I am also imagining shot-peened aluminium shells.

Maybe I should find a couple of Acrolite shells and A/B a shot-peened vs. regular shell...

Ludwig would have HATED me if I were in their R&D department...

...prolly, but that is where all the goodies come from!

Tuned it for tomorrows show and i think im going to like this drum.I always judge a drum whem im with other players,recording,rehearsing,live shows etc.It gives me an opportunity to hear the range and projection.

SO!?!?!?!? How did it sound with other instruments!?!??!?!?!?

I was very pleased with this drum.I can hear the resemblance to wood,its got quite a honk which i love.The drum responds to 1/4 turns when tuning which i found incredible.I mean it made a huge difference.It took a bit of time due to the sensitivity,but when i found "my sound"it was worth the 1/2 hour i spent on it..IMO,this is a serious drum and should be on your list to at least try out...PLUS;its light weightCool1

In my experience in playing Acrolites I noticed that some were great sounding. Some were not. To me there is not the consistency there as with steel and brass. I also think that the drums I have played did not seem as crisp or as loud as the steel or brass brothers. An Acrolite is not really a perfect comparison. They were designed to be a student drum and not a top of the line model. I have never tried an aluminum Yamaha or other higher end drum made with an Aluminum shell. I would love to get a Gretsch Aluminum shell drum and have one in my Gretsch collection. When I saw Wilco years ago right after they got Glenn Kotchke, he was using an Acrolite as his main snare and he sounded great. To each his own.

If you have every played or heard a Ludwig supraphonic from about '64 up to the present, you have heard and aluminum snare drum. Aluminum comes in different hardnesses that will affect the density of the shell. It also make a difference on how the shell is formed.

The supraphonic and acrolite are spun from one large disk so they have no seam. The process of spinning causes the metal to "work harden" thus affecting the hardness of the metal. A shell made by rolling it into a cylinder and then welding the seam will result in a shell that has not been work hardened and will posses pretty close to the same hardness of the original flat piece of aluminum. The center bead of the Ludwig shells adds greatly to the rigidity of the shell.

This is a video from the Sonor factory but is the same way the Ludwig shells are made.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsb1yBtaImc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsb1yBtaImc[/ame]

Great video! Thanks for contributing that!