DRUMANDSTAGE FORUM

What would you do?

Birch toms (of course...duh!), and either a beech or maple kick drum. Not sure yet--I'd want to hear them both in some YouTube videos. But there's not way the toms would NOT be birch...

tcbetka wrote: Wed Nov 26, 2025 5:40 pm

Birch toms (of course...duh!), and either a beech or maple kick drum. Not sure yet--I'd want to hear them both in some YouTube videos. But there's not way the toms would NOT be birch...

That's what I opted for in my SQ2 - I've got a vintage beech bass drum and vintage birch toms and snare, and it's a nice combo. I must get some images up of it (if I can get round to it)

Not a big fan of re-rings to be honest, but that's likely just me though. Certainly there are enough people playing them, so the concept is fine--they're just not for me. That said though, the thin (5mm) shells are only 1mm thicker than the vintage shells...so there's not a whole lot of difference there.

tcbetka wrote: Thu Nov 27, 2025 7:01 pm

Not a big fan of re-rings to be honest, but that's likely just me though. Certainly there are enough people playing them, so the concept is fine--they're just not for me. That said though, the thin (5mm) shells are only 1mm thicker than the vintage shells...so there's not a whole lot of difference there.

I'm quite the fan of them, have you ever played a vintage shell? Correct - they are 4mm +2mm rings, but the bass drum is 6mm +2mm, so it's essentially a medium shell with +2mm rings.

I will knock together a video sometime soon to compare some shells.... perhaps blindly!

I've never played a Sonor vintage shell, but I was playing thin-shelled drums with re-rings in the early 1990s. They're not my thing, especially when I can just go with a "thin" shell that's only 1mm thicker. That is, I think, my preferred thickness on the FTs--while I do like a slightly thicker rack tom. So, thin FTs, medium rack toms--all in Scandi birch. A medium thickness maple (or possibly beech, I'd have to do more research) kick would be what I would order.

EDIT: I will admit though that when Benny Greb first started playing those white marine peal SQ2 tubs in the early 2000s, they sounded incredible to me. And I think those were the vintage shells, if I'm not mistaken?

tcbetka wrote: Fri Nov 28, 2025 5:52 pm

EDIT: I will admit though that when Benny Greb first started playing those white marine peal SQ2 tubs in the early 2000s, they sounded incredible to me. And I think those were the vintage shells, if I'm not mistaken?

Yes, that kit I believe was all vintage beech shells.