MusicRadar

Rim shots have sharpness and power.

1 of 6 » View in gallery

• Review

The term Resonator was first coined in the '70s with the Premier Resonator kit. The name derived from the fact that Resonator drums had twin shells. They had a normal outer shell and - sprung inside - a thinner 'resonator' shell that was separated from the outer shell by a small air gap, like a cavity wall.

The idea was that all the mounting hardware, lugs, spurs, etc, were fitted to the outer, stronger shell, while the inner shell was smooth as a baby's bum. This inner shell would then act as a resonating chamber, unfettered and free to sing, enhancing the projection of the drum.

The Resonator proved popular, but Premier moved on and eventually ceased production. Now, what many drummers did not know, was that the Resonator was invented by Staffordshire drum builder Alan Gilby, who is today known for his handmade Richmo line of drums. Alan came up with the idea in 1972 and first fitted it to a Ludwig snare belonging to his friend and great jazz drummer, Kenny Clare. (The drum now belongs to Garry Allcock).

Kenny was suitably impressed and he and Alan took the idea to Premier, who subsequently did the decent thing and paid them a royalty for every Kenny Clare Resonator drum that it sold. Resonator rides again Now Alan has decided to update the idea with these new Richmo Resonator-2 drums. They follow the old principle but with a significant modification.

It is best if Alan explains himself. First, the basic Resonator principle: "Every musical instrument is made up of two parts, a vibrator and an echo chamber," he says. "For example, woodwind instruments have a vibrating reed and a thin tube as the echo chamber. With a drum, the head is the vibrator and the shell is the echo chamber. While other instruments have a thin echo chamber, drums need to have a thick echo chamber, since they must bear the stresses of the tensioning system. So it's a Catch 22 scenario."

However, Alan has thought of a way round this conundrum.

He continues: "I realised that if the heads sat only on the thinner, inner shell, that could become the echo chamber, while the outer shell could take all the stress." In other words, with the new Resonator, the bearing edges are cut only on the inner shells and not on the stronger outer shells as in the original design. The first results of this modification are seen here.

The larger White Marine Pearl kit is a standard 22", 13", 16"; the sizes and finish favoured by Kenny Clare. The other kit, in smaller 20", 12", 14" sizes with matching 14"x51/2" snare, was made for one of Alan's endorsees, Mike Hales, who chose the Chequer Plate embossed chrome wrap himself.

Spring construction

Alan uses first quality Finnish birch ply and makes all the shells in his barn. He hand bends the plies over wooden formers and there is no heating or wetting involved.