Anyone ever made their own SNARE?

just curious. I've thought about it, but

have never tried. seems like a lot of work

to achieve something that probably already kinda

exists at a reasonable price. Maybe just to do it

for the fun of trying to make your own unique sounding snare.

make, or assemble?

both, but more i guess coming up with yer own configuration

Cheaper to buy one already done.

I was going to, then build the rest of the kit, and it'd end up costing quite a lot more than one would think, just looking at the prices of shells.

im planning on using hardware i already have on a new shell that im gonna finish myself. ego will drill and cut a shell for you for cheap if you buy it from them. 14x5.5 snare shell im lookin at is $89 drilled.

Yeah, if you already have hardware, it'll work for you, but, if you don't, then that stuff adds up.

On my first visit to the Yamaha factory I designed and built my own snare drum. I pickd the wood plys, cut them to size, made the shell, stained it, cut the edges, drilled the holes, assembled the drum. It's a 14"x7" Birch Nouveau with 45 degree edges on top and 35 degree on the bottom. Sounds killer.

I have done both. Very rewarding. Not very cost effective, but rewarding none the less.

"assembled" (purchased the shell)

14 x 8 keller maple with dark abalone wrap, tube lugs, ss hoops

13 x 7 burl segmented maple, Trick lugs, strainer, ss hoops, tung oil finish

constructed the shell AND assembled.

13 x 5.5 ash stave, beavertail slingy doubles, ss hoops, tung oil finish

Cheers, Bob

not to hi-jack, but how is the tung oil holding up? ive been thinking of using it. how many coats did you use?

Best place to buy shells and parts?

i like drummaker.com

yes i have, i've done my past 2 kits entirely aswell. I like it better, you get to have control of every aspect, and its a whole lot more satisfying to go " I made that". And yes hardware is very $$$$ especially die-cast stuff. All my lugs and hoops cost more than all the shells I got ( 2 bass drums, 2 toms and 3 floors) that part sucks....lol

In a word, great. Both snares have about 10-12 coats. The nice thing is, if the finish ever starts to go south, I can just take the hardware off, minimal sanding/steel wool, do a few more coats and whalla, a new finish. I use the marine grade stuff...very durable, very water resistant (not water proof).

As with CarpeDiem, I too built my entire main kit snare, bass, 2 toms, 1 ft. The hardware was ~8-10x the cost of the wood to construct the shells.

Like I said, VERY rewarding, and the result is completely custon, but not too cost efficient.

Bob

Me too, I ordered a tom clamp from them, and drove down and picked it up, hella nice guys.

I make all my own drums shells and all. Made a 6 piece kit for about 400. hardware, heads, everything. the shells are 6 ply birch on the outside and 4 maple on the inside. Got some pics on my drum site if ya ever wanna see. but anyhow, If you aren't going to make the shells I'd go with drummaker.com and for hardware also check of billyblast.com, not the best selection but for the most part cheaper than drummaker.

For hardware ya can go used too, buy a good used snare or kit and take all the hardware it will be much cheaper.

If ya wanna build your own shells, and have the equipment to do so already, it will be MUCH cheaper than buying shells. I just made a 4x13 for someone charged them 35 and it cost me about $3-5 in materials.

I did. I like the snare. Cost about as much as a new one I believe.

Head on over to http://www.ghostnote.net/vbforum/ for some motivation.

James Culpepper of Flyleaf had a self made snare when they first started playing. It was made out of a piece of approx 1/2 thick steel, bent round and butt welded. It weighed over 30 lbs but sounded incredible.

I built this one. I have built a complete 5 piece as well as customizing a snare out two.

I