Even though some of the greatest drums in the world roll straight off assembly lines before they end up on store shelves, there is something irrefutably unique about the handcrafted – the ones where the artisan has steamed, bent, screwed, bolted and riveted their instruments together from the first slab of produce to final product. We’re talking about the made-to-order, custom and rare instruments in which each man-made little characteristic contributes to something that can’t be mass-produced or mimicked: personality. Welcome to the Custom Shop EZX, a collection of some of the most rare, hard-to-come-by and unique handcrafted drums in the world.
While most EZXs seek to capture a certain sound or genre, the Custom Shop EZX goes out of its way to do the exact opposite. It’s about the drums and the drums alone. It was recorded by producer Joe Blaney (The Clash, Prince, Keith Richards) and drummer Stephen Belans at Brooklyn Recording, a studio with a room ideal for transparent drum tracking. Featuring all handpicked drums, with tom shell sizes ranging from ten to 18 inches, several different types of wood and metal as well as a host of cymbals, the Custom Shop EZX presents the broadest possible sonic scope. The truly unique Q kit, with its solid copper shells, has a tone unlike any other – loud, open and resonant but still centered and focused with a deep and warm decay. On the other end of the scale we have the Japanese Canopus kit in a traditional jazz setup, producing a much brighter, more dense and complex attack. Balancing between the previous two, we have the classic Craviotto in solid walnut shells, crafted by hand at the small boutique factory in Watsonville, California, giving you a punchy, bell-like clarity but still a dark and round sound. Finally, at the far end of the meter we have the thunderous Fibes set, a maple-ply kit with a truly deep and vibrant tone.
Add to this four extra snares, two kicks as well as brushed variations of select kits and you have a sonic palette with near infinite application.
Welcome to the custom shop. All the drums are yours to keep.
FEATURE SPOTLIGHT
- Features only top-shelf, rare, handcrafted and custom instruments
- Six (6) types of wood and several different metals covered
- Four (4) full kits with additional kicks and snares
- 12 cymbals and two (2) sets of hi-hats
- Both sticks and brushes available for select kits and instruments
- Captured at Brooklyn Recording by producer Joe Blaney (The Clash, Prince, Keith Richards)
- Includes a collection of MIDI grooves and fills
THE DRUMS & CYMBALS.
THE Q DRUM CO. KIT
This is the kit that really sparked the idea for the Custom Shop collection. Jeremy at Q has been building some amazingly inventive drums for a while now. He can build more traditional maple or mahogany kits that sound vintage but are way more durable and roadworthy than a vintage kit. But he also builds stuff like this that just has its own voice. This kit is basically the same as one that Ilan Rubin had on the road for awhile. I got to play it once and it floored me. I’d never heard anything like it, and frankly it looks amazingly cool! And this Q brass snare is so versatile. Sounds great at any pitch and just sits perfectly in a track.
THE CRAVIOTTO DRUM CO. KIT
Johnny Craviotto was a legendary drum builder and the company that bears his name continues his legacy. Johnny built this kit, and it has a great combination of factors that give it its unique sound. The single-ply shells present a focused pitch, the walnut provides a big, resonant tone, and the wood hoops offer a rounder attack than traditional steel hoops. All of these things come together to make this kit a truly beautiful instrument with a distinctive voice. I didn’t want to give it back.
THE CANOPUS KIT
The brushes on this maple Canopus kit simply sound amazing. The odd 15-inch depth on the kick really shines. It doesn’t sound quite like a 14, and it doesn’t quite sound like a 16. I love it. Especially with the brushes, you might immediately jump to thinking this is a jazz kit, and it obviously works marvellously for that, but I hear pop and hip-hop applications as well.
THE FIBES KIT
This Fibes kit is a beauty. Just a light oil finish so nothing gets in the way of its resonance, and the toms simply sing. The made-in-Texas Fibes kick drums are always monsters with a big-as-Texas sound, and the closed front head option here makes me happy. This kit includes an 8-inch-deep solid cocobolo snare by MCD Percussion. It sounds killer, and it’s fun to say cocobolo. Try it!
THE CYMBALS
We took a similar approach when choosing cymbals. While these aren’t made-to-order, both Bosphorus and UFIP are hand-made and the result of labor-intensive, small-shop craftsmanship. The Bosphorus stuff has a classic Turkish cymbal sound––dark with complex overtones and an earthy quality. Can something be dry and creamy at the same time? These cymbals sometimes sound that way to me. The UFIP pies, made in Italy, are completely different and contrast nicely with the Bosphorus tonal qualities. The UFIPs have a brighter tone with a sharper, more cutting attack. The way these cymbals are spun in manufacturing means that they’re thicker at the bell and thinner at the edge even before any lathing, culminating in a heavier cymbal that still provides a musical stick response with a shimmer that generally sits in a higher range of the frequency spectrum.
INSTRUMENT LIST
KIT 1
Q DRUM CO.
KICK
16×24” (copper shell)
SNARE
5,5×14” Q brass snare
RACK TOM
9×13” (copper shell)
FLOOR TOM 1
16×16” (copper shell)
FLOOR TOM 2
18×18” (copper shell)
KIT 2
CRAVIOTTO DRUM CO.
KICK
14×20” walnut single ply
SNARE
4,5×14” Antonio true tolid (maple)
RACK TOM
8×12” (wood hoops)
FLOOR TOM 1
14×16” walnut single ply (wood hoops)
KIT 3
CANOPUS
KICK
20×15”
SNARE
6,5×14” (sampled with brushes and sticks)
RACK TOM
12×8” (sampled with brushes and sticks)
FLOOR TOM 1
14×13” (sampled with brushes and sticks)
KIT 4
FIBES
KICK
16×22”
SNARE
8×14” MCD percussion (solid cocobolo)
RACK TOM
8×10”
FLOOR TOM 1
9×12”
FLOOR TOM 2
14×14”
ADDITIONAL KICKS
14×24” Craviotto (ash single ply)
14×22” Craviotto (ash single ply)
ADDITIONAL SNARES
5,5×14” Fidock (blackwood stave)
6,5×14” GMS “Vaughncraft Timeless Timbre” (solid birch)
5,5×14” Canopus (maple)
HI-HATS
14” Bosphorus Turk Series
14” UFIP Natural Series
14” UFIP Natural Series (sampled with brushes)
RIDES
21” Bosphorus New Orleans Series
20” Bosphorus Ferit King Ping
22” UFIP Natural Series (sampled with brushes)
CYMBAL POSITION 1
18” UFIP Experience China
10” UFIP Natural Series Splash
10” UFIP Natural Series (sampled with brushes)
CYMBAL POSITION 2
18” Bosphorus New Orleans Series Crash
18” UFIP Natural Series White Logo 18” Crash
18” UFIP Natural Series White Logo 18” Crash (sampled with brushes)
CYMBAL POSITION 3
18” Bosphorus Ferit Series Thin Crash
18” UFIP Natural Series Orange Logo Crash 18”
UFIP Natural Series Red Logo Crash (sampled with brushes)
CYMBAL POSITION 4
16” Bosphorus Ferit Series Paper Thin Crash
15” UFIP Natural Series Crash (sampled with brushes)
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.
- 3 GB free disk space, 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended).
- A working EZdrummer 2.1.8 or Superior Drummer 3.1.2 (or above) installation.
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