mmm hmm, i'd say that's a marketing strategy ... but nothing wrong with that at all ... one certainly dosn't need to know the shell's resonant freq in order to tune it up, huh?

Hmmm...DW mysteries..
Well, I always heard that the Keebler elves put overtime in at the Oxnard plant..

I would say that the the fundamental pitch note stamped inside the drums is a marketing ploy to impress the buying drumming public into thinking.."those guys think of everything"..
Maybe someone out there can utilize that info, but I can't, and I would go so far as to say the vast majority of of drummers can't. Take into consideration head combinations, head manufacturers, tuning techiques, and tuning theories that can change the character of an individual drum way more than a "fundamental shell note"... That note has IMHO little to do with a pleasing drum sound that the "better than the average drummer" (Yogi Bear quote adaption) can come up with to offer to his or her band.

The DW stamped note thing is for real.  Shells have a fundamental pitch which is very easy to ascertain.  I think what they are doing is helpful- even to the trained ear. 

 Billy Ward went into this nicely during his last clinic tour- he endorses DW also and they had shells there where they were doing tap tests.  Vertical grain also has a lower pitch than a horizontally grained set of ply (horizontal plys are under more stress and make a higher set of frequencies.  Some companies mix them (Sonor) and
DW is doing this now also.

Also pitch is determined by depth, although not as dramatically as diameter.  There might be one or two of you guys that remember the octoban and his 7 brothers    But David *all bow in reverence to the guru master* is right on as usual- most of us are struck by the feel and extra resonance of deeper shells.

And of course we know that thickness helps determine the fundamental pitch of a shell also... thinner shells have lower pitches than thicker shells all things being equal.

I really never cared so much for depth, diameter, shell materials and thickness' until much later in my playing career and even now, with all the info out there, I just pick the kit with nicest color 

I believe it's all in the quality of the shell. I've had Pearl, Pacific, Ddrum Ash and with 14x16 floor toms and my Luddy is the only 16x16 I've had. The luddy sounds much nicer (clearer, warmer, etc) than the 14x16s in the others. I also have a Gretsch with a 14x16 but it's in a class all by itself and I can't really explain that one other than to say that with the same tuning practices it responds better than any of the other 14x16s. But anyway, the 16x16 Ludwig is the only 16x16 I've ever owned because I've never found any other 16x16 I liked (and yes I've played quite a bit on DWs and Yamahas for you diehard DW guys out there,  ) And by the way Pirate Pig, as for the difference in a 14x4 and a 14x6 snare, absolutely there is a pitch difference between the 2. I have a 6 1/2 x 14 Craviotto solid and a Gretsch 4 1/2 x 14, both maple and I can most certainly tune more low end body into the Crav than the Gretsch while retaining more life in the drum. Air volume and distance between heads is simply math. I also have a 20x22 Ash kick and a 22x14 Maple kick, woods aside, the depth is directly proportional to the amount of clear, quality sub bass. It has to do with how the sound waves can resolve within a given space instead of being returned onto themselves, coup contracoup.

Feel free to post anything.  This is your thread too.  Everyone's thread!  I like reading everything, no matter what it has to do with, it's all relevant in many ways.  Some day I might afford a DW custom set.

I would think so.  16x16 is sorta dry like the sound of a basketball bouncing everytime I strike the batter head.  The internal cough sound was something I will never miss.  Sometimes that is a cool sound in many older recordings, just not for me. 

As for the ring, I let my answering machine take any call I don't want to answer! AHHAH sorry I stole that one from somewhere.  I use muffling all the time and sometimes more so than most drummers would.  I think it does ring less without the those extra four inches of length, when I take off the mutes I tape on.

You lost me.

Stamped or not, someone with a good ear for tuning can make the drums (bass drum included) sound great.  The stamps are just an aid.  You don't have to use them.

Well I didnt summon up the nerve to saw into the 16x16 but I just found a used 12x15 floor tom with legs and it sounds good.  With gas prices going up Im looking for ways to downsize and lighten my gear because it looks like a smaller car is in my future.