I thought a 15 would be cool too when I started this project.. but the sound of this thing is strange.. just really big and woody, no matter how tight you crank the heads. I'm still gonna hang on to it, you never can have enough snares right? BTW it started life as a 15x10 parade snare (or maybe 15x12".. cant remember) which i cut down to 8" deep and re-glued the factory reinforcement hoop into, then shaped the bearing edge by hand. still need to do a wrap job on it but i cant decide on what color.. ill probably do some kinda glass glitterhttp://entertainment.webshots.com/album/504185652XcdawT?start=12
[COLOR="DarkGreen"]Hecka nice job....that must'a taken some patience...looks like you segmented a section of it, yes ?
I think the nature of these beasts are to be BIG and WOODY. I don't think they will ever be snappy and dry sounding snares. I mean, 3-plys with wide bearing edges...it's almost a foregone conclusion you are gonna hear wood and resonance....
When I come across some vintage snares where I wanna cut back on that sorta timbre....I usually use a Powerstroke 3 coated head; they tend to dry out the sound on vintage snares the most, IMHO.
beyond that, the next step is to recut the edge...take away some of the surface area which contacts the head. Slingys and Luddys had tons of surface area contacting the head edges back in the '50's-60's....that's what gave their drums their signature sounds. But by sharpening the edges a bit, there will be less vibrational transferrence from head to shell; and the head will vibrate more...thus reducing the woody quality to the tone.
Word of caution...BEFORE you rewrap in glitter, check the play in the heads against the shell. Do you have enough room for the wrap to fit without causing head-fit problems ? Glitter, as you probably know, is the thickest of wraps...and the older the drums, the more likely to encounter fit problems....
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