Internal Finishing of Drums

The interior surface finish of a drum will also have an effect on the overall sound of the drum, some drums are manufactured with the same glossy lacquer inside as out and this will give a more reflected sound, very clean and crisp and because of the reduced absorption into the shell, will be less 'woody'.

A drum with a satin finish, i.e. not a high gloss lacquer, will deliver more of the woody sound and a drum with no interior finishing will have a porous surface delivering even more of the wood sound into the drum by absorbing high frequencies.

Some high end custom drum builders carve intricate designs into the internal shell to dissipate the internal harmonics. These can be pretty subtle differences!