So, I started out looking for wood to build a 6" diameter drum to match my drums etc. They never made a 6". After researching what wood it used, I went down the rabbit hole. Come to find out, Baltic Birch plywood uses paper birch which in a softer wood than most other birch. MDF is quite a bit more dense.
I always hear people compare the two and say they are similar. But, I guess with the plywood construction, it IS about the same density. Thoughts?
Look at Pearl Masterworks & Ludwig Concert series drums if still available.
Pearl made a 6X6; Ludwig a 5.5X6 and 6.5X10
You could replace mounting hardware and paint to match your (TAMA?) kit . . .
Good luck - a nice clean-high-tone tom is excellent for accents and nuance.
It’s an old Yamaha Stage Custom made out of junk Mahogany with a layer of Birch. I like the sound of them. They have a huge low-end like the drums of the 70s on back. I have a newer kit that is all Birch and it sounds great but I like the older kit better. Funny thing is, Birch and Mahogany are very close on density. Maple is slightly denser. Mahogany is less dense than the Birch. Apparently the percentage of density doesn’t have to be that different to make a big difference in sound. Of course you have to look at the how many layers and how thick the layers are, blah blah blah.
Not sure about the density comparison, but it’s the stiffness difference between the two. Ply being much stiffer drives resonances up in frequency, which is easier to damp.
Definitely why an MDF drum shell would be horrible. Unless they are decorative shells for an E-kit.
Id wonder if ply thickness/count would affect it much. More glued surface area and likely more glue saturation into the wood due to that.