Blog · 14 October 2026
Bubinga drums: the heavy artillery of our workshop
Bubinga comes from equatorial Africa: dark, heavy and very dense. It is our top model: nothing in Model 1 is heavier or more expensive. It gives you a huge low end, strong projection and a clear attack, and it looks so good that people stare at it for a long time before they sit down to play. Recently Paweł Ostrowski sat down and recorded a test in three tunings. The video is below.
- Wood approx. 890 kg/m³ that is what a cubic metre of dry bubinga weighs, maple approx. 700, walnut approx. 600
- Kit shells 4.8 mm thin, so bubinga sounds versatile, not just for rock
- Hardware chrome or gold gold for an extra PLN 400 per drum, black chrome coming soon
- Single drum from PLN 1,942 8×7 tom with hardware and heads, bass drums up to PLN 5,254
Prices from drumstore.pl as of 14 October 2026.
What bubinga is
Bubinga is not one tree. It is a trade name for a few African species of the genus Guibourtia, and drum makers love it because it is so dense.
Pick up a bubinga shell and you feel it straight away. Dry bubinga comes in at around 890 kg per cubic metre, against roughly 700 for maple and 600 for walnut. And you hear it too: big low end, clear attack, and the drum cuts right through the band.
Dense wood also lets us sand a very sharp bearing edge. The head lands right where it should, which is why these drums tune up easily and sound modern and focused.
Bubinga is not something every timber yard has. Since 2017 its trade has been controlled by CITES, and finished musical instruments have only been exempt from permits since 2019. For a while we had none at all. Now it is back.
How it sounds: Paweł Ostrowski's test
Paweł is a drum teacher and runs the 4Drummer channel. He played the bubinga Model 1 in a rehearsal studio and recorded everything with microphones.
“The drum is gorgeous, elegant and really striking, but as we know, it is not about the looks, it is above all about the sound.” That is how Paweł started, and after that he just played.
A 20/12/16 kit and a 14×6.5 snare with die-cast hoops. A clear Evans EMAD 2 on the bass drum, Evans HD Dry on the snare, Evans G2 on the toms. Every tuning is recorded twice: without EQ and with a gentle graphic EQ.
- 0:36 Low tuning. From 1:29 the same without EQ.
- 1:43 Medium tuning. Tuned “the way it feels under the key”, from 2:38 without EQ.
- 2:53 High tuning. Even higher, and again without EQ at the end.
- 3:37 No damping. No gels on the toms or the snare, the bass drum lightly damped with a single foam pad.
The original video is also on Paweł's channel (in Polish).
How we build a bubinga drum
Bubinga is Model 1, so every drum is made in our own workshop in Gdynia, Poland.
- A 45° bearing edge, sanded and waxed. Ultra sharp on every drum, the bass drum included, for a fast, clear attack.
- The kit shells are only 4.8 mm thick. That is why bubinga is not just a rock wood and works in quieter music too.
- Tube lugs barely touch the shell, so the drum can resonate freely. Long tension rods with a metal and a nylon washer keep the tuning stable.
- The tom mounts do not go through the shell.
- Every drum has a sticker inside with the owner's name, and the shell comes with a lifetime warranty.
Quilted: a storm of grain
This kit got premium bubinga with a rippling figure. The dark burst at the edges gives it depth.
You will never get this pattern twice. Every sheet of plywood has its own figure, so every shell comes out one of a kind.
This one has two 22″ bass drums, 10″ and 12″ toms and a 16″ floor tom, finished in high-gloss lacquer with chrome hardware and a gold logo.
Silver or gold hardware
Standard hardware is chrome, so silver. Gold also goes beautifully with the warm colour of bubinga, and black chrome is coming soon.
We can fit gold hardware on any drum for PLN 400 extra per drum. Black chrome is coming soon too. The bubinga snare comes with gold hardware as standard.
The bubinga snare
A bubinga kit pairs well with a snare made of the same wood, with gold hardware as standard.
The 14×6.5 snare has a nine-ply, 5.4 mm bubinga shell and a 3.2 mm focus ring, also bubinga. The focus ring shortens the sound and takes away unwanted overtones. It is a solution known from many classic snares.
Gold hardware, stainless steel screws, 2 × 45° bearing edges, polished wax finish. Evans HD Dry and Evans Hazy heads, Puresound wires. Inside, a sticker with the owner's name.
Build your own bubinga kit
Every bubinga drum is sold on its own, with chrome hardware and heads. We agree on the colour and finish when you order.
| Drum | Size | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Tom | 8×7 | PLN 1,942 |
| Tom | 10×8 | PLN 2,032 |
| Tom | 12×9 | PLN 2,196 |
| Tom | 13×10 | PLN 2,564 |
| Floor tom | 16×16 | PLN 2,889 |
| Floor tom | 18×16 | PLN 3,853 |
| Bass drum | 16×14 | PLN 4,660 |
| Bass drum | 18×14 | PLN 4,757 |
| Bass drum | 20×16 | PLN 5,194 |
| Bass drum | 22×18 | PLN 5,254 |
Size is diameter × depth in inches. Gross prices from drumstore.pl as of 14 October 2026.
A kit like Paweł's, a 20×16 bass drum, a 12×9 tom and a 16×16 floor tom, costs PLN 10,279 without a snare.
How we work out the price when you add a different finish or extras is explained on the page How we price a drum kit.