Jojo Mayer Interview – A conversation about drum tone, birch drum shells and the drum industry.

By John Dutra | August 27, 2009



© Bernhard Castiglioni - drummerworld.com

© Bernhard Castiglioni - drummerworld.com


Drum building has a ton of benefits. The biggest one being that you have the choice and ability to select drum parts that fit your musical needs like a glove.

I got a chance to interview drumming legend Jojo Mayer… the drummer and key songwriter for NERVE and an all around drumming god around the world and especially in the NYC music scene.


Jojo released one of the worlds best instructional drum videos ever, “The Secret Weapons For The Modern Drummer,” which is like an encyclopedia of drumming philosophies that you can soak in and apply to your playing.

So…what does Jojo Mayer have to do with drum building?

As I found out, Jojo walks the walk. He’s not just a incredible artist, he’s also a drum tone enthusiast… knowing about shells and drum shell construction, just as I had imagined he would. And with all of Jojo’s knowledge about drum shells, tuning, studio playing, bearing edges and the whole works…. it all comes down to a simple solution and simple needs for Jojo.

Perfect… excactly in line with Guerrilla Drum Making philosophy that less is more… and simpler is better.


Without further ado… Welcome Jojo Mayer.

John Dutra: Jojo, what drum shell sizes are you leaning toward lately?

Jojo Mayer: At this point I’m really tending toward the classical sizes. Because I feel that for the impact of the drum shell, and the response, it is better than deep shells. In deep shells you have certain amount of low end, which is not as versatile as the classic shell sizes. With EQ’ ing, I see that the classic depth shell can sound heavy but delicate at the same time. With the deeper shells, or the longer shells, its hard to get a delicate, sensitive sound with it.

As far as tuning range, the classical sizes give me a broader range. If i tune them up high, they don’t choke. Ya know like with a deeper shell when you tune them up high towards a jazz tuning, the sound doesn’t really work as well.

JD: And this goes for the bass drum as well? ??????? ???????????

JM: Even with the bass drum… right now I’m considering when ordering my next kit, that I’m probably gonna go back to a 14″ depth like they used to have. As opposed to a 16″ depth. Cause I’ve played in the studio, on a couple of tracks with a 14″… and I usually use a 20″ x 16″, and with a 22″ x 14″ its just really in your face with a lot of attack. The response is just much much faster.

JD: What is your preferred drum shell construction around the drum set: solid shells, stave, ply, metal, etc.? Or do you stick with Maple Shells?

JM: Basically there’s good shells and there’s not so good shells. If the balance is good with the shell, it doesn’t matter what type of shell it is. I’ll challenge the most proficient people in the business to tell me the difference between a maple drum set and a birch drum set. The sound depends on so many other factors besides the material of the drum shell.

However, I personally have been playing birch drums more than maple. Maple is a nice, round, polite sound. It has a lot of fundamental tone, and it has a very pretty sound. However the birch gives me more attitude. It’s a little fiercer, a little more in your face with low end and also attack.

JD: So you’re looking looking for attack.

JM: I’m looking for two things: one is tunability. A good tuning range… it sounds really good when it is low and it sounds good high. The good drum shell doesnt have any bad spots. You can tune it low and high and higher and higher and it just keeps singing. Theres a lot of drums where you just cant do that with. They have certain sweet spots and then you tune them a little but higher and they start to choke. Then you have to go lower than that range for it to sound good. A good drum shell… it doesnt matter what wood it is… when the construction has balance… it sounds good in any pitch you take it to.

I have a ton of old Sonor kits. They used to make them out of Scandanavian birch, which is very light and flexible and dense at the same time. It’s a really incredible wood… however its gotten very expensive. Its now considered a boutique. But those drums sound really really great. I use that kit in the studio and the newer shells I get from Sonor are built in that similar fashion. Its a thin birch shell, about 6 plys with no re-rings. It explodes when you hit it. And it sounds great..you can tune it up ROCK hard and it doesnt sound like a bongo… ya know? But as well when you tune it low it sounds great.

So tunability is one thing and the other thing I look for is charecter. See you might get a really really nice, balanced sounding drum set that just sounds boring. Ya know, it’s just too bland. I’m almost looking for something in the sound that has some personality… a little flavor. It’s like a good wine. Some have a strong berry taste, or a licorice… or something about it…. and it’s one of those things with drum shells. Of corse it also depends on what drum heads you use.

I use single ply heads most of the time… sometimes I use double ply heads. I use the tuning of the top and the bottom pretty much the same. Because I’m going for more of a short attack type of sound, a nice short resonate sound and note a long drawn out sound. So that works very well with the birch kit.

But I’ve played maple kits that sound very well also… so it really isnt that much of a difference.

JD: And people often choose maple because it’s industry standard. They can choose from a ton of different wood types.

JM: Yeah, and certain opportunities to use certain woods that sound great… I just wouldn’t use those drum shells because of political reasons. I would never choose Bubinga… because it isn’t right. And not because bubinga is an endangered species but because Bubinga comes out of a territory that is war torn. Usually the people that deal with their woods are enslaved.

“But our bubinga is regulated and we get it from this supplier, and that dealer..” but that dealer gets it from another dealer who is buying the wood from the same gangsters. Ya know?!!

So it’s a good idea, as a consumer, to educate yourself as to where the wood is coming from. There are local woods, like in Germany for example, they have beechwood…. and for some reason people dont use that wood because they think that American hard rock maple is the way to go because American companies push that wood so hard.

I heard a mahogany kit, which is sort of inferior in the drum building world, that sounded really great. And ive heard maple that doenst sound good at all. So… the wood is the wood.

I think another thing also, is that I am trying to choose a wood that is aged long enough so the sound isn’t changing over the years.

JD: I’ve never been so disappointed in a drum set than when I bought an all maple DW drum set years ago…. I started making drums and found out just what you said: Wood is wood. If its a good shell than its a good shell.

JM: With the drum industry…. its all about marketing. I mean wood is so temperamental! You get two pieces of wood from the same trunk where one was in the shade and the other was in sunlight and these two woods will behave differently. I have heard very high end, expensive, boutique kits that didn’t sound good because they were not balanced. And then you go open up a brochure that promises you all sorts of features…. but… ya know… its wood!! It all comes down to marketing.

Of corse you can get a snare drum made from a solid piece from lake Superior and it might sound great but I just dont think a snare drum should cost $2,000… A dentist might buy that, but I wouldn’t do that.

JD: What’s your take on drum finishes?

JM: It doesn’t matter what the finish is. If a wrap is glued on to the shell in the right way it will resonate with the shell. I think its much more about the bearing edge. And its bean very neglected by the industry.

There is just so many ways you can cut a bearing edge.. and everyone just surrendered to a 45 degree angle because of the plastic heads. Most corporate drum companies make drums today not necessarily because its the best way to do it but because it caters to the lowest common denominator. Like a double ply bass drum head, it sounds like plastic to me. But it works great for someone who cant tune their bass drum!

But I have a 45 degree cut like most of the stuff but some of the snares I have a slight counter cut that gives a little more air in the drum. But I also have vintage kits that have round edges that sound great. But its hard to determine if its the bearing edge or if it is the way that the shell is made. Ya know?

I’ll tell you one thing with drum making and what you guys do.. is that a person should have more insight into “where does this wood come from?” Someone may pay more for a better drum shell that is better for them…. that is made by someone who has health insurance but at-least it is not from some place where 800 people are using the same bathroom, ya know? Those types of things are great considerations before buying drum shells.



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Topics: Drum Building Interviews