HHG Drums

Sam Thurau, a former woodworker, and his offsider Kevin Siegel make up Haggerty Hollow Guild Custom Drums – or HHG. They are based in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, midway between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg (and, more interestingly for Bill Murray fans, only about 100km from Punxsutawney).

HHG make stave, metal, segmented and ply drums in a crazy selection of colours, styles and designs. In a novel approach, they also contour many of their drums, which as well as adding to the aesthetics, works to slightly lower the pitch of the note.

As for the name, Sam explained that his father, Craig, is an old-school American hippie. Craig had planned to start a commune in the early 1980s on a property in north-western Pennsylvania that for generations belonged to a family called the Haggertys. The piece of land is called Haggerty Hollow.

Craig was going to name his commune the Haggerty Hollow Guild because he wanted it to be a guild in the truest sense of the word – a collection of skilled craftsmen. Long story short, the commune never happened, but Sam thought it was a cool name so he co-opted it for his drum company.

Check out HHG’s website to get an idea of their range of materials and designs. We have four of their snares in stock – an ash, a glorious purpleheart and ebony, a zebrawood and a 14×6 from their 2022 recycle series.

The latter is an interesting beast – it’s made from the scraps from the previous year’s builds. Rather than give them to his neighbour for firewood, Sam recycles the scraps into unique snare drums. Each shell features more than 15 exotic and domestic wood species. We have been lucky enough to get hold of number 4 of the 13 made in the 2022 recycle series.

We can order any of HHG’s snares or drum kits, including arranging a custom order. Buy a Haggerty Hollow Guild snare from us and you’ll also get a free HHG t-shirt.