A few years ago I aquired an old upright Sohmer Piano thinking I would restore it and restring it. The price for all the materials quickly got out of hand so that dream was never realized. However, I did manage to get a fabulous education about pianos. Recently, I decided to cut out the spruce soundboard from the back of the piano before it goes out to the curb and to use this vintage wood to cut staves for a 6 X 14 snare drum. The way I figure it, thie piano is dated with a patent date of 1890 and was built in about 1903. The spruce used for the soundboard could easily have been a hundred years old when it was built and this week when my new parts arrive, this drum will be starting out life with some serious mojo. This snare shell could be over two hundred years old in biological time, and over a hundred and ten years old in terms of it's history as a musical instrument. The spruce is very soft, so I tried my hand at building a composite drum by adding a layer of fiberglass cloth to the inside only with polyester resin. The outside has 6 coats of tung oil.

I'll post some more pictures when it's assembled and ready for audition.