If you like your drums like I like my bananas, you might be interested in a new innovation from a company called Organic Drums. They've just released a patent pending design called Dual Floating Shell which makes for maximum resonance without some of the limits imposed by drilling (baby, drilling) and other hardware issues.

Basically, each drum is composed of two shells and a central ring between them, which is made out of 32 plies of hand-selected maple. It should also be noted that hand-selected is another modifier that describes how I prefer to purchase fruits and veggies. Back to the the matter at hand, all hardware is attached to this central ring so that the shells can "float" within the drum structure and resonate to their full potentials.

Since Organic Drums allows you to customize your order, you can mix in match different shell types in a single drum. Organic Drums uses bona fide Keller VSS(tm) (Vibrating Sound Source) maple and birch shells. They also offer vintage mahogany, oak and cherry shells, but if those choices don't suit you, Organic Drums offers solid, steam-bent and aluminum shells as well. With the mix-and-match-ability of dual shells, that's a lot of permutations and combinations.

The Dual Floating Shell design also affords drummers to use thinner shells (5-, 6-, 8-, and 10-ply versions of maple and birch shells are available) because the design minimizes stress. Mahogany comes in 6-ply, and oak and cherry shells come in 10-ply. The solid wood shells are all equipped with maple reinforcement rings, and these steam-bent shells get into some pretty exotic wood choices like Birdseye maple, walnut, cocobolo, oak, ash, beech, cherry, and birch.

Aside from the innovative shell design, all Organic Drums feature precision-cut 45-degree bearing edges that are sanded, polished and waxed by hand. If you prefer a little more physicality between your heads and shells, you can request 30-degree bearings to vintage up your tone. In terms of hardware, all Organic Drums come with Trick GS007 aluminum throw-offs, PureSound Custom Series 20-strand snare wires, 2.3 mm triple-flanged hoops and machined threaded tubes. They don't skimp on hardware.

Like a sophomoric joke about a massage in a Chris Tucker comedy, the finishes are all hand-rubbed stains -- and these come in your choice of satin or high gloss. The options don't end with the finish, strangely enough. Add on die-cast hoops or custom wood-hopes with inlays or center ring artwork. But choose wisely . . . for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you!