Been thinking of putting a 42strand snare on my main drum. Has anyone else tried it? Would like some input before I go cutting one of those in half.
Also, has anyone tried the new Pearl clamp-on snare on a Cocktail Drum. They show them on hand percussion drums, but was wondering how they might work on "our" drums.
42 Strand Snare
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Randy Rudolph
- Posts: 19
- Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 9:47 am
I've never tried the 42-strand snare, but I have tried the new Pearl thing. The positives: it goes on the drum very easily and securely and almost all unwanted snare buzz (from hitting the bottom of the main drum with the pedal) is eliminated. Also, it looks less "homemade" if that matters to you. The negative: it's not very sensitive. You have to have it adjusted just right and even then you have to whack it fairly hard to get any snare response. The reason for this (and for the elimination of the unwanted buzz) is that the thing uses straight pieces of thin metal rod (like those "'fro-pick" LP Guiro scrapers) for the snares. It seems to me that it could be made to work better if thinner rods or curley wires were substituted. I haven't tried that yet, mostly because I've always been pretty satisfied with my homemade unit. If I ever do bother with any sort of modification, I'll post the results here.
I guess I should also point out that this thing works great when used as intended, i.e. on a djembe. Very cool way to expand your variety of djembe sounds, although it would be even better if they designed it with a quick throwoff mechanism.
I guess I should also point out that this thing works great when used as intended, i.e. on a djembe. Very cool way to expand your variety of djembe sounds, although it would be even better if they designed it with a quick throwoff mechanism.
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mangorockfish
- Posts: 182
- Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:23 pm
- Location: arkansas
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Randy Rudolph
- Posts: 19
- Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 9:47 am
It's nothing fancy, just a Tama #6553 external tone control with snare wires duct taped to it. The main difference between that and the homemade units shown elsewhere on this site is that the snares lie flat on the head and have a slight muffling effect. I have exactly the same thing on both of my drums, but on one drum I use it in conjunction with the internal snare and on the other I use it alone. I have a couple of pictures which I'll post if someone can tell me how.