WOW~! Jump For Joy Man Bill that's a real sweetie!! Someday....someday....someday I'd love to have you build one for me. Right now I'd be afraid to ask the price. That's so cool and looks soooooooo nice~! Nice work there Bill. I'm a big fan.

Bill if you don't mind me asking where did you get the WMP wrap? Jammins? Is it the vintage or regular? Thx. G.

Bill,your FG drum looks teriffic ! I too am attempting my first build with a BR 4"x14". Does anyone know the proper width and depth of the snare beds? Should the bearing edges be stock slingerland,or would something else optimize the sound ? The shell I'm using is a 3.75"x14" vintage maple poplar keller shell that I found cheap. Also,the way I'm seeing the lug pattern is standard 8 face down (using my marching snare parts donor for measurements),and upward 8 are mounted just to the left of those ? I plan to cover in 2 pieces of vintage WMP a friend was able to get from a bass drum,and hide the seam behind the strainer and butt plate. Thanks to all for the inspiration and great info !

Very nice job, Bill. I can't wait to see it with hoops and heads. That WMP is so bright/sharp looking. I think a 4x14 reproduction is on my list now. :)

-Tim

famousdave!

I put these pics of my 1969 1st production run Slingerland Buddy Rich 4x14 in WMP for Bill to have a look at/reference for his "clone". They were on post #17... but I'll put them up here for you as well. Have a look. This is how the drum should be set-up/configured.

Tommyp

Thanks Tommy. Any thoughts on edges and beds ?

famousdave!

Interesting question you ask actually.. because .. there was NO standard for snare beds on this model, well.. at least early production anyway. I have handled/played many of this model snare drum over the years.. ( and own both 1st production WMP and COW models ) .. and the snare beds were all over the place. On my WMP model, the beds are Rogers Dynasonic like in depth, ie: barely there!, yet the drum suffers from no BUZZ and is sensitive all the way out to the edges. My COW model on the other hand, has quite prominent snare beds, meaning pretty DEEP, very visible cut... yet that drum sounds GREAT too with complete sensitivity out to the edges and no annoying snare BUZZ. Perhaps somewhere in the middle of these two extremes would be a good spot! As far as edges...

... standard Slingerland of the day would be the best way to put it. More of a "roundover" than a sharp edge, which no doubt gives this drum some of it's voice. A lot of the drum's articulation.. ( which Buddy dug, especially so the COW model ) .. comes from the shallow shell depth and the COB StickChopper hoops. Hope this was of some help for your project!

Tommyp

Didn't see this post until now! Thanks for the tip about the Krylon color to use. I'll have to check it out.

I still don't have my shell from Andy Foote yet. Anyone who has dealt with him is now aware that it's now basically a one-man operation and he's way behind on everything. It took repeated emails from me for him to finally respond. That's how tough it's been for him. I really hope my drum will be worth the wait!

I plan to use the COB Stick Saver hoops from my Artist snare drum, since Stick Choppers are next to impossible to obtain! I just saw a snare-side Stick Chopper on eBay yesterday, but the seller wants $125 for it... and I'd still need to find the top hoop! I think I'll stick with my Stick Savers... aka Rim Shot Hoops!

Mark

Hey Tommy,can you tell us when and where we can find the article you have coming out ? Thanks for all the info.....Dave

Drumfactorydirect sells new COB stick chopper hoops. Under $50 made by Cannon. A bunch of other steel and die cast hoops they sell as well. I was very lucky to get a nice pair of old RK stick choppers in a parts buy. They are on my late 50's snare. but yes they can be expensive on EB and I've seen that same $125 hoop for sale for months. LOL.

http://www.drumfactorydirect.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=6_7_652