First of all, I think it's important to fully understand the nature of burl wood. To begin with, it can be defined as structure that's located in the transition area from the tree to the root. They are found mostly where the tree trunk meets the surface of the ground and can look like a nondescript growth or part of the root structure itself. The analogy would be that a burl is just like an iceberg. Just as an iceberg has most of its mass below the surface of the water, so too does the burl with the majority of the growth located below the surface of the soil. So you really don't know what you've got until you really start to excavate around the tree. Sometimes these treasures can turn into a stone that's many feet in diameter. That's precisely what we're after. We want sheets of burl that are large enough to wrap around the circumference of large bass drums. That way, the free-flowing grain pattern of burl can be as fluid as possible. Our job is to utilize and enhance the natural beauty of the wood. So how does this Vavona Redwood Burl get its grain and how do we turn it into veneer for drum making? By virtue of minerals in the soil and climate, there's a myriad of different things; these burl patterns can be mind blowing. Again, some of this magic happens above the surface and some of this growth occurs below. Needless to say, these great big burls are not in the form of a log. In fact, they often look like a gigantic moon rock; there are so many strange and different shapes. So, how are they cut? Well, they've got these huge lathes that can actually turn these things. The lathe itself is the size of a truck and because these are such odd shaped chunks of burl, the wood is fixed and this horizontal blade has to come in to cut the thin 1/36" sheets. It's just like shaving off material, little by little. As you can imagine, this giant chunk of burl doesn't cut evenly like a log, so you're getting odd shaped leaves and packages of misshapen burl. Another amazing story is how this particular wood found its way to us. It all started two years ago when this wood company in Northern California that specializes in Redwood Burl contacted one of our wood supplier in East Los Angeles about this incredible piece of Vavona Redwood Burl that had become available. These pictures made their way to me and they were just gorgeous. This was the Vavona Redwood Burl find of a lifetime! I mean, it would just knock your eyes out, unbelievable! Well, I'm a busy man these days with all of the traveling and ongoing research and development I'm involved in here at DW, so time just got away from me and I wasn't able to negotiate the purchase. Months later, it pops back into my head, so I go out to visit them and they say, "Oh, about that Redwood Burl, we sold it," which really hurt my heart because it was ultimately my fault we didn't move on that purchase when we had the opportunity. Fine, so it got sold and I was trying to forget about this thing, but once you've seen it, it's just not something you can forget. So later that year, I found myself sixty miles south of Frankfurt, Germany in a little town called Karlsruhe. This is a quaint storybook town, and I happen to be there buying Mapa Burl, Olive Ash Burl, Kurillian Birch and other exotics for our Collector's Series line. While I was there they said, "Hey, we've got something special to show you." And they whipped back this tarp, and there's my Vavona Redwood Burl! They're the ones who bought it! It's just so bizarre that I had to go half way around the world to rediscover it. After all, this is the wood find I should have bought months and months and months prior to that when it was just miles from our shop. It's just an amazing coincidence that connects me with this stunning wood. The only other issue that remained was that this was one of the most expensive wood finds we had ever encountered. So, it still wasn't a done deal. After months and months of negotiating and discussion with the folks here at DW, we were finally able to acquire this sought after Vavona Redwood Burl. I had really intended this log to be for Guitar Center, because we're such partners with them in this whole thing. Plus, I think it's a nice find and I really wanted them to share in the rare beauty of this exotic. Not to mention the fact that when I showed the top brass at G.C. this wood, their eyes just fell out of their heads. They were just so excited, and it's great when a big chain like that gets excited about what we're doing. There's going to be 130 kits made in a six-piece configuration: 8x10" and 9x12" rack toms, 12x14" and 14x16" floor toms on legs, 18x22" bass drums and a 6.5x14" 10-ply snare drum. All kits are Collector's Series all-maple VLT (Vertical Low Timbre) construction with 3- ply reinforcing hoops. The kits are available in three lacquer finishes: Natural, Burnt Toast Fade and Candy Black Burst. Finally, they're complemented with chrome hardware and only available at select Guitar Center stores. I'm absolutely thrilled we can bring this unique treasure home to America where it can be cherished by a select group of lucky drummers. John Good Executive Vice President Drum Workshop, Inc. DW Exotic Vavona Redwood Burl Currently Available In-Store Only » Find a Guitar Center near you |
