Drum roll, please! Our first monthly meeting is a visit to Calderwood Percussion in Avon MA, a custom shop primarily focused on rope tension drums and concert percussion. Their work presents unique woodworking challenges because the products are cylindrical.
Bill Whitney is the owner and craftsman who will show us around the shop, explaining and demonstrating the jigs, fixtures, and methods required for working in the round and producing historically accurate and acoustically distinctive drums. Many of his tools are familiar to us all but he deploys them in inventive ways as he laminates wooden rings, applies veneer to cylinders, and precisely locates and attaches custom designed and made in-house hardware to the instruments. He has his own approach to spraying finish and buffing the drums. Bill’s rope tension snare drums are played by the West Point Hellcats and can be heard throughout the Broadway show ‘Hamilton: An American Musical’, as well as the ‘Black Sails’ and ‘Outlander’ television series/soundtracks.
LOCATION:
The shop is located at 53 East Main St in Avon, MA, on the corner of Bartlett Street. We have permission to park at Ben’s Pourhouse restaurant next door, so set your GPS for 39 E Main St, Avon, MA 02322, which is 5 minutes from the Harrison Blvd exit 35A off MA-24.
The shop entrance is on the Bartlett St side of the building, and there is a wooden Calderwood Percussion sign on the door. Please bring a folding chair.
Coffee drinkers: As usual, coffee will be available for $2. Please bring cash.
Virtual Access available through Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81062901037?pwd=B8Y6o5lZCJ2fl17rwcpJ6e0WJNHhWh.1 Meeting ID: 810 6290 1037 Passcode: 891518
We recommend that you watch these two short videos for some added info that shows an example about a veneering project his company did while building a set of drums for West Point (USMA):
Hellcat Drums: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltAceF9kQy4
Hellcat Drums - Maiden Voyage (Demo) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80nPE3NLsTk
