Guru Drumworks oak steambent snare

Andy

Honorary Member
Hi guys, as some of you know, I've designed a new approach to drum construction, & Dean at Guru Drumworks is building the kit. I travelled to meet Dean earlier this week to progress the project, & this beauty was sitting in his exhibition trunk. Anyhow, I just had to pick it up from Dean. It's standard production for Dean, not the experimental stuff we're working on.

A simple soul. 14" x 6.5", Dunnett swivel throwoff, 8 lugs & flanged hoops, just perfect for a nice lively snare but with the body associated with depth. The oak has quite a high fundamental tone with plenty of resonance from the steambent shell. Hope you like the simple elegance as much as I do.
 

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Wow! Now that is a serious piece of work. I would imagine it sounds as good as it looks. Are you actually making a whole kit w/steam bent oak?
 
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Huge, gorgeous snare,Andy. Its bigger than your house for sure. Is oak louder you think?


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Huge, gorgeous snare,Andy. Its bigger than your house for sure. Is oak louder you think?


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Cheers Abe, yes, the perspective is a bit skewed. Did I mention it's 14 feet x 6.5 feet, lol! As for volume, I don't think oak is much different to most woods, but it is more focussed than most, therefore the perception of higher volume might be present. Steambent shells produce a lively, almost excited sound. They're certainly distinct from multiple ply & stave. I'd say stave or solid are probably the loudest, but there's so many variables, it's difficult to be conclusive.


Wow! Now that is a serious piece of work. I would imagine it sounds as good as it looks. Are you actually making a whole kit w/steam bent oak?
Thanks! Yes, it sounds great, but so does everything from Guru Drumworks. No, we're not making a steambent oak kit, but something sooooo much more interesting than that. Can't say too much because of potential patent registrations, but I can tell you it's stave shells, from 200 year old mahogany. I just picked this up from Dean because it winked at me!
 
Nice! I picked up a solid red oak snare this past summer, and I'm in love with the sound of it. Oak is definitely a "crisper" sounding wood when compared to maple. I like the look of yours better, though. :(

:D
Cheers Caddy, when you say "solid", what do you mean? Agreed, oak is a crisp sound. I guess it's the hardness & weight compared to maple.
 
Truly stunning. Did you say they are making an entire kit like this? Mindblowing. Tell us more.
Thanks DMC, I just picked this up when visiting Dean At Guru. It was winking at me from his show trunk. Dean already makes all steambent and stave drumkits from many woods. He prefers to use very old timber, & so do I. Dean & I are working on a very different type of drum kit. It will feature ultra thin stave shells (1/8") made from 200 year old mahogany. I can't discuss the unique side of things, as we may proceed to patent on this one, depending on the result of the first build. I can tell you that the principal of design flies in the face of all accepted thinking in drum design. That means we'll either create something truly wonderful, or truly useless. Time will tell, but I'm reasonably confident. If the end result is a superb drum kit that performs as well as the very best available, we will have failed!

For now, this is a proven standard production piece for Guru Drumworks, & I love it's honesty & craftsmanship. Dean is a true artisan wood craftsman, & his reputation as the very best of builders is well deserved.
 
I like it Andy.....very sweet looking drum. Is there any correlation between the denser oak and only 8 lugs? I know 8 lugs are certainly not uncommon, but I think most of the custom 14" snares I've seen (which isn't a hell of a lot, tbo) have been made with 10.
 
Im actually close to being done with a red oak stave snare build, its such a lovely looking wood, not to "far out" just nicely figured in a sort of sophisticated understated way. enough of my babbling, i just wanted to ask what finish he put on that drum, it looks pretty satin, was it just a few coats of oil on the wood? Thats almost exactly the look i wanted to go for with this drum
 
Andy, That is one sweet looking snare. You know i am chomping at the bit to see this kit!
Please keep us posted on the progress of it.

And for those that haven't looked at Guru' s site, you need to. Everything looks so classy!

http://www.gurudrumworks.co.uk/gallery.html
Cheers Gary. The big project is now underway and the build is started. Dean's putting together the CAD drawings for the drilling templates then shell production begins, whoohoo! It's a complicated build & uncharted territory, so I expect things to take a while. If it all works out well, it'll be a while longer before I'm able to tell my DW buddies the details. I might be able to put up pictures, but that's about it. Got to be so careful with detail release initially, as you know only too well. There's some tooling to put down too, & that always adds to the timeframe.

very nice drum, congrats.
Thanks, I couldn't resist it!

I like it Andy.....very sweet looking drum. Is there any correlation between the denser oak and only 8 lugs? I know 8 lugs are certainly not uncommon, but I think most of the custom 14" snares I've seen (which isn't a hell of a lot, tbo) have been made with 10.
Thanks Pocket, good question. No real correlation between the wood & 8 lugs. 8 vs.10 lug is a common discussion point. 8 lugs puts less metal on the shell & offers slightly better tuning retention. 10 lugs gives a more even tuning around the head and improves the ability to get higher tensions. My personal take is that 8 lug partners well with a lively shell & flanged hoops. 10 lug partners well with a heavier shell & cast hoops. All that said, my new snare (the one to go with my experimental kit) will be 12 lug (if we can fit them in with the special throwoff), but that's on a 1.5" thick stave shell & full wood hoops.

Im actually close to being done with a red oak stave snare build, its such a lovely looking wood, not to "far out" just nicely figured in a sort of sophisticated understated way. enough of my babbling, i just wanted to ask what finish he put on that drum, it looks pretty satin, was it just a few coats of oil on the wood? Thats almost exactly the look i wanted to go for with this drum
This is, to the best of my knowledge, a rubbed oil finish. Dean has found an oil that polishes to a buff finish. Dean, please chime in & clarify if you read this.
 
Yes indeed, and that is why I love it so much and wish you well. I have never played a steam bent kit but I would love to. In the meantime, I'll have to settle for what I have.
I think you've got me wrong there DMC. This snare is a standard steambent shell, with normal lugs, hoops, etc. I just picked it up because I like it, & love Dean's craftsmanship. The kit we're building is anything but standard. It's not steambent, it's ultra thin stave, but uses a design principal that's 180 degrees opposite all current thinking on what makes up a drum sound. I'll post when it's finished & I can offer details.

Nice looking drum you have there Andy!
Cheers DED, she's a honey isn't she!
 
great looking snare, I'd love to hear it in a video with your beautiful Amedia Cymbals!

Can't wait to see your kit my friend, I know it will be stunning!

-Jonathan
 
great looking snare, I'd love to hear it in a video with your beautiful Amedia Cymbals!

Can't wait to see your kit my friend, I know it will be stunning!

-Jonathan
Thanks Jonathan, I'll see what I can do about a video clip. I'm taking it to band practice tomorrow, so maybe I can capture something rough there.

As for the big kit project, that will take some time yet, but it's rolling. The aim is for it to sound stunning, & we're paying attention to the appearance too, but there's no doubting it will look very different to a normal kit. Whether that turns out to be a thing of beauty, or a pig in lipstick, I'm not sure yet.
 
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