Making A snare

[GhostNote]

Hi all, im going to commence a project that will take me a while. I am going to endeavour to make a handhammered brass snare drum. If anyone knows anything about drum making, any help would be much appreciated. I need to know about bearing edges, applying fittings and general tips.

Cheers:chug:

[GhostNote]

Come on people, its late (for me), i really need tips! anythings welcome


Cheers:chug:

[_Austin_]

Im not to educated in building a metal snare drum, but i can only say to make sure you know what your doing...

I can, on the other hand offer quite a deal of help on building a wood snare drum.

Also, hammering is somewhat of an art form, (similar to cymbals) hammering metal to a sound is not something you can just spend a few hours learning how to do. (within reason)

Give me a shout if you are interested in changing the type of shell to a wood one, becase i can offer a good chunk of advice/information required for knowing how to build/drill a wood snare drum. :)

Lastly, to build a metal snare drum would be a lot more difficult to do than do the same with a wooden shell IMO.

Hope that is of some help :thumb:
-Austin

EDIT: Its also pretty ironic that your name is GhostNote and there is a custom drum building website with the exact same name :lol:

[Loser]

Good luck on this. It seems that a metal snare would be incredibly difficult to make, and make sound good.

[The Ska Man]

Also, hammering is somewhat of an art form, (similar to cymbals) hammering metal to a sound is not something you can just spend a few hours learning how to do. (within reason)


I agree completely. Great hammer'(ers?) spend lots of time and go through many duds to get a worthy product.

[Loser]

Hammerer is correct.

[Parradiddle Pete]

forum.drumshed.org :thumb:

[GhostNote]

Im not to educated in building a metal snare drum, but i can only say to make sure you know what your doing...

I can, on the other hand offer quite a deal of help on building a wood snare drum.

Also, hammering is somewhat of an art form, (similar to cymbals) hammering metal to a sound is not something you can just spend a few hours learning how to do. (within reason)

Give me a shout if you are interested in changing the type of shell to a wood one, becase i can offer a good chunk of advice/information required for knowing how to build/drill a wood snare drum. :)

Lastly, to build a metal snare drum would be a lot more difficult to do than do the same with a wooden shell IMO.

Hope that is of some help :thumb:
-Austin

EDIT: Its also pretty ironic that your name is GhostNote and there is a custom drum building website with the exact same name :lol:


Yeah, actually, funnily enough, i was also thinking of making a wooden snare tips would be great. i actually have relatives that are metal craftsmen and they might be able to help with making and aquiring materials. I do have some knowledge of making things out of metal. I will experiment with hammering though. haha, really, i got th name from my favourite feature of steve gadd's drumming. That is quite ironic though...haha

Cheers:chug:

[GhostNote]

Good luck on this. It seems that a metal snare would be incredibly difficult to make, and make sound good.

yeah thats true. But i wanna try and make it work, im just stumped about bearing edges.

[fatcow2000]

this has nothing to do with the thread... but...

LMAO @ your avatar RATM-austin!

thats priceless! you sould send that to the chick at that site.

[aznriceball]

i might have had some tips with a wood snare, but what ur asking is just nuts. if u have to come and ask about it, i dont think its an endeavor thats achievable..not anytime soon anyway.

[Brokensticks]

If you do do it though we need pics of progress!
Make it look like a Black Panther snare and i'll buy it :thumb:

[GhostNote]

i might have had some tips with a wood snare, but what ur asking is just nuts. if u have to come and ask about it, i dont think its an endeavor thats achievable..not anytime soon anyway.

Man, i dont care if it fails, i'll just try again. And because you said that, it just makes me want to do it more.

[GhostNote]

If you do do it though we need pics of progress!
Make it look like a Black Panther snare and i'll buy it :thumb:

Yeah, im not going for the wider diameter hammering, probably smaller. If you g onto ludwig.com they have bronze hammered snares, mine's gonna be brass, but thats the kind of look im going for.

[GhostNote]

If you do do it though we need pics of progress!
Make it look like a Black Panther snare and i'll buy it :thumb:

Yeah, im not going for the wider diameter hammering, probably smaller. If you g onto ludwig.com they have bronze hammered snares, mine's gonna be brass, but thats the kind of look im going for. And yeah, i'll keep you posted with pics of progress.

[Brokensticks]

I see, I hope it turns out good for ya !

[Josiah]

Well kudo's for wantign to make a snare.


Lets make sure you understand what you are doing though...

Do you have the nessicary equipment to drill through a metal shell?

I'm assuming, under good messure, the edges will have to be done by somebody. If you had the equipment and knowledge to cut edges in a metal shell, you wouldn't be asking about doing it.

So..

To recap, the only thing you are doing is drilling holes for hardware and hammering the shell, correct?


If that's the case. I'd suggest something... Just buy a cheaper metal snare, remove the hardware and hammer it.


Secondly, do you understand the effects of hammering a shell, what it does to the shell, the changes in sound, etc?

Also, understand you need some equipment to do that, the correct hammers, and the proper surface to hammer against. Not to mention, some elbow grease.



Now a wood snare, that's different in a sense. You can do any, unique finish, it's MUCH easier to adjust edges, much easier to drill and work with. Also mistakes are much more easily correctable.

[_Austin_]

Yer, josiah has got it spot on.

I do think that you are going to have to go through a LOT of steel shells before you get it right, or even close to being right...

There are a lot of variables in hammering that you need to consider; The main two (of many) being the circumference of the shell being a regular circle after hammering... because i would have thought it would be easy to distort the shape of a shell by hammering it...

Also the bearing edges on a metal shell would be quite a job to get right.

If you are intent with making a snare drum yourself, I really recommend making a wooden snare drum. they are a lot more simple to construct and drill...

I, myself am also "building" a Birch snare drum.
I have bought all the hardware separately fropm the shell.

It is pre-drilled for all the hardware, with bearing edges and snare beds... all i have to do is put a finish on it and put a protective coat over it.

I chose to do it this way because i know how accurate you have to be with things like drilling and cutting edges. I also dont have the tools to even attempt it.

A good source for building a snare drum advice is ghostnote.net

AND/OR this site... http://www.drummaker.com/bigfred/snare101.htm

Good luck mate, and remember not to rush... thats the biggest mistake you can make when constructing anything.

-Austin

[GhostNote]

Well kudo's for wantign to make a snare.


Lets make sure you understand what you are doing though...

Do you have the nessicary equipment to drill through a metal shell?

I'm assuming, under good messure, the edges will have to be done by somebody. If you had the equipment and knowledge to cut edges in a metal shell, you wouldn't be asking about doing it.

So..

To recap, the only thing you are doing is drilling holes for hardware and hammering the shell, correct?


If that's the case. I'd suggest something... Just buy a cheaper metal snare, remove the hardware and hammer it.


Secondly, do you understand the effects of hammering a shell, what it does to the shell, the changes in sound, etc?

Also, understand you need some equipment to do that, the correct hammers, and the proper surface to hammer against. Not to mention, some elbow grease.



Now a wood snare, that's different in a sense. You can do any, unique finish, it's MUCH easier to adjust edges, much easier to drill and work with. Also mistakes are much more easily correctable.


Well, first off, thanks.

Yeah, i have relatives in the metal craft industry and they have been doing it for many years, so yes, i have the equipment. Other than the proper device needed to hammer the metal.

No, i will be making this drum from scratch. I will buy a second hand snare to take fittings from though.

I will probably get the edges done by a drum maker, i can see some difficulties there.

Do you know what hammers, surfaces ect. needed to properly do it?

Also, what is the ideal thickness for this do you think?

What sort of sound do you think i'd get out of hammered brass?

Thanks for the help!

[GhostNote]

Yer, josiah has got it spot on.

I do think that you are going to have to go through a LOT of steel shells before you get it right, or even close to being right...

There are a lot of variables in hammering that you need to consider; The main two (of many) being the circumference of the shell being a regular circle after hammering... because i would have thought it would be easy to distort the shape of a shell by hammering it...

Also the bearing edges on a metal shell would be quite a job to get right.

If you are intent with making a snare drum yourself, I really recommend making a wooden snare drum. they are a lot more simple to construct and drill...

I, myself am also "building" a Birch snare drum.
I have bought all the hardware separately fropm the shell.

It is pre-drilled for all the hardware, with bearing edges and snare beds... all i have to do is put a finish on it and put a protective coat over it.

I chose to do it this way because i know how accurate you have to be with things like drilling and cutting edges. I also dont have the tools to even attempt it.

A good source for building a snare drum advice is ghostnote.net

AND/OR this site... http://www.drummaker.com/bigfred/snare101.htm

Good luck mate, and remember not to rush... thats the biggest mistake you can make when constructing anything.

-Austin


Yeah, i am probably going to make a wooden snare drum aswell, after i have finished this one.

I dont think that hammering the snare would distort the circumference, as there is a surface underneath the metal when you hammer it.

Thanks for the good luck! Im going to need it! i'll keep everyone posted on details ect.

Cheers again for everyone's help!:chug:

[corderodedios]

I dont think that hammering the snare would distort the circumference, as there is a surface underneath the metal when you hammer it.

But I think what he is saying is that you're going to be hitting a round metal shell on a hard flat surface. It's probably going to be very hard to keep the perfectly round shape of it.

[GhostNote]

But I think what he is saying is that you're going to be hitting a round metal shell on a hard flat surface. It's probably going to be very hard to keep the perfectly round shape of it.

I dont know whether it is a flat surface or rounded behind teh metal. i would imagine it to be round to avoid that issue

[Loser]

Good luck with this. If you are successful in making a working snare, if it sounds good or not, I'd love for you to post a step by step process of how you did it, what you used, and how much it costed. I have friends with connections, so if I wanted to I could have a metalworking shop at my disposal, and I'd love to try making a snare drum myself.

[GhostNote]

Good luck with this. If you are successful in making a working snare, if it sounds good or not, I'd love for you to post a step by step process of how you did it, what you used, and how much it costed. I have friends with connections, so if I wanted to I could have a metalworking shop at my disposal, and I'd love to try making a snare drum myself.

Yeah no worries, i just hope it works!:thumb:

[_Austin_]

Well, from what ive seen hand hammering is done using a rounded hammer and a rounded metal surface, yes it sounds easy...
But to think that each tap of your hammer will affect the circumference and sound somewhere and you need to know how to keep the circumference exact and change the sound and hammer the thing at the same time...

Not only are you trying to get a good sound out of the drum, you are trying to get a perfect circle (:p), in-which the hammering revolves.

And unless your relatives know anything about drums and all the little tiny variables that go into metal hammering for a sound. I dont think making a successful hand hammered metal snare drum is going to be as easy as it sounds...

I'd just buy all the stuff for a really nice wooden snare drum and/or buy a nice metal snare drum.

Its like what josiah said:

If you had the equipment and knowledge to cut edges in a metal shell, you wouldn't be asking about doing it.

Hammering isn't something you can learn in a short time. You need to be adequetely (sp?) educated in the process and how what you are looking to accomplish, is achieved.

One last thing, i think the money used for trial and error in making your own metal snare drum will be a a lot more than if you were to just buy one.

Anyway, hope you make the right decision :thumb:
-Austin

[GhostNote]

Yeah, im actually getting all of the equipment and materials free of charge.

[Wizz]

well good luck dude :thumb:

[GhostNote]

Cheers man!:chug:

[_Austin_]

Yeah, im actually getting all of the equipment and materials free of charge.

Oh, do it then!

If you have nothing to loose then why are you on here talking to us... HAMMER AWAY!! :lol:

But just dont expect it to be easy

[milkmit]

Oh, do it then!

If you have nothing to loose then why are you on here talking to us... HAMMER AWAY!! :lol:

But just dont expect it to be easy

agreed!
if you've got very little to lose, then nothing bad can come out of a little experimentation!! just don't expect anything especially good to come out of it.. not for the first couple dozen attempts, at least. ;)

good luck!

[GhostNote]

Yeah thats wat i thought, i'll post pics and steps that i took. When i sart making it early next year.