If you have a bodhrán player on your holiday list, or are a player looking to drop hints to loved ones… BOD can help.

Shipping Times

First off, the BOD team is taking a short break this weekend, so although the shop remains open to take your orders, our next shipping date will be Thursday the 4th of December. 

In December, we will close the shop for the holidays Thursday night the 18th December, which gives us time to get everything wrapped and shipped before we begin our own family festivities.

Within the UK, all drums are sent Royal Mail Next Day Special Delivery, and smaller packages Royal Mail Tracked 24, so with everything out on the 19th latest, things should arrive for the holiday if Royal Mail does their bit.

Internationally, the sooner the better is your guideline.  Smaller packages go Royal Mail International Tracked service, which can take a week or two to the USA or Canada, less to Europe.  Drums shipped internationally always go via UPS, and they give us an estimate when we book the shipping – usually within a week or so to these locations, but with the holidays it will no doubt take longer.

Now, What Should You Buy For Your Bodhrán Player?

If you are looking for holiday gifts, we have a good stock of tippers right now. The wonderful MellMo and BODBass are hugely popular, both made of distressed bamboo rods, giving a lovely mellow sound, great for accompanying voice, or if you want to keep your sound in the background at a session.

All the NEF brushes are great fun and also good for a creating a more gentle mood. From the NEF 3 through NEF 7 the bristles are progressively a little stiffer to give a more pronounced swishiness as you play.  All the series are designed so if you lean the stick right over for your initial strike, you can catch the wood at the base of the brush for a nice pungent attack and then follow through with the swish of the brush. The BrushMo has the same boar bristle (aka China Bristle) as the NEF 3, great if you love your MoGrips.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a statement sound, the RockMO, the HR 5 Bold and HR 5 Crisp are all Hot Rod style beaters made up of bundles of 5mm rods. Leave the O-ring down near the tip to create a really solid, powerful sound, or roll back the O-ring to get the rods clicking for more complex sound. The RockMo is John’s go-to when playing for the Morris or a ceilidh, so the dancers can hear that rhythm!

Tipper Cases, the Snare CarpHED and of course any of our selection of CDs to inspire your drummer are all good choices too.

And of course, there are the drums… We have the Renegade Rhythms bodhráns in stock for your really trad player, an untaped goatskin head on a wooden body decorated with Mog’s trademark marbelised paper. John’s first drum was a Mog, and 30 years on he still loves and plays it regularly.

Or, for the experienced player ready for a fantastic beast of a drum, Cormac Byrne’s Signature Series drums in the 40cm Compact or the 45 cm standard size would be a real treat.  The CBSS is featured in the music of the show Come From Away, which has inspired several players to come to us for these drums.

And of course, the BODdrums. Made of spun aluminium with a synthetic head, John designed and began manufacturing these drums to solve the problems he encountered playing with the Morris – playing your drum in the great English weather! The BODdrums will hold their tune against all odds on a soggy cold village green or on a hot stage. But they have a vocabulary of sound beyond the traditional bodhrán, musicians are using them not just for traditional Irish and folk music, but for jazz and world music and more, truly a drum without boundaries. Many professional drummers keep both their traditional bodhrán and their BODdrums with them on stage, playing each as best suits the demands of the performance.

BODdrums also happen to be a perfect choice for vegans, as there are no animal products used in any of their parts.

We just took delivery on 40 painted shells of all sizes, so though BODdrum stock numbers may look low or on back order, fear not, the components are all here, and John is working as fast as he can to assemble the drums! We will be able to fulfill orders for Christmas.

The Hedwitschak CoreLine drums are a little trickier right now.  We have Slims and Maxi’s in stock and one Universal.  We should receive a couple Classics before Christmas, but anything else will not be in stock again till the New Year. Christian Hedwitschak really does make each and every drum himself, by hand, and though he is working as fast as he can, this is all we have at this time.

Actually, there is nothing in the shop that wouldn’t make a great gift during the holidays or year round. If you need any help finding the perfect thing, drop us a line with your questions and we will do our utmost to advise you on the right product to meet your needs.