Construction & Philosophy

BEARING EDGES

From a wood snare and wooden shells someone expect in common less ringing overtones, more body and warmth in the sound of a drum. There for I like to push these with a modern 35° bearing edge. Modern should mean the bearing edge is more flat but sharp too. The drums build in this way have still enough overtones and the sound bandwidth goes from lively open until full bodied, but never dump as on round bearing edges and in every case without the extreme ringing of a metal shell. I am not a fan of dampening drums to much and prefer to build them as they should sound right from the start in my workshop.

SHELL CONSTRUCTION

My principles on the shell construction follows the same...a thick wooden shell sounds very simillar to metal and has these much overtones...however a thin turned wooden shell has this so beloved shell sound, the sensibility and the distinctive character from the timber. Around the bearing edges I prefer to turn the shell a bit thicker, as a common reinforcement ring, but without glue and there for without loss of the vibrational qualities. These absolute consequence is a very important feature on all scopes from pollnerdrums. Many years of researching took me to this ability to know how to get a well balanced, clear and full bodied drum sound. The goal is to get a preferably, stiff and vibrating joint...but more I do not want to give away to keep one of my small but important company secrets.

SNARE BED

I like to cut the snare beds by hand, deep and wide to get the ability to use a wide range of snare wires with a sensitiv and clear sound.

CHOICE OF TIMBER

As mentioned, the knowledge of a wood specialist is necessary to choose the right part of timber, especially on stave drums, it is the absolute game changing part in the production of a good sounding, playable and warp free shell.

MASSIV DRUMS

The outstandig product of pollnerdrums is marked on drums build of one massiv ring, turned out of a solid tree trunk, without any glue at all. The very unique process of drying takes almost 4 years and the successfull end of that period is the beginning of a extremly high quality, clear and defined sounding instrument. This construction sets new standards, shines with an enormously wide tuning range, is good sounding in all dynamics and brings with it a rarely so convincing euphony.