said, builders now have another affordable option to choose from…and maybe we can be called Twin Cities kits as well as Keller kits!
Check out their page at www.tcdrumshells.com for the scoop!
Have a Merry Christmas Everyone!!
You're preaching to the choir as far as I'm concerned!!! Pat makes BRILLIANT shells. He provided me with one heck of a shell for to slot in with my vintage Premiers!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am just queueing up for all thos who love TC Drumshells!!!
That's GREAT!! I'm trying to get him as many customers as I can! He deserves the business!!
ReplyDeleteFor those that don't know. DF = Drum Foundry (layout matt)
ReplyDeletemy cousin bought one of these shells and he seemed happy. I will purchase one in January if he still gives me good feedback.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I took for granted that the builders would know what DF stood for. But as usual, my friend rwl has inspired me to think of another future review! The Drum Foundry Layout Mat! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteNice one. Got few idea about the drum shells from here.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. I picked up a beautiful maple/walnut stave shell from Pat earlier this year, and just started working on in this past weekend. It's going to be great. They really know what they're doing, and their ply shells are really catching my attention.
ReplyDeleteI just got a shipment of shells from Pat at TCP and they're all wrong. After 8 months of waiting, the grain orientation was wrong and, more importantly, the order of the plies is wrong, instead of inner bubinga, outer oak, they're reversed. Extremely upset and unhappy. I haven't even unpacked the shells to inspect for further flaws, I was simply beside myself with irritation after looking at the first tom.
ReplyDeleteRyan, I'm sorry to hear that, but you said in your post that you just received your order. Have you talked to Pat about the situation? Has he offered an explanation or solution? Just curious.
ReplyDeleteWhere are you located and do you have a demo of your manufacturing process like the big guys
ReplyDelete