#custom lug

[coyerdrumworks]

Slingerland Marching Snare to Kit Snare Conversion

Jonathan from Knoxville, TN contacted me and had an old 50s Slingerland Marching Snare shell which was given to him by his Uncle and Jonathan desired to have it transformed.  This was a great project to work on.  Jonathan desired to have the depth of the shell cut from 10 inches to 6.  Jonathan and I collaborated on the final build specs. I cut the shell with no power tools.  After cutting the shell I had to fill some holes and reinstall reinforcement rings.  I moved the Slingerland badge to another location ( I had to as the former location was too close to the bearing edge after the shell was sized to 6 inches).  The outer and inner plys are genuine mahogany with the middle ply being poplar.  While sanding the shell I noticed some small white lines in the grain.  I know that I did not put them there so I researched and found out that these are mineral deposits that the original mahogany tree picked up during its growing process.   There were a few mineral deposits that I didn’t sand out allowing the shell to retain its history and character.

Here is the shell when Jonathan shipped it to me.

During the shell cutting process.  You can see in the lower left where the original badge was located.  The picture here shows the second cut on the shell to get the 6 inch depth.

Here are pictures of the final build with custom aluminum and brass tub lugs.

Here are some comments from Jonathan "...your level of craftsmanship and attention to detail far exceeded my expectations! The drum is truly a work of art. Thanks again for taking on this project!"   "I finally got a chance to play my snare and I'm very happy with the outcome, it might even replace my Ludwig Acrolight as my go-to snare. I took the drum to show my uncle and he was blown away, he didn't realize it was the shell he had given me until I told him. I will definitely recommend your work to my friends and hope to work with you again in the future."

[coyerdrumworks]

Old marching snare converted for a kit

I had a conversation with a fellow drummer and friend in Chapel Hill, NC, Dale Baker.  Check out Dale's website dalebakerdrummer.com  He had an old marching snare (I am guessing circa 40's-50') made by an old company "Duplex" and wanted to have use of use of it when playing with his kit.  He asked if I could cut down the 10"x14" snare to approxamately a 5"x14".  I tackled the project which proved to be very intesting and somewhat challenging.  He wanted to keep the old Duplex badge where it was as well as the existing 8 lug holes in the shell.  This meant I had to cut both the top and bottom of the shell leaving 2.5" inches above and 2.5" below each hole.  I did not use any power tools in this process.  

Here is the before picture:

To cut the shell I used a fine toothed pull saw setting up the blade paralell with the shell and rotating the shell into the blade over and over until I achieved a clean cut then flipped the shell over and cut the other side.  

The finished shell came out great.  I made custom length lugs and retained most of the original hardware (except for the lugs of course).  I even re-sized some of the claws.

Here is the final outcome:

I used the same type of original roundover bearing edge on both the top and bottom of the shell.  I found the shell to be a steam bent poplar wood core with an outside and inside mohagany ply.  

"I have been really impressed with Ken's craftsmanship and attention to detail with these drums, and I absolutely love his tension rod design.  The lug is minimal and has a simple and well thought out design.  I played one of his drums today on a gig and thought it looked and sounded great." -Dale Baker, in Chapel Hill, NC

The Duplex conversion..."it looks amazing!" -Dale Baker, in Chapel Hill, NC

Dale wrote a very nice entry about my drum building on his blog.  

Here is a link to a live gig Dale was a part of where he played the Duplex snare. The audio is "okay" - enough to hear that the snare has a nice sound to it.

[coyerdrumworks]

5"x12" with cool wrap

"snare sounds awesome" -Charles, in NC

Here are the specs:

5"x12" 10 Ply Keller shell with 45 deg. inside and slight 45 backcut to outside. 

Topo Gold Wrap integrated with bearing edge

8 Coyer Drumworks aluminum lugs-2-3/4" long with brass inserts and exposed black phillips head mounting screw

Trick Percussion GS007 Black Chrome Plated Strainer W/ Butt Plate

2.3mm Triple Flange Hoops-6 hole

Puresound Super 30 Series 12" 30 Strand Snare Wires with blue cable snare strings

1/2" Die Cast Threaded Air Vent Grommet-Black Tension Rods-Black -  1 1/4", 35mm

Remo Hazy Ambassador Snare Side Drumhead 

Remo Coated Controlled Sound Reverse Dot-Batter Side Drumhead

The brass and aluminum lugs came out great and really matched the wrap well along with the black center mounting screw.

[coyerdrumworks]

7"x13" Snare...a pleased drummer

"That thing has an awesome tuning range!  I went from a piccolo sound down to super low. "  "...it really is a beautiful (sounding and visually) snare! " -Charles, in NC

Charles requested a 7"x13" snare with S-Hoops.  From that we collaborated on the other aspects of the drum.  Here are the specs:

7"x13" 8 Ply Keller shell with 45 deg. inside and slight 45 backcut to outside

8 Coyer Drumworks aluminum lugs-4-5/8

Dark Green Aniline Dye Stain with Tung Oil finish

Trick Percussion GS007M Multi-Position Aluminum Strainer W/ Butt Plate

2.3mm Chrome S-Hoops 13 in.-8hole Snare

Pure Sound 13in. 20 Strand Custom Pro Brass

1/2" Die Cast Threaded Air Vent Gromme-Chrome

Tension Rods-Chrome - 1 1/2" (42mm)

Remo Ambassador Snare Head, Hazy, 13-inch Diameter

Remo Ambassador Snare Head Coated, 13-inch Diameter

This snare was fun to build.  The S-hoops and Trick strainer are a nice touch on this drum.