This thread is in response to help those with the common call, "I'd like to buy a bodhran - What is good?" The common response is "mine's brilliant" and "so is mine" which is fine but doesn't really help the purchaser.

There is an article on bodojo on my (Paul) personal criteria for what I seek in drum

Here too is a list of links to bodhran makers if you are a maker and not here, let me know and I'll add you.

General purchasing Advice
Please don't buy into the hype about who plays what - Christy Moore may play drums by a certain maker but he doesn't play the version of the drum that you may buy even though it may have a 'professional' tag. John Joe Kelly plays drums by every one of the top makers out there, so a claim of 'As played by JJK' whilst technically correct, does not indicate an exclusive arrangement. JJK will usually fall back to the O'Kane from my observation.

To try to be useful to purchasers I've tried to give rough indictions of what may be expected at certain budgets.

Budget - up to £50 (€75, $100)
You will usually get what you pay for. You will not get the rich full sound that you hear from bodhran players from a cheap drum. These drums are usually bought in shops, off ebay etc and are cheap for a reason.

The skins are generally more like those on a frame drum for finger play, they have hard skins, are tightly stretched and pick up every noise of a hand moving over them. The shells tend to be pretty thin or very thick, of cheap construction & materials and often are not round - you will usually see a crossbar in these drums. There is no Tuning mechanism

We understand that not everyone has the money to buy a great drum but it is possible that purchasing a drum in this budget category will simply cause frustration and may be a dis-incentive to continue with the instrument.

My personal opinion is that this includes drums made by Waltons & Roundstone (Malachy Kearns)and absolutely anything that has a beer logo, book of kells or other kitsch decal printed on it to distract from poor build quality.

Such manufacturers are engaged in mass manufacturing to meet a market based on scale and 'look' rather than quality. This doesn't make the drums invalid, but does mean that the instruments are primarily intended for a non-discerning market and not something than a 'player' would generally consider. They are generally called 'wall hangers' as that's where the majority will end up. - They do make great frame drums though (see my drumdojo site)


Intermediate £50-100 (€75-150, $100-200)
These are middle of the road drums, tending to be somewhat traditional with better construction and heavier skins than the aforementioned category. To my mind this is where most players with an eye to actually playing the drum will be starting to look for a starter instrument.

These may come from a store but may also come from a maker. Often times the skins are pretty thick and heavy. This isn't great for someone hoping to get a great sound straight away, but does indicate that the drum will probably develop tone as it is played - This drum style requires a time investment by the player to achieve the sound, the process is called playing-in and may take a number of years to develop reach its potential.

Intermediate plus - £100-150 (€150-225, $200-300)
Now we are starting to get to drums that can really start to make the sounds that you will be hearing on your CDs. This is where makers are looking to place the introductory market.

The difference with these drums is that the shells are made by experienced makers and the skins are undergo some treatment to prepare them for playing. They won't be as prepared nor as rich-sounding as the skins in the next category up, but they will sound good immediately and have significantly less of an time investment to reach their optimum. All will have some form of tuning mechanism although not all will have finger tuners.

I am aware of several makers targeting this market - all of these will be good standard intermediate quality drums

• Bartlett - new line


• Hedwitschak - Light line


• Paul McAuley


• Quinlan - new line


• Vignoles / Claddagh

Professional £150+ (€225+, $300+)
These are the main professional instruments and there are many makers, varieties and styles.

These instruments will all have great sounding heads, solid construction, good solid tuning mechanism. The shells will be properly finished.

Whilst the shells and construction will be of superior quality, the main area of these drums where the effort goes in (and the cost arises) is with the skins. The maker will spend a great deal of time preparing each skin to ensure that it does have a great sound 'out of the box' with a minimum of work to reach the sounds you will hear on CD.

To get that 'great sound' out of the box, the makers process the skin using a variety of techniques to make the skin more 'elastic' and 'soft'. There are many techniques and methods of doing this and lots of 'snake oil rumours' out there, just to put the rest of us off the scent.

I should flag up some caveats regarding the extent of this processing and questions about the longevity of skins that have had extreme processing. As it stands currently there are a lot of drums out there with skins that are super-soft and I personally have received a number of reports about skins going 'dead'. i.e. having been quickly stretched to their maximum and then being able to stretch no more. Such extreme processing techniques afaik are only a couple of years in use as far as I can ascertain and they are largely untested over time.

Personally I am cautious about that kind of extreme and therefore cautious about recommending something expensive that potentially sacrifices long term playability for short term sound. The softer the skin, the more processing it has received, the shorter the potential lifespan. Ask the maker about anticipated lifespan of their drum and if they will replace a head that dies within first couple of years - the makers I know personally replace these kinds of heads free of charge if it happens within a reasonable time.

Makers in this category whose drums I have played

• Seamus O'Kane - Grandaddy of the contemporary bodhran - one model, one colour, one skin type, does exactly what it says on the tin - This is the standard against which others are judged


• Bartlett - Professional


• Hedwitschak / RWE / Dragon Skin


• Metloef Custom shells & skins - maker of the Metloef/Settles Egg Drum


• Quinlan Professional

The above lists are not exhaustive, but these are the main makers whose instruments I have played, these are not recommendations but simply road markers to help you navigate.

I hope this has been useful, please use the thread to comment on how this area of discussion of the information made availabe from bodojo may be improved

There is a thread coming where we will be talking about recording the various drums using consistent recording equipment, drum tuning and tippers - and therefore the only difference between the sounds will be the drums themselves. This means that the visitor can hear the differences between the instruments rather than relying on reports.

Good article Paul. And great advice not to put too much stock in what a famous performer plays, or which drum your best mate brags about. Personally, I make the serious mistake of playing a Malachy Kearns bodhrán. These drums are often panned on lists, and yet I've had one for years, my son played one, which was his favorite until it was stolen out of his car, and I've just got him another one, which he likes. They do need to be played in a bit more than some other drums, but Darius Bartlett himself looked over mine and thought it had a good skin. He made a couple of suggestions, which I followed, and the drum is better now. It may not be on a level with an O'Kane, or a Metloef or something, but it's a good drum. (N.B., Malachy does seem to have let down his standards on his mass-produced drums, so I made sure the most recent one was made by Malachy himself, not one of his students.)

Best advice is to play as many drums as you can, at sessions, in stores, at your friend's house, wherever. Figure out what you like and don't like, then you can make an informed decision when you make the purchase. Plus, if you can afford a professional maker, most of them will work with you personally to make a drum that you really like.

Nice break down on price and quality of sound.

Do note, that a couple of "shops" here in the South West of the U.S.A. have owners who have made great efforts to carry high quality bodhrans on their shelves. Whistle and Drum in Colorado, and Apple Mountain Music in Albuquerque, New Mexico have managed to work out business contracts with high quality makers that allow prospective bodhran purchasers/players to play the drum before they purchase it. The prices are very reasonable.

Cheers,

That is the best, when you can try out lots of different drums in one place.

You mentioned Whistle and Drum in Colorado. What part of the state? I live in Colorado and I didn't know of a shop that carries high-end drums.

Hi Michael,

They're in a suburb north of Denver. Search them on the web. Deborah and Blayne run the shop- good people. I've not had a chance to get up there. I played someone elses drum made by their high-end drum maker, so I shopped it from their web site.

Blayne plays bodhran, whistle, and flute. He attended the Uni of Limerick's ITM program a few years back. They keep a stong inventory of quality instruments and they know what they're doing. Low in the kistch department.

d

Well, I did find an online shop by that name with a Colorado telephone number, but no physical location given. They carried Walton's drums, which are a tourist variety, good for wall decorations, but don't have much of a reputation, music-wise. Their other brand is made by Christian Hedwitschak, and he does have a good reputation as a pro-bodhrán maker. They don't list anything else and don't speak of any physical shop though. And no listings in the yellow pages, so I don't know where the shop is that you bought yours. Any more hints?