The Maker

Each piece of Five AM Percussion is lovingly crafted by Jack Dallwitz. His small personal operation means your percussive baby is immaculately conceived by hand, not a mass-produced machine, with an emphasis on detail and workmanship. Jack’s pathological – possibly medically diagnosable – eye for quality means your UFOnium is top-shelf and one-of-a-kind.

Despite his primary school teacher’s advice he should make a career of making Faberge eggs for the Czar… 1 egg per year, gotta be perfect… Jack, like the trend-bucker he is, instead studied Industrial Design and Silver-smithing at the University of Canberra and the Australian National University School of Art.

He then spent several years fabricating high quality parts for museum display systems and public art pieces with Thylacine Exhibition Preparation, with his work used in high-profile institutions such as the National Gallery of Australia and National Museum of Australia.

In 2009, Jack brought his passions for music and mad metalwork together. While squaring off to build either a marimba or a vibraphone, he stumbled across Dennis Havlena’s plans to build a hank drum and immediatley thought he could pimp it good. Three years of R&D and literally banging away later, he’s still not sure it’s quite perfect… but he’ll let you be the judge of that.

That was one thing that made this such an exciting project – I could easily spend ten years refining the concept, and still not be exploiting its full potential.”

In his quest for percussive perfection, Jack values your feedback on the instrument, feel free to call or email anytime.