Name: Pterocarpus Indicus (Narrah, Narra, Mai Pradoo, Pradoo, Amboyna, Burma Padouk).

Growing Region: New Guinea and Solomon Islands as well as some in the deciduous forests of Thailand.

Availability: Good availability, but exploitation can be problematic. Our drum is made from sinker logs salvaged from river bottoms.

Weight/Hardness/Density: Narra has a Janka rating of 2170. Hickory/Pecan scores 1820, Maple 1450, Red Oak 1290, and Cherry 950. The Janka scale is a measure of how much force is required to drive a .44” steel ball ½ of its depth into the wood. The higher the number, the harder the wood.

Cost: fifty to seventy-five percent more than maple.

Habitat concerns: The Narra population is declining due to exploitation and poaching, as well as general habitat loss to such things as farming. The tree is extinct in Viet Nam and Malaysia, and surveys taken in Sri Lanka have not found any significant number of trees. It is also threatened in India, Indonesia and the Philippines. The tree is now being protected in Thailand. New Guinea trees are being heavily exploited.

Comments: Grows to 80 feet in height with a trunk diameter of 3 feet. Used for furniture making, cabinetry, and wood flooring. Ranks high for durability with other woods such as Teak.

Timbre/Tonal Color: Narra has a higher fundamental pitch than our maple comparison drum. It has more richness to the body of the drum sound and is more controlled with less over ring and overtones. Clean and contained sound.

Dynamic Range : More responsive than maple. Narra maintained the same note and character sound from pp (very quiet) to ff (very loud). “The note you play is the note you get” (RB).

Tonal Range : The sweetspot approximates that of our maple drum. Nicely “predictable” in its sound and response. Consistent, predictable sound from the center of the drum to the hoop.

Tuning Range: The drum went slightly lower and also slightly higher in head tension than the maple drum.

Resonance/Decay: The principal note length is comparable to maple, but cleaner. Not a lot of overtone or over ring.

Cross Stick: Predictable from the drum sound: clean, higher in pitch than maple, richer and woodier sounding than maple. It makes the maple drum sound “hollow”. The Narra gave us a woody shell sound, while the maple drum gave us a metallic hoop sound. The area of cross stick is comparable to the maple.

Volume: Similar to maple.

Sensitivity: Good. More articulate than the maple drum, but both drums responded well at all volumes.

Comments: A nicely consistent and predictable drum. The feel and feed back from the drum is “a small step above the maple. Narra is a sweet drum. Its nuances are what you want out of a great jazz snare” (RB).

By Greg Gaylord & Robert “RB” Bowler.

Photo credit Frankie Frost