Johnny Craviotto has been a staple in the music industry for nearly half a century. Johnny began his professional playing career in the early 1960’s. As a drummer, Johnny toured and recorded with many Rock ‘N’ Roll pioneers including Ry Cooder, Buffy St. Marie, Moby Grape and Neil Young.
During that time, Johnny started collecting vintage drums. His love for drums, quest for knowledge, and his analytical sense led him to extensively research vintage drums. Johnny analyzed the drum’s construction and musical properties. Johnny also began to study the art of drum building. Through extensive research, experimentation, and patience, he eventually developed his own unique formula for producing solid drum shells from a single piece of steam-bent hardwood.
By the mid 1980’s, Johnny joined with Billy Gibson (Huey Lewis and The News) to form the Select/Solid Snare Drum Company. Even though his first effort in the drum business lasted only a few years, the drums he created under the Select/Solid brand became highly collectible. Johnny’s innovative, proprietary process instantly became hugely successful. By combining hand-selected hardwoods, premium-grade components, and Old World Master-craftsman construction methods, Johnny Craviotto was able to transform solid planks of wood into fine musical instruments. Johnny found his special niche in the drum market. Craviotto Solid Shells significantly improved the consistency and integrity of vintage solid shells and provided modern drummers with unprecedented, unsurpassed levels of snare drum sound and performance.
In 1990, Johnny formed his own company, Craviotto Percussion. In 1992, Johnny was introduced to Don Lombardi (founder and president of Drum Workshop, Inc.) by his close-friend and legendary studio drummer, Jim Keltner. For more than a decade, the availability of custom-quality DW snare drums made from Craviotto solid Maple and exotic wood shells further expanded Johnny’s reputation as a master drum builder and the reigning authority on the subject of solid-shell drum design.
Today, Johnny Craviotto continues to innovate with his Solid Shell Snare Drums and Solid Shell Drumsets. Johnny is committed to redefining the art and science of Solid-Shell drum construction. Craviotto Solid Shell Drums regularly make appearances on the World’s most prolific stages and recording studios. Johnny has set the bar high and continues to reinvent sound, playability, and performance, one solid shell at a time.
