A candid chat with the restless master craftsman on drum making, artistry, and building an honest business fit for his offspring’s approval. Sugar Percussion has been providing high-end, stave-built drums since 2013. When asked to describe the company, founder Jefferson Shallenberger replies, “Sugar Percussion is the neurotic distillation of twenty years of obsessive woodworking employed to masochistically attempt an answer to the foolish question, ‘How perfect can you make a circle?’” Got that? Read on to learn more about Sugar Percussion’s meticulous construction process and to dig deeper into Shallenberger’s sharp wit and poignant thoughts on the drum industry, artistry, and how a drum is never complete— at least to him. MD: What’s your background in woodworking? Jefferson: I got my useless college degree, found a job building dog houses, did a couple years of cabinetmaking, and then went to a proper woodworking school, where someone finally taught me to […]

November 2019 Issue