If you read my last article about my late 60’s Pearl MIJ phenolic drum kit, I briefly mentioned this snare drum. It’s a recent build I finished a few months ago. I sent this snare to one of my good friends, Kris Redus, who is a session drummer in Austin, TX, to take it for a spin for a few weeks. Here is a video of him playing it in three different tunings.

“This is a really unique sounding snare! The resonance seems to have a lot of warm complexity to it. It’s very crisp and sensitive. Playing light quick ghost notes and buzz rolls felt super comfortable and articulate. It really surprised me when I moved it down to a lower open tuning - this whole other body and fullness came out of the drum... huge! Overall, this is just a beautiful instrument - sonically and aesthetically” - Kris Redus

Sound & Specs

The shell is constructed of 8 plies. The inner cores consist of 6 plies of maple. This wood is no stranger to drummers. Maple has very good low end frequency while keep the mids & highs well balanced. When adding zebrawood as an inner & outer ply it boosted the low end & also caused the maple core to “dry” up a little bit giving it an almost aluminum characteristic. Combining this shell w/ the single flanged hoops give your cross stick a more woodier and defined sound.

The outer edge has a nice hand applied round-over profile w/ the inner cut being 45 degree. The look of this drum is very earthy. To achieve this look I applied a single layer of this “ghost white” stain & then distressed it to show case the look of the zebra patterns. I choose to give this Aztec gold hardware (tubed lugs, classic strainer, single flanged hoops) & apply the same thought of earthy/distressed look out of them by spraying the whole drum w/ “metallic” black & white paint. I’m glad I went w/ black tension rods because it highlights the black patterns on the shell.

Overall, this is very sensitive snare drum. The slightest hit produces a nice snare response. I could easily see this as one of my go to snares.

If you would like a snare like this feel free to email me.