jorge wrote:I find the SOS cherry 11" is plenty loud for tres dos in a rumba. Mark tell me if I am wrong at the rumba tomorrow. I used to play in a rumba group with a 12" cherry tres golpe and a 13" cherry tumba. They were always loud enough for rumba and kept up with my 12" oak tres golpe. The cherry drums have a beautiful warm tone, nicer than the oak. I have not played full on salsa over amplified instruments with either the oak or cherry SOS drums and can't comment on their presence in the live mix, although I would hesitate to play salsa without decent mics on the congas.
Jay told me back when he first started making cherry drums that he chose cherry because the coefficient of expansion due to humidity was the lowest of any of the wood options, and the drums were less likely to crack with Northeast seasonal changes in humidity in apartments. In my small experience, neither of my cherry drums have cracked through about 18 winter/summer cycles, but my ash drum and 2 of my 4 oak drums (both with Watco oil finish and no polyurethane) have all cracked in multiple places. Once the oak or ash drums crack due to expansion/contraction related to humidity, and they are fixed with good glue, they tend to never crack again. Oak definitely withstands dents (from drumsticks at rumbas) better than cherry.
Everyone knows I have my "opinions" (don't we all?
), but don't get me wrong, I have nothing against
Cherry wood drums, I just find their "warm" sound too "warm" for my own tastes, but I don't say no one should ever buy them.
I remember that the late Manuel Martinez Olivera a.k.a. "El Llanero" had one that Paula bought for him years ago (@ $250.00) and when it used to show up at the Sunday park rumba/s, when I played it, it sounded like playing a drum with a cloth table napkin laid over the skin.
As far as
"the coefficient of expansion due to humidity", sounds cool... but I have never had my S.O.S. Oak, or when I owned one an Ash S.O.S. crack or split here in Manhattan (cold northeast, steamed heated city apartment),
or in New Orleans when I lived there
Jay's Oak's are like "Old Ironsides" (Old Ironsides was made of White Oak).
How come Jay never made Cherry wood bongoes? Or did he... I never saw any.
Markito