Agreed.  Now to the Point.  A drum is a vibrating instrument.  The thicker the shell the less vibrations of the shell, the less vibrations means less tone and volume for the same ammount of initial force.  Damn can you tell I'm an engineer.  The 1" width seperation between your drums on what is called a square shell (14x14) was common years ago.  The bigger double bass kits (both concert and two headed) that were all the rage when I came up were 1" seperation from 12" up.  Personally I found them REAL hard to tune and they always seemed to be almost the same tone. 

There was a company making those HUGE drums years ago in Florida.  They were in cohouts with the guy who made the lightning bolt cages.  I'll see waht I can find on them for you.

Studio Technologies

Agreed.  Now to the Point.  A drum is a vibrating instrument.  The thicker the shell the less vibrations of the shell, the less vibrations means less tone and volume for the same ammount of initial force.  [/QUOTE]

i think i disagree we you on this one steve. i think the thicker the ply or the denser the wood the less it vibrates and so the greater the projection of sound out of the drum.

i think the tone would be different and the drum would probablly sound pretty louder but i couldnt honestly say for sure. ive heard 4 ply drums next to 6 ply drums and i thought i could hear a difference then