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Classics are only available in 'virtually bullet proof' Finish Ply plastic wraps as yet. The

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• Review

Many drummers hanker after the classic sound and look of vintage drums. But kits from the golden days of jazz and rock are increasingly rare and expensive. They're also often too fragile for today's heavier use. DW seeks to plug this gap with its Classics series.

DW drums evolved from Camco with thin maple shells and internal reinforcing rings. Modern DW drums are still maple, so for the Classics, DW went for the mahogany-poplar-mahogany sandwich with thick reinforcing rings and rounded bearing edges which characterised the original Gene Krupa 1930s Slingerlands, right through to Ringo's Ludwigs in the '60s.

DW's Scott Donnell says, "Knowing that our Collector's Series are considered very modern sounding, we decided to really hone in on what made those older drums so desirable." DW already had the Jazz series featuring retro maple and gum shells, and Scott explains, "Classics provide a '30s through '50s sound, and Jazz is '50s through '70s.

Jazz is warm, punchy, more resonant, more suitable for high jazz tunings. Classics is darker and thuddier, with little sustain."

Build

The main shell comprises a thin (1/36") outer and inner veneer of rich red-brown mahogany with a stout (1/8") core of poplar, bounded by deep reinforcing rings of 10-ply maple, extending 2 1/4" down into the shell. Each ring is so deep that the top bolts holding in place the round nut boxes pass right through it.

Just as surprising, the bearing edges are smoothly rounded over with no sharp apex. The closest to this I've seen is on Slingerland's Radio King toms and bass drums, which led the pack in the 1940s.

DW's shells, though, are rather better finished. The snare has a completely different shell. Echoing the all-time classic Radio King snares, DW's is a single plank of maple, with maple reinforcing rings. But DW's innovative SuperSolid process entails making the shell and reinforcing rings out of a single plank of maple, bent and scarfed with a single join.

The shell and edges are one, not glued together. See DW designer John Good's impressively clear explanation below.