".........Acrylic must be a difficult material to work with, because many of the acrylic drum shells I've seen in the past suffered from imperfections.  I owned a couple of the original Fibes Crystalite snare drums and, although they sounded great, the workmanship on them was not exactly flawless.  Shells were sometimes out of round and bearing edges were often a bit rough.  The Ludwig Vistalites were also infamous for problems such as imperfect seams and a tendency to crack.

The Zickos shell, however, is as close to perfection as I've seen.  The seam, located behind the strainer is absolutely smooth to the touch.  The drum is perfectly round.  The bearing edges are absolutely smooth, flawlessly polished, and perfectly flat.  The craftsmanship here is on par with any custom drum on the market.  Like just about everything else on this drum, the bearing edges have an unusual design.  The point-of-contact is fairly sharp, and the cut goes from the inside to the outside.  Rather than a straight bevel, the cut is rounded.  Bill says he chose this design because the "shoulder" of the head fits better on the shell, and head contact with the drum rim is minimized.  In addition, the shell is somewhat thicker than the old Fibes and Vistalites, which adds to its stability and also gives the drum more projection.  "We only use material cast from a sheet," says Bill.  "It's not extruded (the method used by most other companies).  That leaves weaknesses in the material.  Making our shells is very labor intensive.  We spend a lot of time on them."

.........The strainer is solid and well-engineered, and the second knob at the bottom which tensions the snares works smoothly.  The strainer butt is large and solid, consisting of two black aluminum blocks whichsandwich the snare cord.  The throw-off end uses black allen head bolts to hold the cord, but the butt uses two oversized slotted bolts.

How does the drum sound?  Well, all I can say is astounding!  The hard acrylic shell has properties that are unmatched by either wood or metal in terms of projection and clarity.  This drum speaks so crisply and clearly that it actually turned some heads the first time I usedit on a gig.  When tuned loosely, it has a monstrously fat tone with a tremendous amount of sustain.  When tightened up, it gets right into the"gunshot" range.  Snare sensitivity is consistently excellent. I couldn't get the drum to choke, no matter how badly I tuned it.  All this drum wants to do is respond!  The acrylic shell has an acoustic personality of it's own.  Like wood, it has a controlled and focused sustain.  It never gets too sharp or "tinny" as some metal shells can.  Like metal, it produces excellent snare response and projection, due to the hardness and it's ability to reflect and "throw" the sound.  At the same time, the acrylic produces a timbre that is unlike either wood or metal--very musical and pleasing to the ear.  Suffice it to say, if you've never played an acrylic-shell snare, you have to experience it for yourself.

According to Zickos promotional literature, the drum is a total resonating body due to the synergistic workings of it's components.  No argument here.  In terms of acoustic performance, this drum really standsout from the crowd.

The bottom line?  Well, if you're looking for a penetrating sound and wide performance capability, there is no question that this drum is a contender..................... check this drum out.  There's nothing else like it."