So I am fortunate to have such an amazing artist close by... Seth Dolcourt a local here in the SF Bay Area does wonders with wood and turns out some very amazing mediums of sounds. Most of Seth's work can be found as stave shells which he has built for numerous custom drum companies but he does turn out some gorgeous full kits. A few years ago, i joined an online drum builders forum. Joined in a few discussions there and thats how I came to meet Seth, a warm person with a wealth of knowledge on drum building and man it was great... One day, i went over to his place and he showed me some of his work... He brought out snare drum after snare drum after snare drum. Man I felt like a kid in a toy store it was amazing! At the end of the day, he sent me home with two snare drums to play around with. It was super unexpected. But yea, I went home with a 14X5.25 Curly Maple which I instantly fell in love with. So much so that I refused to return it to Seth and bought from him and a 14X6.5 Bubinga which I actually played in my senior recital during my studies at CSU East Bay, Hayward, CA.
Not long after that, I asked Seth to build me a concert snare... A lot of discussion went on in what I was looking for and such. It is not everyday that you get to work with such an artist and help develop these magical instruments. After months of corresponding with Seth, the Poh-Harmonic was born. A 14X5.25 Maple concert snare. Seth did an amazing job on documenting the process which can be found in forms of pictures and such in the links below. He built the shell, did the assembly, the wood working, etc. I would also like to give a shout out to Jeff Hendrix from Crockett Tubs who was responsible for the glossy finish on this drum. The debut of the Poh-Harmonic was at a CSU East Bay choral concert performing Carmina Burana at Nortre Dame University, Belmont, CA. Her beautiful voice filled the cathedral with such warmth and colour that made it an unforgettable magical experience. The choir sounded great too btw... :)
A few weeks after that, I asked Seth to build me a drumset. Bubinga aka African Rosewood was the choice for the shells. It doesnt get any more custom than this when you actually go down to the lumber yard and pick out the boards. Picked out three boards which were to be made into 10X8, 14X12 and 18X14 shells. Note that Bubinga is some extremely hard wood to work with. But Seth did all of it including the super glossy see your own reflection in the shells finish without any complaints. Took about 6 - 7 months for this project to be completed which is pretty standard for any custom builder, and man it was worth the wait. Amazing dark and warm tone with so much resonance that it would give vibrators a run for their money. Orgasm worthy is how I would describe it. Once again, details can be found in the links below or email me if you'd like to contact Seth himself... :)
