From: bfhalls@vela.acs.oakland.edu (HALLS BRADLEY F)
Subject: Re: Snare Technology
Organization: Oakland University, Rochester MI.
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 05:29:31 GMT

In article <1992Nov6.020651.16305@cgrg.ohio-state.edu> flip@cgrg.ohio-state.edu (Flip Phillips) writes:

>what is state of the art these days? i notice that premier and pearl are
>becoming more prevalant, and my old standbys ludwig and slingerland, have
>disappeard... premier have these interesting looking things that look like
>multi-head snares and I was just curiois about them. 

OK. Here's the low-down. I'll try to keep it brief. If anyone wants to
add, feel free...

Slingerland went out of business quite a few years ago. Even getting parts
for those drums now is a nightmare. Ludwig totally went to shit the minute
they were bought out by Selmer (also a long time ago). They have made some
feeble attempts at becoming current since then, but basically rolled over
and invited the Japanese to take over their market share. The Japanese were,
of course, happy to oblige. The two major Japanese companies, Yamaha and
Pearl, now pretty much dominate the market. Premier, who is based in England
and made these great scotch drums for years, was bought out by Yamaha some
time in the late '80s.

Since the advent of the kevlar heads (look like woven fabric and are VERY
durable) the drum manufacturers have been working hard to come up with a
drum that can handle the pressure of these heads. The direction that many
of them are going now is not to make the shell stronger, but use light
weight steel to create a rim that takes all of the stress from the head,
and thus the strength of the shell is no longer really an issue. It is 
there just to hold the top & bottom rims together, and direct the air
column to the snares. This has resulted in many new space-age looking
drums with no lug casings. One of the major head manufacturers, Remo, has
been making these kind of drums for awhile, and they are staring to catch
on strong.

The down side of all this is that snare drums now have a completely different
sound, and not nearly as good a sound (IMHO). The top heads are so hard now
that the air in the drum is barely deflected enough to snap the bottom head
at all. This results in a very high pitched, short, shallow sound that 
sounds great from 10 feet away, but doesn't project well at all. So in a
nutshell, the drums are easier and cheaper to maintain, but you pay a price
in performance. I know many might argue with this as most lines that never
knew how to tune before all of a sudden sound great now. But for those lines
who could afford to go through hundreds of silver dots a season, nothing will
sound that good again.

What was the question again? :-)

>It was all simpler when BD marched with North Drums...

Man, you aren't kidding.

--Brad.




-- 
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Brad Halls                                "Still looking for witty quote."
Oakland University                         -me    
Rochester, Michigan
bfhalls@vela.acs.oakland.edu

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