I have an affinity for the work of Vukan Karadzic, a Serbian metalsmith who has been building drums under his brand Oriollo for a while now, and they are incredible. I told him I was not gonna quit until I had a dozen of his pieces.
So in late 2018 I acquired my first #1, which was a 5x14 Bell Bronze (Bellmaker series). I then saw one of his aluminum drums, an homage to a 5.5x14 Acrolite in American Music in Seattle on the used rack and that became Oriollo #2. In 2019 I ordered a custom 5.75x14 Hammered Copper (Bakar series) drum and it ruined my entire collection! #3 acquired...
And so as of late I've been pondering what's the next Oriollo snare drum going to be; definitely copper, something around 6x14 or deeper, not hammered so it's got great resonance, and I wanted it to be unique. So, I was in California recently and went into the drumshop in those parts (Drum Flip, Vista, CA) and lo & behold... on the "used" rack was this gem!
The unique thing about this drum is the two different edges. The top is a classic ~20º bend w/ wide edge while the bottom is a ~1mm edge of seamed metal that directly contacts the head. There's almost no snare bed to speak of, but that doesn't seem to matter for some reason.
Sonically, this drum is beautiful. I put on an Aquarian Classic Clear onto the bottom and a Modern Vintage Medium on the batter side w/ one piece of gaff tape with a single crimp in it for a bit of damping. The bottom head, I cranked pretty tight for the snares sake. Speaking of snares, it came with a set of 24 strand Puresound Steel wires. I prefer the 24 strand brass model of that brand so it was almost "as per" my specs to a T.
Using my Vic Firth Drummer's Headphones I began to tune the batter head from a detuned state until it "hit a pitch" that it seemed to like. All the while, the depth and resonance of this drum was abundantly apparent. It loves the darker tunings and the un-hammered copper shell can handle making it sound full and resonant. I played it a bit at that tuning and then continued exploring the drum's range... and then I "found the note" that this drum loves. When I did, it hit me in the ears like a warm blanket of rich sound that was fat, full and hit me in the gut as well. Oh yeah! All systems in congruence in one another.
From a construction standpoint, this drum is extremely well made and the lugs are classy and minimal. The snare throwoff is a Trick 3-way and buttplate. Really nice hardware for a beautiful drum.
You really cannot go wrong with Vukan's drums at all. They are priced right, he delivers on what he says and I will never pass up one of his drums if I see it in a drum shop if I can help it! It's an addiction to me. :D