While investigating the purchase of some Koa lumber in Honolulu in March 2004 I met Gabriel, a very creative woman who builds snare drums with Koa shells. Not just ordinary snare drums, but floating-shell drums that have no mounting brackets or other hardware attached directly to the wood shell. Instead, these parts are attached to metal rings that also hold the wood shell in place. The basic idea is that metal hardware mounted on the shell would have a negative impact on the resonances of the wood, dampening out part of the tone. Gabriel makes the drum shells for her snares from maple, koa, and mango. These drums have a unique sound that has to be heard to be believed. There's a versatility and clarity in the sound from the snare in her drum kit that I noticed immediately--very impressive! One day when my wife and I arrived at her shop, she was in her studio in the back upstairs playing along with some recorded music, and I was immediately impressed by the richness and clarity of the sound from the snare drum in her kit. And the snare in her kit at the time had a flame maple shell--she tells me that the koa drums sound even better. In addition to doing some beautiful things with Koa, Gabriel is a very talented drummer, and a pretty amazing person as well. Just one of the many very interesting and friendly people I met while I was working in Hawaii from September 2003 through March 2004. Gabriel has promised to send me some more pictures of the drums and their construction process, and I'll put them on this page as soon as I get 'em. Stay tuned for more! You can get more information on Gabriel's work at her brand-new web site at: For now, I have these pictures, scanned from pictures she gave me: First, two of the koa shells. These are made from thin layers of koa (6 if I recall correctly) laminated over a metal form. All six layers are koa. The joint on the outer layer is made with an inlay of abalone shell. The shell is then finished with automotive clear coat, which is more durable than nitrocellulose lacquer. This picture shows the abalone shell joint in the outer layer of the shell This is the smaller shell, showing the rich figure and color that is typical of the koa wood This picture shows the assembled drum, made from the larger of the two shells This picture shows another view of the larger drum. This picture shows the assembled drum made from the smaller of the two shells This picture shows the smaller drum, expanded so you can see the shell and the metal parts. The important design feature of these drums is that there are no metal parts (except the trim piece on the small air hole) actually mounted on or attached to the drum shell. Here are some pictures of another snare drum that Gabriel recently put together with a Mango shell: Koa (scientific name: Acacia Koa) is a tree that is native only to Hawai'i. The trees were plentiful on the Hawai'ian Islands until the mid 20th century, when much of the remaining forests were cleared for cattle ranching and other pursuits. The wood was used by native Hawai'ians for many things, including furniture, canoes, and surfboards. The wood has a lot of variety in color, grain, and figure, and the grain seems to catch light in a way that gives the wood a lustre I have not seen in any other wood species. Unfortunately most of the forests are gone, and a lot of the remaining ones are not healthy. The result is that the Hawai'ian State Government has placed very tight restrictions on the cutting of trees for lumber, and in general only logging of fallen trees is permitted. There has been a lot of work recently on reforestation projects, but these will take many years to have significant results. In the meantime, good logs are hard to find, and the lumber is getting more and more expensive, particularly the more desirable lumber with a lot of flame in the figure. I was able to bring back about 13 board feet of koa lumber from Hawai'i, and some of this will be available to make guitar and bass bodies with koa tops next year, since the wood is still green now, and it will take about a year for it to dry. So look for it to be available in Spring or Summer 2005!