Shell Material
Over the decades, drum builders have tried about everything
but concrete as shell material. There are/were drums made from solid wood, plied
wood, steel, brass, bronze, copper, some lesser-used metals, particle board,
acrylic fiberglass, glass, and crystal. There are, at this stage, probably no
original ideas. The most common shells are plied wood, steel, and brass.
The
simplest truth is that all of them, with good heads, sound great. The greatest
fallacy is that one has to spend a lot of money to get something unique and
worthy. In my opinion, I would stick with the common materials from a large
manufacturer and get the best you can afford.
If you like the sound of
a snare for $200 from Pearl, get it, because it will probably never depreciate.
If you can afford a Black Beauty, get it. The exotic snares from the one-man
boutique companies may feed an ego, but may not ever sound better than the
mass-produced company's.
If you want to pay 3 times as much for the
good of your soul or the builder's, that's up to you. I would rather just see
the same money used on either a less costly or a true vintage product- then I
know you'll get your money back.
You can learn more about vintage snare
drums from my book, "The Great American Drums".
It's only $19.95 plus shipping and I'll send you an autographed copy. |
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