Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and glad to be here. I have been a Neil Peart/Rush fan for a long time and I was told that his Slingerland Artist Snare was in fact a mid 70's 3-Ply Shell 5.5x14 8 Lug, Zoomatic Strainer, Copper over Wood Snare and not the Solid Maple Shell Artist model that everyone always assumed. I think people get confused with the word Artist, Slingerland made three models, the Solid shell, the 3-Ply Shell, and the 5-Ply Shell without Reinforcing Rings. He has stated in several Modern Drummer interviews that his Slingerland was not the Top of the Line model, but the second one down from that which is the 3-Ply. He said that he paid $60.00 for it used from some U.S. Drumstore, not a pawnshop around 1974-75. I have been told that his 3-Ply Shell had a Philippine Mahogany-AKA-Luan wood-looks like Basswood, Inner Ply? According to the Dr.'s Slingerland Shell history pages Maple was used as the Inner Ply on the 3-Ply Shells during the mid 70's. Did Slingerland ever use Philippine Mahogany based on what they had at that time? Or is this a mistake? I was also told that Sligerland was not interested in quality around 74-75, and that they used whatever they had available to make the Shells. Can anyone help me out on this one? Thanks. Phil Cormier