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NEW!
Craviotto Brochure 1
Craviotto Brochure 2
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As a drummer and drum builder, Johnny
Craviotto has been involved in the music business for nearly half a
century. He began his professional playing career in the early
1960’s and quickly progressed to touring and recording with Rock ‘N’
Roll pioneers, including Ry Cooder, Buffy St. Marie, Moby Grape and
Neil Young. During that period, Johnny also became interested in the
history and construction of drums. He began collecting vintage drums
and studying the art of drum building. Through extensive research,
experimentation and patience, he eventually developed his own
formula for producing drumshells from a single piece of steam-bent
hardwood. |
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This proprietary process advanced the
classic “solid shell” design by significantly improving the
consistency and integrity of the shell to provide modern drummers
with unprecedented, unsurpassed levels of snare drum sound and
performance. By using this exclusive combination of hand-selected
hardwoods and premium- grade components along with the handcrafted
construction methods that he developed, Craviotto was able to
transform solid planks of wood into fine musical instruments. |
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Craviotto’s style of solid-shell drum
construction also allowed a distinctive quality of sound and
response to emerge from each drum due to the organic variety in the
grain pattern, density and mass of each board. In fact, since every
drum had its own inherent tonal and performance characteristics, not
only did Craviotto drums differ from all others, each also subtly
differed from one another. The natural individuality of the wood,
along with the uncompromising attention to detail employed during
all phases of the production process, elevated the solid-shell snare
drum as an art form and single-handedly resurrected its popularity
and prestige. |
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Although one-piece drumshells were a
standard design for centuries, they had been replaced by more
uniform, more stable plied drumshells for much of the 20th Century.
However, while plied drumshells were easier and less expensive to
produce, they characteristically lacked the depth of sensitivity and
tonal quality preferred by discriminating professionals. By applying
his modern materials and production methods, Craviotto’s
solid-shells set a new standard and his fame quickly spread among
the world’s top drummers. By the mid 1980’s, Johnny had joined with
Billy Gibson (Huey Lewis and The News) to form the Select/Solid
Snare Drum Company. |
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Even though his first effort in the drum
business lasted only a few years, the drums he created under the
Select/Solid brand became highly collectible. In 1990 Johnny formed
his own company, Craviotto Percussion, and two years later he was
introduced to Don Lombardi (founder and president of Drum Workshop,
Inc.) by close-friend and legendary studio drummer, Jim Keltner. For
more than a decade, the availability of custom-quality DW snare
drums made from Craviotto solid Maple and exotic wood shells further
expanded Johnny’s reputation as a master drum builder and the
reigning authority on the subject of solid-shell drum design. |
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Today, with the launch of
the Craviotto Drum Company, Johnny continues to both refine
and redefine the art and science of solid-shell drum
construction. The perfect balance of old and new, tradition
and innovation, craftsmanship and performance— or as close
to perfect as humanly possible— Craviotto’s Limited Edition
Solid-Shell snare drums are sure to accomplish something
that only a handful of truly exceptional drums have ever
been able to do: simultaneously raise the bar for drum
makers and drum players. |
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