MusicRadar

• Review
• Manufacturer's Description

Highwood is the name chosen by Gareth Heeley and Simon Eland for their British custom-made drums. Launched in 2004, Highwood has already come a long way.

 

Drummer Gareth actually started building and repairing drums in 1998 and at first Highwood concentrated on supplying parts/hardware and making shells for DIY'ers.
But with his university background in design Gareth decided to get into drum building seriously.

 

A couple of years ago Highwood moved into a professional workshop where shell-making is handled by Simon with his extensive experience in the woody crafts. As with most small companies metal parts are bought in, but Highwood has established a strong relationship with a Taiwanese company who provide quality fittings, some of which are exclusive to Highwood.

 

The result is that Highwood offers a much broader range than the usual small custom maker. At present this includes a pro line called Vertical Grain (VG) Birch and a Modern Vintage line with thin mahogany and maple shells. Enterprisingly, there's also the CustomLite which utilises poplar and birch shells, bringing custom drums to budget buyers.

 

There's also the new Exotic Ply line, the subject of this review alongside Highwood's first ever single ply snare drum.

 

Go figure

 

The kit is veneered in Figured Walnut, fitted with matching, vintage wooden hoops and teamed with Highwood's first steam-bent solid maple snare. The 5.5 mm thick Exotic Ply shells consist of an inner core of Finnish birch with single outer and inner veneers of walnut. The shells are the thinnest Highwood can make without needing reinforcing rings.

 

They're finished inside and out with Polyx oil, a blend of waxes and oils derived from the wood flooring industry. It's extremely tough but looks completely natural, leaving a slight furry nap to the wood. If you prefer, there's hard gloss lacquer or even coloured fades or burst finishes.

 

The kit has a 20"x18" bass drum, 12"x10" mounted tom and 14"x12" and 16"x14" floor toms. Normally, the drums are fitted with 2.3 mm steel hoops, but this kit has matching wood hoops, adding about 10 percent to the cost. The hoops are the same on the bass drum and unusual in that they don't have claw hooks. Instead there are metal ears which function like the ears on die-cast hoops.

 

Tension bolts pass through each ear and into the lugs. The advantage of this for the toms is that you won't be fretting about clattering your sticks on the usual metal claws, instead you have lovely smooth wooden hoops all round.

 

The dinky little low mass, solid machined chrome lugs have just single mounting points (SMP) for minimum shell interference. The small tom comes with a mini-suspension mount which cleverly bolts to two of the SMP lugs. The two floor toms have standard legs with chunky mounting clamps.

 

All fittings are pro quality with thick chrome. They certainly don't let the side down... or the toms.