Helmstetter. Help with dating the year/decade and wood ID.

PDX said:

I can find this model in one catalog online, but I'm not sure of the time frame.

Model RCH-1

Also, is this Pau Ferro into Pau Ferro?

Thirdly, is this a full splice?

Click to expand...

In my limited experience with Helmstetters, early 90's (though it's hard to say if it's pre or post VIP line, it LOOKS like Goncalo Alves and it should be a full splice. I believe all of those would have been made in the Japan factory (though I can never remember whether or not it was an Adams factory or if Richard had his own.)

No idea the age, but the wood is east Indian rosewood.

PDX said:

Thanks. It has the most beautiful resonance when I hold it between my fingers and knock on it with my knuckles. My other interest/hobby is guitars and I've been tapping on wood to hear it for a while.

Patrick

Click to expand...

That tap tone is the audible expression of how the cue will hit & feel. It's how I choose woods for a build and how I match shafts for a particular butt.

Just out of curiosity Eric, is it more the grain that tells you is east indian rosewood or the color or both? It just seemed so light toned in the picture that I couldn't decide whether it was a rosewood or not, which led me to lean towards GA.

Tone matching super important. I worked in a custom drum building shop for quite a while when I was teaching music and we always tone matched. The only odd ball thing is that you run the grain on the plys opposing one another..so a maple ply might run with the grain horizontally and the next ply of say mahogany would have the grain run vertically. I've started to find that the same wood types that we would use to make a drum project with a brighter tone (say for a concert snare vs a marching snare,) are the same woods that produce a crisp and more lively hit. It seems pretty obvious now that I think about it.