Inside DW Drums: Custom Craft, Heritage Revival, and Drummer-First Innovation | A Brand Spotlight at The NAMM Show 2026 with Scott Donnell, Director of Brand Management of Drum Workshop, Inc.

At The NAMM Show 2026, Drum Workshop turned its booth into a walk-through of what a modern drum company looks like when craft, heritage, and engineering share the same floor. Scott Donnell, Director of Brand Management at Drum Workshop, Inc., guided us through a lineup that spans the DW Custom Shop, the revived Slingerland Radio King line, Latin Percussion, Pacific Drums and Percussion, and the brand's new DW Manufacturing series.

The DW Custom Shop stand is a visible argument for customization as a sonic decision, not just a cosmetic one. Chrome, gold, satin chrome, and black hardware. Polyester sprays, three durable lacquers, exotic plies, and ply wraps. When a drummer specifies wood species, ply count, and grain orientation, they are designing the drum's voice from the inside out.

The Slingerland revival gets the faithful-reproduction treatment. Radio King studio kits on display are solid, steam-bent maple shells with the original three-point throw-off and stick saver hoops, built in California. Scott Donnell speaks about the line the way a curator talks about a restoration: get the details right, honor what drummers remember, and let the sound do the rest.

Donnell frames DW's innovation as a stack of deliberate decisions rather than a single breakthrough. DW stamps a note into each shell through a process called timbre matching, which ensures the kit is manufactured as a family. Pair that with grain orientation technology, True Pitch tuning, and resonance-focused tom mounting systems, and drummers never end up with an orphan drum in their kit.

Marking the tenth anniversary of True Cast, the new DW Manufacturing four by 14 piccolo features a five millimeter sand-cast shell, cast bronze hoops, and fully machined brass and bronze hardware. Only one hundred are being made globally, each arriving in an Anvil flight case. A recent DW video features Dave Elitch and Abe Laboriel Jr. playing the drum with Paul McCartney.

The conversation closes on a Red Hot Chili Peppers tour kit gifted to the DW museum by Chad Smith, which will join Neil Peart's and Terry Bozzio's tour kits on display while DW builds Chad new Sonic flight drums for the band's next tour. Pacific Drums and Percussion, LP's top-tuning congas, Tony Escapa's signature hand percussion series, and DWE round out the booth. Drum Workshop is not hiding how the drums get made. Take the tour, take the pictures, watch the videos, and the innovation speaks for itself.

This is a Brand Spotlight. A Brand Spotlight is a ~15 minute conversation designed to explore the guest, their company, and what makes their approach unique. Learn more: