Peter Kaszas
Gustavito Percussion DrumKit
When Master Gustavito asked me to write about his handmade drumkit, I got scared. In one hand because I have never written a instrument-test, on the other hand I have not really had positive impression on drums made in Hungary. Until now.. ( The truth is that I have had only this drum kit to test so far.)
Appearance
Before we start let's see what this darling looks like for the first sight. This thingy had all different colours, from the coffee brown to the yellow upper tam. I guess Gustavito wanted me to see what colours are available but to be absolutely serious even being so colourful the kit could be traded at once. The official description about the drum's appearance: „ The colouring is made by fuming given five coats of a German furniture lacque.”
The final result is perfect: I would put it somewhere between the most rough and the most silky surface. I could not find any mistakes in the painting and what I really liked is that the bur of the wood is shown through the painting, which makes it even more attractive.
Kick
Without being sycophantic, when I first put the stuff together and firts kicked the drum I swooned! That little 18x18 drum has a wonderful sound. An EMAD head had on it with a soundring and a lever, with which the head is hit exactly in the middle so it brings out the best sound. There was no smothering in the bassdrum though there was no need as the skin was thick enough and there was the smothering ring. I did not have the chance to try it with a real jazz head and tuning but I am sure it would not be a problem either. The bass drum had an incredible sound keeping the high-pitch as well.
As I said its colour is coffee brown, with grey edge and can be tuned with a drum key.
Since I used the drum on band rehearsals I asked the members’ opinion as well. They said they could not always hear the bass drum, which is probably mainly possible because of the small size of the drum.
Tams
Sizes: 8x8, 10x9, 12x11, 14x14
All of the shells are made of 9 plies of birch so these drums have a harder and more crispy sound.
When I got the stuff all heads were tighten moderately so after tightening them more I got a fusion sound as I ususally tune my drums. On the upper part all tams had a Remo Clear (transparent ) Ambassador, below , except a Remo Encore, all parts were Remo UX. The tams had a nice full and long sound, with amaizing bass and surprisingly loud volume. After the tuning convinced me I thought I would tune them, to a little jazzy sound. They all seemed quite sensitive to the tuning and also the „sustain” remained , meaning they had just as nice and long sound. Well just as the bass drum the tams cut my words too :).
Snare
Well we got to the point, which I didn’t really like. The snare (14x5,5), had 8 snares with a Remo CS on the top, and a UX below. The mechanic of the snare was perfect and quiet, I could use it absolutely well. What I didn’t really like was its sound. The snare is just as sensitive as any other instruments, it has low and high pitch, which is quite important with a snare as it has a really strong sound. Despite all my attempts there was something, a disturbing range of voice. No matter if I wound it up or loosened it, it still gave a stogy sound and it did not react the right way when playing it quietly and sensitively. Of course it may depend on many things but I could not solve it anyhow.
Stand
The two middle tams were Mapex stands, the No8 and the side tam were fixed to the cimbal with cords.
All in all I fall to Gustavito master’s feet, it is a wonderful stuff! I can only recommend it to everybody also I would be glad to see a kit with a 20” or a 22” bassdrum as well.
Finally: everybody has to try this drum!
Random Photo
