Below: The veneer room where the various natural and manufacturted wood finishes are stored
Karl explaining how the veneers are prepared for use on an SQ2, S-Classix or Delite drum - in this case the golden madrone...
Most of the veneers are natural veneers that come from German veneer suppliers like "Schorn & Groh" (http://www.sg-veneers.com/). The German company "Holztechnik Klinkert" glues the natural (Finish) veneers on a maple veneer sheet backing. Some veneers are artificially made and come from the Italian company Alpi.
Bass drum hoops are manufactured offsite by the same company that makes steering wheels for Mercedes-Benz!!
Shell ovens - some of these date from the 1960's.
Making an Artist Cottonwood snare drum...
That's water on the sponge...
A newly hatched Artist Cottonwood Shell...
A parade drum coming out of the oven
New shell being laid up - first the glue...
This machine can/will apply glue evenly to both sides of the ply being inserted
Then putting in the oven. Diagonal seam is used so that even if the ply shifts there will still be no voids in the shell.
Below: second and third sheets are inserted with the secind seam 180 degrees opposite and the third 90 degrees opposed.
The craftsman makes sure the seams line up...
Oven is closed and he makes sure the plies are perfectly flat inside.
He holds them down manually for the first few seconds until the glue begins to set.
The ovens operate at a temp of 100° Celsius and depending on the thickness of the shell,
they are baked from between 10 and 15 minutes.
