NM Custom Drums
Recently, the City of Regina Pipe Band took delivery of a new set of mid-section drums, some of which we played at the recent Winnipeg Scottish Festival. Over the years, we have had a few sets of drums, and we have pretty much always purchased our drum equipment from our favourite source, in part because Hugh was so good to us when the band started out in 1992, and because his prices and service have always been excellent. Hugh always takes time with his customers, and for example he was a tremendous help to us in Scotland in 2005 when we were trying to get the best from an older set of Premier drums. So, it was a big step to go to Nathan McLaren for his drums, but we heard the great sound that Toronto Police had with them last season, and local expert Kenna Whelan was very enthusiastic about every aspect of the drums, so we thought we'd give it a try.

That move has worked out very well for us, and you can see the results above. From my initial inquiry about drums, right through to the first time we used them, every interaction with Nathan was clear, friendly and professional. He helped match the drums to our existing Premier snare colour, he provided timelines and updates as the drums were in production, and he came through for us in a BIG way right at the end.

We received the drums on the Monday before the contest last week, and when I opened the bass drum, one of the custom heads was split. Even though the heads were slackened before shipping, and very well protected in the box, travelling through 2 days of -30°C prairie weather in a truck did a number on one head, and it seemed like we were going to have to delay playing the new drum. I called Nathan to let him know [on the "Family Day" holiday] and he set to work right away. Within the next day, he found an exact replacement head for the drum, took it to his art guy with our bass head design, rendered the design on the head, and shipped it to Winnipeg, where we would meet it Friday. When we arrived in Winnipeg, we put the head on the drum, and played it for the first time that day.

We had very positive comments on the sheets regarding the tone of the drums, and one of the new tenor drums was used by the winner of the Pro Tenor class. Not a bad first outing.

We're looking forward to spending more time with these drums, and we strongly endorse the maker, the drums, and the service provided. We couldn't be more satisfied. Looking for new mid-section drums? Contact Nathan at NM Custom Drums.