Snare Drum - The Start

Segmented Drum Example

Right at the end of completing the Segmented Bowl I received an email asking if I would be interested in building a custom snare drum.  I had a few irons in the fire that I needed to complete but once they were done we got in touch for some preliminary discussions on the project.  As it worked out I was going to be in Illinois where the person lived a couple weeks later.  We got together to work out some more specific construction details and look at various material possibilities.  I left the meeting with a decision to build the shell using segmented construction plus enough information to begin doing some drawings.  We had also came up with a short list of possible material choices.

Once back home working in SketchUp I put together a draft plan and through several discussions refined the drawings it to come up with what we both felt was a good plan. 

 

Progress Drawings

Proposed Edge Detail

One of the major discussion points was regarding the bearing edge at the top and bottom to provide the best acoustic response.  Right now this is what we are leaning toward but it is not yet final.

During this time we narrowed the wood material down to two choices Zebrawood and Leopardwood.  Because I was using segmented construction the edge of the board becomes the show face.  Most of the time this works to my advantage in that flat sawn material becomes quartersawn and looks great.  However, both Zebrawood and Leopardwood are cut at the mill so the face has the characteristic decorative grain on the wide part of the board and the edge is blah. 

 

Leopardwood Show Face

Leopardwood Edge View

Zebrawood Show Face

Zebrawood Edge View

Segmented Block Drawing

Since the blocks in the segmented 

layers are 1½” thick and 1¼” wide I had to find wood in pieces at least 1¼” thick.  This is because when I cut the segmented blocks and rotated the pieces so the good 1½” show face would be out I would have the 1¼” available to turn the drum shell round.  Finding these two woods that thick narrows the sources down tremendously.  I did find a couple of mail order places that had Zebrawood that thick but no luck with the Leopardwood. 

As it turned out my client ended up deciding on Leopardwood as his first choice.   In doing additional research I finally found one company located in Tucson, AZ that had a supply of 1½” X 1½” X 30” Leopardwood turning blanks.   This was great as pieces this size will allow me to pick the best face and cut accordingly.  So far this project has had a charmed life, I was going to be in Tucson the next week and could hand pick the pieces.  When I got to the store they had a fair sized stack and I sorted through every piece to get what I needed plus one for me to use on a future undetermined project.

Zebrawood Blanks

Back home I checked their moisture content to see if I would need to let the pieces dry, all were between 5.5% and 7.6% so that was good.  

Moisture Content Testing & Results

Before I start a new project I generally check the accuracy of the tools.  I learned the hard way what happens if the blade in the table saw or the crosscut fence is not square.  The easy way to check is to take two boards about 2” wide and 16” long then trim one end of each.

 

Test Cut for Squareness

With the ends trimmed stand the boards on the cut ends next to each other.  Take a look to see if the long edges are tight then rotate one board front to back.  In both cases there should not be a gap between the long edges.  If there is the blade is not square to the top.  If the faces of the boards are not in the same plane, that is they pitch forward or backward then the fence is not square with the blade.  In my case everything looked good and no adjustments were needed.

Checking for Squareness

Next Up – Test Finish, Mockups & Mounting Fixture