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The inner ply of the drums is laid vertically and sealed using tung oil.

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• Review
• Manufacturer's Description

Yorkshire drummer Carl 'Animal' Gavins' drum-making experience began when he made a snare drum as an A-level school project 11 years ago. He's made drums on and off since then, but has only traded as Animal Custom Drums for a short time.

Carl's aim is to offer a complete, flexible custom drum making service. He doesn't tackle the metalwork yet - all the hardware on the review kit is generic bought-in Taiwanese-made stuff. But he does offer a bespoke shell-making service - he's had custom steel moulds made for every size of drum, from 6" through to 26".

Carl has a technical background in civil engineering. "I made some drawings and had moulds made up in wood by a local firm. I'm upgrading them all now, in steel. It's a slow, expensive process - a 10" mould costs £600." As Carl sees it, to be a true custom company that can provide anything the customer wants, he must have everything under his own control.

Another advantage of having all the shell-making gear is that Animal can also make bare shells for hobbyists who want to try their hand at finishing, fittings, etc.

Layering up

The Animal shell production method is similar to the Yamaha Air Seal system. Plies of top grade birch are layered up and glued, one by one, inside the mould. The plies are so thin there's no need to wet them or use heat for bending or bonding. An air bag is put inside the mould and you crank up the pressure then leave it until the shell is set.

The process requires very fine measuring and cutting to get the plies to butt up tight for perfect seams. Removing the resonant head from a tom and taking a peep inside, it was some while before we could actually find the join - the seam was all but invisible. Carl's measuring skills seem at least as good as any commercial manufacturer's.

The inner ply is laid vertically and sealed using tung oil, which leaves a pleasant aroma and subtle grain. The bearing edges are cut on a routing table and these also looked good. The snare has a proper, deep snare bed. The shells are straight-sided, with no inner obstacles, although if you want reinforcing rings, Animal can supply them.

Custom Elite

Animal makes two levels of kit, the Elite and Mid Range (MR). You save about 25 percent on the MR series. Both series have shells made from the same birch ply, the difference being that the Elite range offers a broader choice of hardware and finishes than the MR. As well as wraps, you can choose from sparkle paints, stains and lacquers with the Elite drums.

The review kit is from the Elite series with a red sparkle wrap accompanied by an Artworks snare drum. Sizes are 12"x8", 14"x12" and 16"x14" toms, 22"x18" kick and 14"x7" snare. Toms come with RIMS-style mounts as standard on both Elite and MR series. All the drums in this particular kit have the same eight-ply, 6mm birch shells.

The relatively thin birch, combined with the supplied Pinstripe batters, gave all the toms a typically dark and controlled birch sound. There's plenty of attack, good volume and a wide tuning range.

Animal usually makes the bass drums and snares with slightly thicker 10-ply shells. But we liked the thin shell bass drum as it gave more depth and darkness of tone. Just remember that Animal has the moulds to make shells of any reasonable size, depth or thickness that takes your fancy.