Growing Region: Queensland, Australia.

Availability: Not endangered according to our sources, but there is concern for the tree.

Weight/Hardness/Density: Hard, medium heavy and medium dense.

Cost: Twice the cost of maple. Shipping expenses from Australia increase the cost to the consumer.

Comments: This Australian hardwood reaches heights of 100 feet, with a trunk diameter of 4 feet. Dust can cause skin and respiratory irritation. Not an oak, but the name “silky oak” comes from its resemblance to quarter sawn oak.

Timbre/Tonal Color: Higher fundamental pitch than our maple comparison drum. Lacewood is cleaner and brighter than maple, and has a faster principle note. It is fuller sounding with a wider frequency response than maple. Little over ring. Nice “character” sound.

Dynamic Range : Very consistent from pp (very quiet) to ff (very loud). No change in tonal color.

Tonal Range : Very predictable. Lacewood gave us more over ring as we played closer to the edge. The sweetspot is about 1 inch larger than on maple, but the overall playing area is slightly smaller.

Tuning Range: Lacewood goes slightly lower with head tension than maple, but not as tight before choking. The overall range of tuning is similar to maple, just lower.

Resonance/Decay: Maple builds up a wash when played continuously. Lacewood has much less of this wash allowing more notes and accents to come through. The Lacewood has better definition of notes, making maple sound “tubby”.

Cross Stick: Lacewood’s cross stick is richer and woodier sounding than maple. Our sample drum also has 3 distinct sounds, while maple has 2. The area for cross stick sounds is larger than maple. The rim shot over ring on maple goes down in pitch, while the Lacewood over ring pitch goes up. Both cross stick and rim shot are clean and defined sounding.

Volume: Lacewood is very similar in volume to maple, but has higher end cut.

Sensitivity: Good sensitivity. Very predictable. Comparable to maple.

Feel: great response and feedback from the drum. More feedback than the maple comparison drum. Easy to play.

Comments: Very cool cross stick sound. RB described the drum as “super sexy… and she’s easy on the eyes.”

By Greg Gaylord & Robert “Tree Hugger” Bowler.

Photo by Frankie Frost.