Snare: Replacing Yamaha Birch SC Snare with Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute Snare?

sciomako

Silver Member
I don't like the snare came with the new Yamaha Birch Stage Custom kit. The overtones cause the snare wires to make very ugly sound. I have it tamed a bit with an Evans HD Dry batter head. But I still don't like the sound.

The reference of the sound I like is the snare from an old Premier Maple Artist kit that I use at my church (fitted with a Remo Fiberskyn head). Quite naturally I think I prefer the warmth from maple shells. Beyond that, I don't know much about snare drums.

1. Should I continue to tinker with birch SC snare? How big is the difference with a different set of snare wires? Any recommendation?

2. I saw a used Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute snare for sale on ebay. Will that be a good choice? How much should I expect to pay for it?

3. Any other suggestions? What kind of price range should I look at for a half-decent snare drum that won't cost me a fortune?

Thanks guys.
 
Before you do anything, crank the reso head way up, to the point where you start to think it might stretch. Then play it. If that doesn't do it, then different heads and wires. Just keep that reso insanely tight. I have a stage custom snare, on loan. I love that thing, it's so alive.
 
Uncle Larry,

I like the Stage Custom toms (with coated G2 heads). They sound lively. It's just the snare giving grief. I think the reso head is already very tight. I will give it another try.

Btw, when tuning the reso head, the 4 lugs around the snare bed will have lower tension (i.e. lower pitch) if I give all the lugs the same number of turns. Do I tune them to the same tension as the other lugs?
 
Actually they would be cranked down more to get the same tension as the rest of the drum. So crank them puppies down. Keep going until you fear you might stretch the head from the hoop. Right around there.
 
The Stage Custom snare can be pretty ringy even with a Dry head.
First make sure you've got it tuned right.
If it's not tuned right, the ring will probably sound bad to you. If it's tuned and still to ringy, try placing something on the head, to see if it cuts it down to where you like it.

You could try some PureSound snares on it, but the stock snares do an OK job. I wouldn't expect a drastic change in sound from installing different snares.

I've got several Stage Custom snares, and like them a lot. But if they're not to your liking, try something else. I'd say get to a store that will let you try out a few.
Maybe you'd like a metal snare better than a different wood snare.
 
@Larry: Thanks.

@wildbill: Yeah, I went through many many rounds of tuning and I understand if any of the lugs on SC snare is not in tune, it is absolutely terrible. I didn't know drums were so hard to tune until I got this kit. LOL. Maybe I should try some moongels. Thanks.
 
.... The overtones cause the snare wires to make very ugly sound...


Have you tried tightening and loosening your snare wires. It's hard to tell from what you say, what exactly it is that's causing problems. Is it unpleasant overtones, excessive ringiness, or something with your snares.

About the moon gels. Sure - slap one on, or try a studio ring. If it results in something you like, it's a lot cheaper than buying a new snare. I'd say try something that you have on hand for free first.
The old standby was to put your wallet on the side of the top head - but that's a bit heavy handed - ha ha.

You could watch some of the youtube videos about tuning drums too, if you haven't already. They get recommended here a lot.
 
Hi wildbill,

I bumped into this old post by BigDinSD in a thread about snare wire. His description matches my problem with the Yamaha SC snare:

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=932819#post932819

BigDinSD said:
I found the Puresound custom pro's to be VERY sensitive to an untuned reso head. They buzz ugly if your reso is out of tune. Because they are very sensitive, they have a longer buzz when you hit off center.

So maybe my reso isn't tuned probably?

Btw, I've tried an o-ring. With it on, the drum sounded like underwater. (is "boxy" the right word?) Not my cup of tea.

Have you tried tightening and loosening your snare wires. It's hard to tell from what you say, what exactly it is that's causing problems. Is it unpleasant overtones, excessive ringiness, or something with your snares.

About the moon gels. Sure - slap one on, or try a studio ring. If it results in something you like, it's a lot cheaper than buying a new snare. I'd say try something that you have on hand for free first.
The old standby was to put your wallet on the side of the top head - but that's a bit heavy handed - ha ha.

You could watch some of the youtube videos about tuning drums too, if you haven't already. They get recommended here a lot.
 
...Btw, I've tried an o-ring. With it on, the drum sounded like underwater. (is "boxy" the right word?) Not my cup of tea...


I'm guessing you probably won't be happy with the Stage Custom snare even if you put different snare wires on it.

I'd say go try some different snares, and see if there's one you really like that's in your price range.
 
I had a stage custom kit for a short time and I took the head off the snare and replaced it with a different one, long story I wanted the head from the sc, never played the kit or snare before I sold them, anyway I remember the snare sounding like crap. real ringy and buzzy. I only half way tuned the batter and didn't mess with the reso which usually make a huge difference as well as snare tension. a sinle piece of moongel does the trick most times, its light weight so it doesn't kill the drum, just cuts the buzz.
 
I wouldn't be buying a yamaha maple custom snare just because its yamaha and it's maple. I'd go to a drum store where they have a bunch of snares for you to test and you'll see how random snares are.. How similar/different they sound, how the cheap ones can sound better etc etc
 
Thanks guys.

My buying impulse was (temporarily) tamed by The Missus. I (wisely?) told my wife I was thinking of replacing the snare. I told her since I was buying this blind without hearing how it actually sounded, the look/finish would be an important factor here. I showed her the online pic. She said she didn't like the sparkling blue finish. So were my kids!

So I ended up not buying it.
 
I had a SC kit (100% birch); couldn't get a proper sound of that snare either. Ended up selling the snare first and finally the rest of the kit. I now have an RC, with a Birch Custom Absolute snare and love them. Funny that.

Dutch
 
...My buying impulse was (temporarily) tamed by The Missus...


In that case, give your Stage Custom another try. I've got a few of them and really like them.

Some of the things I've done to them are to put an S hoop on one, I've got HD Dry and G2 heads on a couple, PureSound snare wires on one.
Both the resonant and batter heads are at various tensions, and I use a studio ring on one.
I tensioned the snares up tight enough to choke it - backed them off till they got flappy and buzzy and then found the right middle ground for them. Probably a few other things I'm forgetting now too.

The one I use the most has the S hoop and HD dry head. It's got a good, solid thwack (not crack) sound in the center, and a very musical ring halfway in from there towards the rim. It's not a long, ugly ring, but a pleasant ring that I like hearing, and it gets out of the way in an acceptable amount of time.
Maybe the ring that sounds quite pleasant to me would sound ugly to you though - ha ha.
They're sensitive enough to pick up light ghost notes. And I don't really have anything negative to say about them.

I'm thinking that if you're getting a ring that sounds ugly to you, it's probably a matter of head tension/tuning. If the ugliness is buzzy, it's probably that your snares are too loose .

You might never get it to where you want it, and might be happier with another snare, but it sounds like now is a good time for you to mess around with it a bit more.
 
When I used to work at Guitar Center, I got quite a few of those snares to sound pretty good. I put an AmbassadorX on one. I cranked the reso extremely tight, and I tuned the top about mid-range. I had the wires just touching the reso. It had a nice pop with a touch of meat. No snare buzz. I've also gotten them to sound good with a Remo X14 tuned the same way.
 
I think it's crucial to dial in the drum itself with lots of tweaking (heads, wire tension, tuning pitches for both heads in combination). Expect to spend some time here. This process should be methodical and drama-free. You will really get to know the instrument.

I have played the Stage Custom Birch and the Tour Custom Maple snares, and they share identical hardware. I believe they are workable, and they both sound OK (in the shops; don't own them).

To throw the requisite fuel on the fire (apologies to the missus), I play a natural finish Maple Custom Absolute that I bought used for two Benjamins. Damn Dude, I love this drum.
 
I spent my entire Saturday tweaking the kit. (Suffice to say, that drove my wife nuts.)

I now can get a half-decent sound from the snare by itself. Now I know the batter head needs to tune high on this birch SC snare. (IIRC, it's 87 on the drum dial.)

But sympathetic resonance from the toms is still making ugly buzz. The buzz basically lasts as long as the toms overtones last, with the high pitch overtone sound instead of white noise buzz. Putting a couple of tapes on the toms helped. But that killed the toms' lively tones.

Any suggestions?

I've looked up Puresound snare wires. Both their Custom Pro and Equalizer ranges are said to reduce sympathetic buzz. Any opinions on them? Worth a try?

p.s. Reciting from memory: I have HD Dry and 300 on the snare drum. Coated G2 on the toms. Reso heads on the toms are tuned perfect 4th higher than the batter heads. The toms are tuned minor 3rd apart from each other.
 
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I spent my entire Saturday tweaking the kit. (Suffice to say, that drove my wife nuts.)

I now can get a half-decent sound from the snare by itself. Now I know the batter head needs to tune high on this birch SC snare. (IIRC, it's 87 on the drum dial.)

But sympathetic resonance from the toms is still making ugly buzz. The buzz basically lasts as long as the toms overtones last, with the high pitch overtone sound instead of white noise buzz. Putting a couple of tapes on the toms helped. But that killed the toms' lively tones.

Any suggestions?

I've looked up Puresound snare wires. Both their Custom Pro and Equalizer ranges are said to reduce sympathetic buzz. Any opinions on them? Worth a try?

p.s. Reciting from memory: I have HD Dry and 300 on the snare drum. Coated G2 on the toms. Reso heads on the toms are tuned perfect 4th higher than the batter heads. The toms are tuned minor 3rd apart from each other.

whats the number on the drumdail when it comes to the toms? try dropping the one increment to change the pitch. ex: 85batter/84reso ----> 84/83 and see if it takes some of the buzz off
 
But sympathetic resonance from the toms is still making ugly buzz. The buzz basically lasts as long as the toms overtones last, with the high pitch overtone sound instead of white noise buzz. Putting a couple of tapes on the toms helped. But that killed the toms' lively tones.

Any suggestions?

Sympathetic buzz from the toms is a tuning issue -- the snare and at least one of the toms are either tuned to the same pitch or share some primary harmonics. Change the pitch of either of those drums and you'll reduce the problem.

As far as the ringiness of the snare, you might want to have a good custom builder take a look at the edges. I don't know where you're located so I can't make a recommendation, but it might be a good cost compromise to recut one or both edges -- certainly less than buying a new drum.
 
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