Ludwig Maple with Waterfall Bubinga Finish

This 6.5" x 14" beauty came with all brass hardware - P86B throw, P33 butt and brass tube lugs. As received it had brass die cast hoops, which I personally think kills a snare drum (or any drum for that matter). I upgraded the hoops to COB single-flanged style, with brass clips. Here she is in all her upgraded splendor:

The shells are 9-ply, 6mm and are composed of maple, with the outside ply in African waterfall Bubinga. The outside ply is from Steinway's private reserve stock and is beautiful.

As a side note, I also upgraded the batter head to a Remo Fiberskyn, which adds a touch of warmth as well as imparts a vintage look (as does the Monroe badge).

6x14 Bubinga Stave with Stanbridge Hoops

Figured Bubinga Stave 6"x 14" with two 1/8" maple inlays and Stanbridge bubinga wood hoops also with an 1/8" of maple stripe. There are 10 one off brass lugs, Nickle throw and butt and Pure Sound wires. Pete Stanbridge is no longer making his wood hoops for the general public, so these are rare. The shell also has steam bent maple rerings.

5.5x14 Makore Veneer by Epiarch

5.5x14 quilted makore veneer over a 10 ply maple snare shell with all brass hardware. This beauty was made for me by Epiarch Drums. My original design was to use a Ludwig P-86B strainer and P-33B butt, but Ludwig was so seriously backordered at the time that - after three months wait - I had them go ahead and use a brass S-9 style strainer and companion die cast brass butt. Jesse Lizer, owner of Epiarch, was a dream to deal with and his work is first rate as you can see. Soundwise this snare drum ranks up there with my top end wood snare drums, and I was especially surprised by how good he made a ply shell snare drum sound.

Like all of my custom snare drums this one has Puresound 16-strand snares, and like most of my snare drums (custom and off-the-shelf) it has single flanged hoops. There is an interesting story behind how I got this drum in the first place.

6.5x14 Ludwig Satinwood Snare Drum

Special Edition Ludwig snare drum with a satinwood finish over Ludwig's standard maple shell. Outfitted with Ludwig's tube lugs, P-86 strainer and [in the photo] die cast hoops. Since this picture was taken I've gotten rid of the die cast hoops (which I think kill drums, and especially wood drums) and replaced them with COB "stickchopper" style single flange hoops. Note: the photos show the oval special edition badge, but not shown is the Monroe, NC keystone badge that is also affixed to the shell. And, yes, it sounds as good as it looks!