I will be interested to see what the "experienced luggers" say about how well a 6 lug 13 would sound. If I was going to leave it raw and use only the existing 6 lug set up (two rows of singles) I think would use die cast hoops.

Lets see what the concisenesses is.

J

Ludwig & WFL used 6 lugs on their 13", & they gave a great crisp voice. Slingerland used 8 lugs on theirs, & were also excellent sounding. Ludwig & Ludwig made many of their early professional snares w/ 6 lugs. It seems that since your shell is all ready to go, w/ 6 lugs, that would be the best choice, (to fill holes, wrap, redrill for 8 seems like extra work, & expense for very little added value).

I like both 6 and 8 lugs on the 13" snares.I think that 8 would be better,But then again your shell is set up for 6 i would go for it with the shell being F/B i dont think the number of lugs would come into play that much.You will have a great sounding drum..On a side note at the shop i i have made many 13" snares all from maple shells plys from 6-20 with 6 and 8 lugs from 3.5" to 8" deep.I even made a copy of the S/L 2 to 1 snare they made in the 70's i made them not 10 and 12 lug but 6 on top and 8 on bottom also 8 on top 6 on bottom they sounded good too...Mikey

Thanks all.

Mikey did you state you made a 13-inch diameter by 20-inch deep snare.

SA

On my reading Mikey said "20 ply" not "20 inches deep". The depth range was from 3.5" to 8".

Twenty inches deep. That would indeed be one deeeeep snare. Eye Ball

I've always been happy with 6 lugs on my 13" snare. And COB hoops.

My Bad, but I have seen pics.

SA

SA, No 20" deep now i know iam a crazy drum maker but 20" deep is to deep for me.But them again in 1994 i did make 6 marching snares that were 16x16 and they sounded ok but you had to HIT the hell out of them....Mikey

I used to play a snare 17" in diameter and 20" deep. You had to play ahead of the beat to have it speak at the right time.

Back to the Blaemire, there's no way in hell I would consider re-drilling. Build it with 6 lugs, use die-casts or the new 3.0mm triple-flange hoops, and enjoy.

Tuning stability is the basic issue-----there would only be a small amount of difference in the sound by virtue of extra/less overtones and the extra drillholes for an 8 lug , raising the natural resonant pitch of the shell.

Drumjinx is dead on , to go with diecast hoops ----they will help with shell stability on a 6 lug drum. Each lug on a 13" 6 lug drum has around 25% more stress on it than on an 8 lug drum, tuning drifts faster, due to temperature changes,shell give and head stretch. I guess they are pretty solid shells though and I would think the bending tensile strength of the resin would be higher than most plywoods.