Wood Instrument Overview

Black Swamp Percussion operates largely out of a woodworking shop, where we design and craft instruments using a variety of raw lumber and materials...sourced, machined, processed and assembled in our Zeeland Michigan facility.

Below is a quick overview of our instrument accessory items.

Rock Maple Woodblocks

Our woodblocks are machined from raw hard maple blanks, then sanded, rounded over and finished by one of our experienced craftsmen. The tone is clear and consistent, with a generous sweet spot through all five sizes.

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Bentwood Temple Blocks

Both the body and mount for our Bentwood Temple blocks are machined and finished in house. The rounded block is built from solid ash with finish birch ply-wood sides, reminiscent of a traditional temple block shape and tone. The mounting bar is processed from hard maple, designed and machined specifically to place the front of each block in a straight line.

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Log Drums

Our log drums are manufactured with a Baltic Birch resonator box and hard maple soundboard, available in 4 sizes with a total 8 pitches. The unique flanged tongue focuses the sound and boosts volume, with approximate Hi and Low sweet spots marked for performance accuracy.

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Concert Castanets

We source raw Grenadillo and Purpleheart lumber, which is gradually machined, shaped, and voiced by a resident castanet craftsman, producing some of the most expressive and consistent castanets available.

Our innovative elastic free handle is unrivaled in design and playability, helping performers execute complex rhythms and dynamics with confidence. You can also impress your conductor and audience, by playing appropriate passages in the air with both musicality and flair.

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