JOE WALLACE: I’m Joe Wallace from the floor of Winter NAMM 2007 in Anaheim, and with me is Todd Trent from Ludwig. How are you?

TODD TRENT: Excellent. How are you doing today?

JOE WALLACE: Good. Now, tell me a little bit about the drums that you’re debuting at this year’s winter show.

TODD TRENT: We’re starting at the top of the line with our Classic Maple. This is our American-made maple, built in Monroe, North Carolina, and this is our exotic glitter finish. We have both ruby and arctic white in a high-gloss lacquer, small lugs, suspension mount, matching hoops. This is what we would consider our high end of the maple. Also available would be exotic wood finishes. We got waterfall Bubinga, Makore, Birdseye Maple, etc.

JOE WALLACE: Now, who is right for this kit? I mean it’s an exotic finish. You got a lot of features. Who would you -- Who is the audience or the market fo this.

TODD TRENT: Well, it’s kind of the drooling point of everybody. You want the high end, the maple, the top of the line. You would typically see a professional who makes a living playing using this, a touring or recording artist, or anybody who’s been lucky enough to work hard enough during their life to be able to afford it and now they’re rewarding themselves.

JOE WALLACE: Now, for somebody who’s sort of new to drumming or they haven’t really explored exotic woods or higher end kits, what’s the advantage of having the exotic woods and the custom finishes and that sort of thing?

TODD TRENT: It’s simply visual at this point. We make a nine-ply 100% maple shell, and you can have a traditional wrap put on it. You can have some of our traditional paint finishes, and then now these are the exotics, which are the high-end lacquer glitters and then the veneers. It’s a veneer wrap of exotic woods, so it’s the outer ply of the wood shell. It’s the last ply, the ninth ply, and that is the exotic portion of it. So, it’s not a sound altering, its a visual.

JOE WALLACE: So, how does the tone compare to more of your mid-range type of drum?

TODD TRENT: Well, the maple is, you know, a longer sustain, lower pitch possibility. It’s considered the better of the sounds.

JOE WALLACE: Now, for someone who’s just starting to think about higher end drum kits, what would you recommend somebody start off looking at in terms of woods and construction that sort of thing?

TODD TRENT: If you’re graduating away from a first-time player’s kit or a second-time player’s kit, you definitely want to get into something either birch or maple. Both of those are considered your high-end woods. Your birch is going to be a shorter decay, more staccato, high-pitched note, very good for articulate playing. Maple is going to be your best overall musical sound. It’s going to be the wood that allows you to create this tonal variety on your palette.