African Blackwood is among my favorite sounding woods, and is a pleasure to work with and behold. Here are some different examples of African Blackwood drums which I have built.
The instrument featured above was commissioned by an orchestral musician and features traditional chrome tube lugs, a Nickel Drumworks throwoff, Evans Strata batter head, and dry sounding cable snares along with a high gloss lacquer finish.
To the left is an African Blackwood 14 by 5.5 inch drum with matching hoops and black chrome hardware which was finished only by sanding up to 2000 grit paper.
Below and bottom left is a lovely little 14 by 4 3/8th inch drum with high gloss French Polish finish and black powdercoated lugs, Nickel throwoff and Tama Bell Brass wires. This is an outstanding sounding drum which has an enormous sweet spot, great sensitivity, and has the power of a much deeper drum with the response of a piccolo.
African Blackwood Drums with Matching Hoops