Phonics are on the rise, both in price and interest. The beech wood that Sonor was getting back in the seventies was heartwood, very expensive today and makes a world of difference in the acoustic value in the shell.

Your offers are based on the going price of Phonics today !!

In your photos` I can see the dark reddish tone in the shell, that`s the heartwood part of the tree, the sapwood is much lighter in tone and less acoustic !!

So then, the inner plies of the heartwood will be more dense, as its the inner part of the tree, as opposed to the sapwood, where, by definition, still had the open pores? Is that where the better acoustic features come from? And the better projection?

Yes !!

Drum companies do not have the clout to out bid the furniture/flooring/ and jccabinets industry on heartwood anymore !! The rush to build drums now with quality wood was started because the lull in wood quality was there !!

The Phonic BD and FT are top crop !!

I would be interested in , where this information comes from? -----the heartwood vs. sapwood info.?

The non living center of a tree, very dense and strong enough to protect against normal winds !! Almost alway darker in tone than the sapwood !!

Sonor phonic 4 pc have been going 600.00 to 800.00, a lot of times closer to the 600.00 range, but yours look to be in nice shape ,and are a 6 pc. The price you were offered might be a little on the low side,depending on the value of the model snare,but most Sonor 70's 80's pro line snares usually fetch 200.00 min?

You might do better selling the Tamas for 150.00 200.00 and the Sonor snare sep from the sonor kit.

No, not the difference between heartwood and sapwood----I own 60 acres of very old hardwood bush and have cut tons of wood------ but ----how do you know what Sonor was doing regarding their wood at that time?

I recall reading in a mid-50's catalogue that in the new Sonor factory----they processed the wood for their shells ,completely from the log. So, they peeled the log themselves and had their choice , for the shells.

When would this have changed?

Both European Beech, Fagus Sylvatica and American Beech, Fagus Grandifolia have never been highly prized hardwoods. The European vesion found favour , mainly for pianos and other musical instruments but only recently has there been a concerted effort to market the wood as a furniture wood, mainly due to it's perceived sustainability and it's potential economical replacement for other expensive hardwoods. It, and it's North American cousin are still widely used in a creosote soaked form as railway ties because they are cheap and plentifull!

I can't see why Sonor would be using sapwood for facing drum shells---perhaps in the interior plies.

Maybe "useing" wood be a better word, no ??

It`s easy to see what they were doing with it by looking at products.

When they started rationing, I can`t date but I assure you they were haveing problems in early 1970 because all the drums` hardware except the champions series were made in Tiawan or Phillippines. The mill works and plateing (except the ferro. station) were the first to go and it was before Phonics. If you look at cats. from 75+ you see Phonics are featured with full vibrateing shells (joints) and the top quality of wood stock (heartwood). By the end of the 80`s the one remainning plateing station was gone due to federal regulations Sonor could not afford to maintain, and they just sank alot of money into it to meet guidelines. (the water leaveing had to be of better quality than bottled water)

They did not skimp or cut corners on the Phonics, instead they started phaseing out other products who`s sales were declineing. Eventually in the late 80`s and throughout the 90`s Sonor was purchaseing manufactured wood veneers and advertiseing, very sleek, that these were veneers but left out the manufactured part. People bought Scandi, bubingga, rosewood, ebony, and a few other veneers thinking they were genuine veneers because of the sleek advertiseing. (There`s like a hundred page thread about it on the museum site that`s fun to read)

Except for custom orders, Phonics were the last series totally manufactured at the plant. And that holds today !!

They`re back to wraps and stain finnishes, plus manufactured veneers, just like any drum co. out there,..they can`t compete with flooring, furniture and jccabinets companies !! Tree size and availibility is not there for them !!

You`ll never see the Ferro. snares and hoops again either, the auto maker that Sonor was buying it through, stopped useing it and the fifty ton minimum aint gonna happen at Sonor. (that`s more than all the ferro products ever made)

So maybe..."useing"....wood be a better word for you to read !!

So now, the rush is on to make genuine again by all drum companies, because Sonor was not the only company to do the shuffle and cut thing,..they were the first to get caught !!