Hello,
Here are three early 2000s Craviotto Timeless Timber 600 + year old birch solid shell snare drums….all #1s.
2002 CRAVIOTTO DRUM COMPANY 4 x 14 TIMELESS TIMBER SOLID SHELL SNARE DRUM #1/25
2002 CRAVIOTTO/DW DRUM COMPANY 5 x 14 TIMELESS TIMBER SOLID SHELL SNARE DRUM #1/100
2003 CRAVIOTTO DRUM COMPANY 6.5 x 14 TIMELESS TIMBER SOLID SHELL SNARE DRUM #1/5
I am going to start with the 5 x 14 drum first as this one is the earliest of the three.
Johnny created a lot of interest back in the early 2000s with his acquisition of a stash of 600 + year old birch that had been discovered at the bottom of Lake Superior. Others were making furniture, bowls etc. so Johnny acquired the rights to the wood with the understanding that he would be making solid shell snare drums. He brought the idea to DW and obviously they went for it. I knew Johnny pretty well and considered him a good friend so I asked him if I could purchase #1 of the 100 that were scheduled to be made. He said he would look into it. Johnny vouched for me and he personally told me the story so I’ll paraphrase here but I am very close to verbatim: Johhny: “I’d like #1 to go to Mike Curotto.” DW: “Well…we don’t know about that…” Johnny: No...we do know about that…Curotto gets #1.” The store where I teach (Gelb Music) is a DW dealer so Don Frank at Gelb ordered the drum for me and there you go. Notice the early Craviotto/DW green badge, this is before Johnny went out on his own as a custom drum builder.
Later on Johnny partnered with Steve Maxwell to create The Steve Maxwell Collection of which the 4 x 14 and 6.5 x 14 were part of. Steve is also a very good friend of mine so I asked for #1/25 4 x 4 and later on #1/5 6.5 x 14. As always, Steve came through.
The engraved rims (John Aldridge) and the nickel plated hardware add a nice touch to these three works of art. Needless to say, the drums sound great!
Enjoy!
Mike Curotto
