Getting to know Ironbark Drums

Looking to give your drum-kit a bit of a facelift for the new year of playing? There’s no better way to go about this than with a set of drum wraps from Ironbark Drums – one of Australia’s best bang-for-buck custom wrap companies.

We caught up with founder Rob Barratt for a quick rundown of what’s on offer from Ironbark and exactly what is the deal with drum wraps in general.

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Give us a brief rundown of Ironbark Drums. What motivated you to launch the business, and what do you do with Ironbark on a day to day basis?

Ironbark Drums is a drum wrap supply business, we custom CNC laser cut all wraps to customer requirements, we also make custom stave block snare drums. I started the business after doing some restore jobs on friends kits and looked at re-wrapping but was shocked on the prices of wrap so I sourced wrap from china and built a CNC cutter, now I can provide the cheapest wrap around.

Fill us in on all the details of your drum wraps. What materials and methods do you use to create them?

All our wraps are sourced from a Chinese manufacturer that supplies drum companies in China. Its 0.5mm thick PVC drum wrap.

Tell us about some of the colours and finishes available from Ironbark Drums. Is there a set range of wraps to choose from, or do you offer bespoke designs for custom appointments as well?

We currently only have 16 different colours, mostly popular sparkles a few solid colours and some really nice woodgrain finishes, we cannot reproduce or manufacture wraps.

How do you apply Ironbark wraps to your drum kit? Will the wraps be installed permanently on a kit, or can they be easily removed?

Wraps can be installed via two different methods. There’s permanent contact adhesive, which is permanent and difficult to remove. We recommend water based adhesive as some solvent-based adhesives may damage the wrap.

Otherwise, you can use double sided tape on the end of the wrap, this offers an easy installation method, can be placed over existing wrap and can be changed easily and wont risk damage to the plywood shells.

Ironbark Drums does not install the wraps, we cut and supply only, we do offer plenty of advice and tips to install them.

In addition to creating drum wraps, Ironbark Drums also builds bespoke snare drums. What kind of timbers do you like to work with for these kinds of custom jobs?

We build bespoke stave block snare drums, sizes can range from 12-15” width and 4-8” depth. Timber choices I like to use are, Spotted Gum, Tassie Oak, Red Ironbark, Purple Heart, Jarrah and Black Butt.

Each timber has its own unique tonal voice and each has its pros and cons to work with, eg, Black Butt and Jarrah has a lot of gum veins and Spotted Gum and Ironbark is extremely hard timber. Prices can vary depending on hardware options.

How can we get in touch with Ironbark Drums to check out images of your wraps and find out more about what you offer?

Go to our website and check out the gallery page, there are plenty of customer’s kits on there.

To order, go to the online order page, select the type of drum, eg Bass Drum, then select color, sizing, drum type (single headed concert tom or standard double head tom), and double sided tape option.

We also offer a replacement guarantee, even if you stuff it up on install we are happy to replace free of charge. Our aim is for each customer to look at their finished kit and say, “that’s what I wanted.”