Val Schaff

To answer the two questions, I went to Marty and talked with him about his and Ludwig's HV design. The split shell was the best sound of the designs they tried. Circles didn't work as well and he didn't like the sound. I knew that the lugs were cracking because of the head tension, so I left plenty of wood behind them for the shell strength no problems with the shells but the Slingerland lugs still are not up to the challenge. I have 6 Pearl traditional drums with the "super duty" lug casings and have used my design here with the Evans hybrid and Black Max heads NO PROBLEMS at all even with the heads torqued a bit tighter than I would like. Sound phenomenal! So I am satisfied with this design. The high tension snares there is no problem either, the stresses put on the shell even with a kevlar bottom head doesn't warp the shell because of the the shell is totally intact. Not trying to sell it is a sound I really like and the look of the drums is different as well.

Yes, it is old school but, then it has a new twist. The shell is intact, not held together by the lug casings as the old HV's were. On these new FFX models there is an increase in volume and projection but the real increase is in the responsiveness in the snare sound from the drum. I did this because I wanted to get one of those original drums from Marty. They were falling apart so I came up with this design, very labor intensive but much sturdier than the original design. Anyway, I like the way they sound and didn't ever think that it would go anywhere else...

Yes, it will be very interesting to see what comes out this next year.

To get someone into the Hall of Fame takes some doing...a bunch of ex corps guys (72 Raeders, 75 Black Knights, 80's Phantom and I) tried to get Marty inducted a couple of years ago. You need people higher up in corps management to write the letters. It helps if someone already in the Hall of Fame will write a letter also. They have many nominations and they narrow the field down a number of times before they vote on the final few to be inducted. It takes persistence possibly over a couple of years. Last year I found out when we talked to Marty, our group wasn't the only time that someone had nominated him. All I can say is get the ball rolling and try to get high level people involved.

Sounds like this is the fade that most of you Phanatics liked to see from last year. Enjoy.

I have just spent months completing some new drums that are definitely pretty sharp. My wife has just spent the last 6 hrs. updating my site. Please take a look. Any constructive input is welcome. Thank you. Val Schaff www.hvdrums.com