by Thebreeze » Sat Feb 16, 2013 9:13 pm
As far as Craftsmanship, they are definitely probably the best out there? I can only attest to one set that I saw at a friends house. the work was definitely superior quality all around. The rubber bumper protectors were small but very good quality rubber, the bottoms had a nice protective bottom rubber piece on that was done with attention to detail, the finish was excellent, and the hardware was excellent polished stainless. The wood ( not sure which kind of wood was on my friend's drums ) was very exotic beautiful looking. So as far as the drums themselves, they were really nicely done and you can see where a lot of the price goes when purchasing these drums. However.... the other side of the coin needs to be looked at..
Sound... I played these drums a little and didn't want to say anything to my friend, but I did not find the sound to be anything special. As a matter of fact, If I recall, the insides of the shells were sanded smooth, and with these very hard woods I think that this can only cause the drums to be Ringy, not at all like a nice vintage set of Mahogany Gon Bops which many people can vouch for the nice dry, warm sounds that only these earlier Gon Bops produce. I would hope that whoever owns a set of these Volcanoes will add their opinions as to how happy they are with the sounds that their drums put out and hope that they are perfectly honest about it. I just did not see the Sound quality you would expect from spending thousands of dollars on a drum. ( Very overated in my opinion for the price + sound you get for your investment ).
Sorry to all Volcano owners, but even if I won a lottery I would have no interest in buying any.
If you are just a "PURE " collector and have the money , then you won't mind buying some just to keep them looking beautiful among your fine furniture and a can of Lemon Pledge standing by to keep them looking radiant.