Pimp My Snare

[Victor Alexandrov]

When I decided against building my own bell bronze snare as finding all the necessary hardware parts got really frustrating, I just bought a complete Oriollo - shell, hoops, hardware, and all.

Since some of its parts weren't exactly what I wanted, I said to myself that I should spare the aggravation obsessing over any small details and just play it as is.

Which I did for a while, until one of the snare ribbons suddenly broke, which had never happened to me before. I investigated the problem and found that the snare side hoop has really sharp edges in its machined snare holes.



I immediately uninstalled the hoop and spent a few minutes in the workshop with a strip of sandpaper.



Even without putting too much effort, the edge smoothed out considerably and I hope it won't break any ribbons ever again.



I wasn't too happy about the fact that such a small thing could be missed and not addressed before the product goes to the customer, especially at this price point, but oh well.

And since I already began tinkering with this snare, I might as well upgrade a few other things.

[Victor Alexandrov]

When removing the bottom hoop, I noticed that all the fasteners on the inside of the shell are mismatched and the bolts for the strainer/butt are stainless, but the bolts for the lugs are nickel plated and really cheap looking.



A quick trip to the hardware store got me all the necessary matching stainless steel bolts with stainless steel washers and spring washers, all for the price equivalent of $3.



I know that this upgrade brings nothing to the sound, but the cheap fasteners were really an eyesore and don't think this type of cutting corners should ever be present in a boutique snare drum. Oh well again.

[Victor Alexandrov]

While changing the lug bolts, I noticed that the tension rods were really low quality and some of them had their chrome peeling off and some of it was jammed in the lug insert threads. I inspected the inserts further and noticed that they are low quality too and their threading was really rough, which is totally no bueno, given the high end polished stainless steel lugs that they were installed in.







This time I knew what to do from the get go, having read many of Josh's posts here, so I ordered this snare from Italy to use it for a parts donor, namely its stainless steel tension rods and its brass lug inserts.





The operation was rather effortless - the brass inserts fitted nicely in the stainless steel lugs.







And the bell bronze snare finally had its first proper upgrade - Pearl stainless steel tension rods and brass lug inserts, which work really smooth together.



Since the bell bronze snare is a 13", it has 16 bolts, while the Pearl is a 14" with 20 bolts, I went to the nearest music store and got new Gibraltar spare rods and inserts in order to assemble the Pearl again.



I have to admit that I was really impressed by the quality of the Pearl snare - everything about it was really solid, smooth and well built. It tunes and sings nicely even with the replacement hardware on it, and a good friend of mine is willing to buy it, which will cut some of my losses.

[Victor Alexandrov]

The last upgrade so far was more of a surprise one for me - as I was going through my spare parts bin to find plastic washers for the Pearl snare, I found these hi-carbon super sensitive Tama snare wires, which I had bought several years ago but they didn't work good with my G-Maple, so I apparently put them away and forgot about them.



The Oriollo has its proprietary snare wires which are OK although nothing special, but when I swapped them out for the Tama ones, the bell bronze ultra sensitive nature really came to light. The snare started sounding really crisp and tight, so I left them there.



Now I wonder what else could I do to this snare, and at the same time a voice in my head keeps nagging that I should play more and tinker less.

[Feenix]

I'm really digging the "oh well" theme here.

You're not wrong that one might expect better of boutique drums, but then again, customization and tinkering is half the fun of owning drums!

[keaton_86]

Man, that is a lot of work on a brand new, $1000 snare drum. It looks great now, but you really shouldn't have to change half the parts on a snare before you can enjoy it.

[Victor Alexandrov]

My thoughts exactly, hence all the oh wells.

This is the reason I’m sharing all this - I don’t think it’s acceptable to cut corners on a product that’s supposed to be premium, and I want all this to be known for any future buyers.

[Josh Conover]

Very cool!

I mean, not that you had to do them, but that you did, and it’s a better drum now.

I really enjoy doing stuff like this. I love bringing a snare all the way down to the bare shell and cleaning all the parts before re assembling. There’s a certain satisfaction and assurance in putting it back together yourself.

Those Chad Smith/Limited Edition shells make great donor drums if you’re looking for the stainless steel tension rods. I think a pack of 6 is near $30, which is just ridiculous.

[Victor Alexandrov]

They cost 37 euro around here, which is even worse.