Gaps & Loose Ends

I left out a builder in my last post, which is Epiarch Drums. Jesse Lizer did a fantastic job on the snare drum, and was very patient with the backorder of the P86 I wanted to use. Great service and first class craftsmanship.

Having 48 snare drums begs to round up the number to 50. So, I have been pondering which two would complete me. There was a time when my dream snare drum was the Ludwig 95th Anniversary model, shown below:

However, I have since had snare drums built that eclipse that one in my opinion.

My current dream is a 1920s Ludwig Black Beauty or a 1920s Ludwig made with the heavy, two-piece shell that was used on the Black Beauty. Of course, when I manage to acquire one, a calf skin batter head is going to be mounted on it. I believe using a mylar head, even a Fiberskyn or Skyntone, would just not do it justice.

So, number 49 has been identified. How about number 50? I am waiting for the next Vaughncraft overstock sale to see if there is anything on the list that I would want. Candidates include purpleheart (an amazing tonewood), a deeper rosewood shell (I have 4.5 and 5.5 rosewood snare drums and love the sound of rosewood), or, perhaps walnut. At this point I am not sure. I will definitely have Kevin Smee of Bowie Custom Drum build it. Kevin has built two snare drums for me already and impressed me with the quality of his work, speed, and pricing - the adage, "Quality, Price, Speed: Pick Two" does not apply to Kevin. You get all three. Picking hardware will be another matter. I have time for that.

On hardware, I will be focusing on lugs, throw offs and the like in my next post.