New Snare Drum

I built a new snare drum this week. It's a 4x14 maple Keller shell with chrome tube lugs, triple flanged hoops and a beautiful Dunnett snare throw off.

I did an intricately stenciled design between each of the 10 lugs in a black stain and then did the overall drum in a dark walnut stain with a satin finish. The overall look of the drum is very antique which was what I was shooting for.

I had some initial trouble with the Dunnett strainer which I expected on a 4” drum. It was tricky to place the strainer so it wouldn't interfere with the top hoop, and still be able to travel the distance to get a good tight snare sound. I ended up flipping the small plate that clamps the plastic strips on the strainer side. This allowed the strainer mechanism to travel further.

My default snare drum batter head is the Remo Renaissance Diplomat weight head which I love because of its great combination of extreme sensitivity and fat feel at medium tensioning. I use this head on my 6x13 maple snare and on my 6 1/2 x 14 steel shell and it provides a great contrast to the deeper shells.

However on this drum it was a bit too sensitive. I'll have to try it again with a different batter/snare side tuning. Anyway I put a Remo Fiberskyn Diplomat on the drum and it sang. I was really shooting for a sensitive bebop snare, and this is spot on.

I would like to get some die cast hoops for it, but that's going to be another hundred bucks, so I decided to play the drum for a while with the triple flanged and see how it does.