As many of you already know, I am a huge fan of Johnny Craviotto's snare drums and drum sets and we back that up by being the world's largest Craviotto dealer. As I have said many times before, any of Johnny's one piece solid snares or drum sets are incredible. Visually and sonically they are astounding.

With solid one piece shells Johnny is using a solid board to make the shell. These steam bent shells are time consuming to make and the wood itself is extremely expensive. One of the rarest and most expensive woods is birdseye maple. As Johnny has told me, you will see maybe 1 board in 1000 that qualifies as birdseye, and, when a board like that exists the sellers would rather use it for thin veneers so that they can make the maximum profit from that board. They'd rather not sell the solid board intact. As a result, on the rare occasion when Johnny can get some birdseye it is exceedingly expensive.

Several years back (2010) Johnny built one birdseye maple bop kit and I own that set and it is not for sale. I have kept it for myself because of the rarity, knowing that if I sold it I would likely never see another one. It's stunning and also sounds incredible. Now, about a year or so ago Johnny was able to get some additional birdseye, from which he made a few Private Reserve snares for the 2013 NAMM show. The good news was that he had enough wood to do one more bop set and I ordered it.

That one bop set is here. It is 8x12, 14x14, 14x18, 5.5x14 with the fabulous BB/45 edges for added warmth with all the clarity, projection and resonance you could desire. This is the only set being made and there is no more wood available to do another one. This is it. Call me directly to inquire about the set at 630-865-6849. Steve