Models

Gawharet El Fan Tabla

The Egyptian goblet drum, inlaid

Hand percussion · Egypt

Called tabla in Egypt and darbuka further north, this is the drum of Arabic classical and shaabi music. Gawharet El Fan's are aluminium shells inlaid with mother-of-pearl and shell, as much decorated object as instrument.

Emin Darbuka

Cast aluminium goblet drum, Turkish tuning

Hand percussion · Turkey

The darbuka is played with both hands across the head and the rim, and the Turkish style — a thin head, a sharp rim, and finger technique that runs at speed — is what these cast aluminium shells are voiced for.

Axis Longboard A

Machined aluminium, direct drive, long footboard

Drum hardware · United States

The Longboard A is the pedal fast double-bass playing is measured against: a solid machined linkage, sealed bearings, and a footboard long enough to play heel-toe across its whole length.

Contemporânea Surdo

The bass drum of the samba bateria

Hand percussion · Brazil

The surdo carries the pulse of a samba school, and Contemporânea builds them in aluminium and wood across the three tuned sizes a bateria uses — first, second, and third surdo.

Trick Pro1-V

Tool-free adjustment on a machined frame

Drum hardware · United States

The Pro1-V's adjustments — spring tension, beater angle, footboard angle — are all independent and made without tools, and the bearings are low enough friction that the pedal returns without help.

Ahead 5A

Aluminium core, replaceable sleeve

Drumstick · United States

An Ahead stick is an aluminium alloy core inside a polyurethane sleeve, with a replaceable tip. They last far longer than wood, transmit less shock, and feel unmistakably different — which is why drummers either use them exclusively or not at all.

Ludwig Supraphonic LM-402

The deep Supraphonic

Percussion · United States

The LM-402 is the LM-400 at 6.5" deep — fatter, a little darker, and the choice when a snare has to carry a track rather than sit inside it. Drummers argue about the pair the way guitarists argue about pickup positions.

Ludwig Supraphonic LM-400

The 14×5 aluminium snare on more records than any other drum

Percussion · United States

The LM-400 is the 5" Supraphonic: a seamless spun aluminium shell Ludwig called Ludalloy, with the P-85 throw-off. It is bright, cuts through anything, and is close to the default snare sound of recorded music since 1963. The LM-402 is the same drum an inch and a half deeper.

Studio 49 Orff Metallophone

Sustained metal bars for Orff ensembles

Concert percussion · Germany

The metallophone gives the Orff ensemble its sustained voice, with thick aluminium bars over a resonator box and the same removable-bar system as the wooden instruments.

Contemporânea Repinique

The bateria's calling drum

Hand percussion · Brazil

The repinique is the drum the leader plays to call a samba school in and out of sections, high-pitched and played with one hand and one stick.

Sonor Kompressor

Seamless metal snares in three alloys

Percussion

The Kompressor line is a set of seamless spun shells — aluminium, brass, and steel — in the same sizes, which makes it one of the cleanest ways to hear what a snare shell's metal actually does.