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Sawatch Timber Drums may be the name of a company but Sebastian Degen is the artisan who makes it happen. He makes all - and that is each and every one of the Sawatch Drums for the last 20 years! - personally.

All are designed with the recreational drummer in mind. Extra heavy, large and hard to play drums (congas) for all the pro (who play standing on stage and have rowdies to lug them around) are available everywhere, imported from halfway around the world, probably made from trees of some threatened rain forest.

So Sebastian decided to make himself a conga that is quite different. First of all it had to be comfortable to play: as in pull up a kitchen chair, sit down and play. His conga is short enough to allow a small stand under it. This reveals its beautiful earthy bass. You also don't need to "tip" the drum or support it at all with your knees. The playing height is perfect, no need to reach up or down. This simple design feature results in a smaller lighter much more portable drum and with a better sound range.

Finally Sebastian believes strongly in buying and selling locally. All the maple drums are made from Skagit Valley broadleaf maple. The "organic" drums are made from "interesting" and "beautiful" local trees that were non-commercially gown, usually backyard trees too big or too close to the house. These are felled, and milled, sometimes by Sebastian himself. Over the years he has used apple, birch, chestnut, elm, locust, oak and others. Sebastian will tell you that 90% of the sound of the drum is from the combination of body shape and head quality. The species of wood is a small over-all factor. However his all time favorite is elm. He uses domestic american elm to make his personal favorite jam session congas; they are tight, crisp and have just beautiful harmonics. To match the sound beauty with the appearance beauty he offsets the light colored drums with three contrasting stripes of purple heart, giving them their distinct recognizable Sawatch appearance. Also available are djembe drums, gathering drums, mother drums and extra large "congas."

Next on the comfort list was that - ouch - steel crown that can catch the unwary drummers' hands. The sliding block tuning eliminated that. The drumhead flows smoothly over the specially sculptured playing edge and is sensual to the touch. You can actually play the sides on these heads. The sliding blocks allow for infinite tuning; but most importantly, and this is often overlooked, they allow the head to be relaxed in seconds after each use. This, in turn, keeps the head flexible, great sounding and gives it an extremely long life. In twenty years Sebastian has never had a conga returned that needed a new head; though he will tell you that they are replaceable for $45!

"Sawatch Drums are named after the Sawatch Mountain Range in Colorado because that is where I made my first drum in 1981. And I really liked those mountains!

I also had a good time taking my congas to parties and getting others to play with me. Drumming is the only music we can do together right off the bat. No experience necessary! With just a little guidance we can have a ton of fun sharing, creating real music with real people.

I have had a regular production since 1984. All my drums have the right feel built into them. First I replaced the beasty, high tech chrome crown of the regular congas with my low tech primitive and beautiful string tuning system; borrowing from caveman ingenuity of the late Pleistocene era 23,000 years ago! Now the drumheads and edges just beg to be touched, they feel so soft and round. Second, I shrunk them down in size to made room for a small stand underneath. Now you can sit comfortably, play without reaching up or down, play without supporting the drum between your knees and enjoy the whole range of sounds yeas bass bass bass…

Because I make the whole drum from scratch, I am in the unique position to offer totally custom drums. I can even use your favorite piece of wood or engrave your name in it. I also have many woods available from recycled backyard trees and can create Organically Grown Drums."

--- Sebastian Degen.

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