Wood hoops vs Steel hoops

[RocknRoll]

Hello. Ok, since i've never played a kit with wood hoops i am curious as to how they sound compared to standard steel hoops. If you've had any experience playing a wood hoop kit please let me know what you thought of them and how they sounded. Thanks for sharing.

[Scheming Demon]

I am assuming that you mean bass drum hoops.  I played both.  I have wood now and have used wood almost exclusively.  Only once before I had to replace a couple hoops and got steel ones which I used for a couple of years.

Steel is obviously sturdier but I recall no difference in sound or feel.  The only thing I noticed was that the steel hoops were thicker and I had a harder time getting my pedals on them.

[Louis Russell]

The only thing I noticed was that the steel hoops were thicker

Hummmmm my steel hoops are thinner than the wood ones on the Starclassic Maples.

[RocknRoll]

Hey Scheming Demon, Sorry i forgot to mention it earlier but I meant wood hoops on the WHOLE kit, not just the bass drum.

[MUSIKxDRUMR]

The only set i've played with wood rims was just maybe the best sounding set i've ever heard. It was in LA in a studio. It was the studio's set they used on all the recordings. Don't remember who made it, nor do i know anything about this subject, but i just remember them sounding great!?! :-\

[Mark Schlipper]

ive played an ayotte with wood hoops and it was awesome.  there are so many other variables that i cant say for 100% sure that any difference was in the hoops though.  and i wasnt able to a/b a wood hoop and steel hoop version of the same kit.

guess im no help :)  sorry.

[Louis Russell]

Maybe this winter when things are slow someone could A/B wood and metal on the same bass and see if there is a difference.  I am sure there will be some difference but unsure how much.  I guess I could do that after I ship the Iron Cobra Pedal to the lucky winner, get those pics in guys/gals.

[MUSIKxDRUMR]

lucky winner? did i miss something? i want one mommy ;D

[gdawson44]

My main rig now is a wood hoop kit.  The idea is that where metal rims produce a lot of high overtones, the wood hoops dont and the result is a more pure drum tone. This is great for toms but not particularly good for the snare. So, it's a good idea to choose a wood hoop snare with an inner layer of a very hard wood to pull the 'highs' back up.
People get terrified of breaking the hoops.  Some manufacturers make poor wood hoops which break commonly. Some manufacturers construct their hoops from heavy-ply drum shells. You won't break one of those.
Wood hoop drums tend to produce the greatest tone with coated single-ply heads. The snare produces one hell of a rim shot. The toms are balls-out singin'.
Try one!

[Louis Russell]

lucky winner? did i miss something? i want one mommy ;D

Evidently you have, but not entirely.  Its not too late to enter.  Check out

http://community.drummercafe.com/index.php?board=12;action=display;threadid=1758;start=0]http://community.drummercafe.com/index.php?board=12;action=display;threadid=1758;start=0  

That will give you all the details.  To see pictures already entered go to

http://community.drummercafe.com/index.php?board=14;action=display;threadid=1861;start=0]http://community.drummercafe.com/index.php?board=14;action=display;threadid=1861;start=0

See what you have been missing.

[Ratamatatt]

A local Guitar Center had a wood hooped Premier kit on the floor for about 3 months.  All drums had wood hoops.  It sounded great, lots of open sounding boom but not a lot of ring or sustain.  However, I suspect they pulled it off the floor because you could see the hoops were getting beaten to death after only 3 months.

On the other hand, a salesman at a local Mars did a demo for me with an Ayotte tom.  He pulled the tom off the shelf and started smashing rim shots with a 2B for about a minute.  Not a mark.  He offered to let me try it.  I couldn't leave a mark on it either.  He told me Ayotte guarantees the hoops for life.  Wow!  

Ratamatatt

[Tony]

Yamaha also makes wood hoops for toms and snares.  They have several snare models built in conjunction with top drummers, including Billy Cobham, Akiro Jimba(Sp?) and Elvin Jones.  They all look and sound great.  Oddly enough, I was working on my Christmas wish list and put the Billy Cobham model down :)