R2112
Silver Member
I recently reached out to Andy to start the process of building my dream snare. I always hoped that one day, I would be lucky enough to be a proud owner of a Guru snare. IMO, they are the pinnacle of hand-crafted snares and I was thankfully now in a position to be able to acquire one of my own. Andy asked me to make a wish list of every characteristic that I wanted in a snare, adding additional questions pertaining to my playing style and performance venues …etc. A few days of emails were traded back and forth, where I gained much more insight and a deeper understanding of drums. Andy is a wealth of knowledge and so gracious in giving of his time to answer questions. He was happy to build me a snare; however, he told me that all of the characteristics I was wanting and all of my “wish list” descriptions pointed to a drum that he had already built. Unfortunately, he said that it was a drum in his personal collection which was not for sale. My eyes widened though when he later said he was beginning to have second thoughts. Out of complete humility, he asked for some time to genuinely think about it and when I found out what snare he was talking about, I almost fell out of my chair! The next day, I received an email that blew me away – in it, he opened up and revealed some personal reflection he had gone through. He then went on to say that he would be happy to sell me his snare if I wanted it (I almost had a heart attack!). Once the transaction was complete. Andy carefully and professionally packaged and protected my dream snare and that Friday began its journey to Texas. By Monday morning, it was in my very, very excited and thrilled hands! Even when I was holding it, I was still in disbelief that it was actually mine…my all-time dream snare!
IMHO, Andy and Dean of Guru drums make the highest quality, best sounding and most beautiful drums in the world. That’s not the end to the genius of Guru though. Equally as important, is the level of compassion, generosity and care that Andy gives his customers…which he delivers upon in spades! Andy, you have another life-long customer.
In case anyone was wondering… ;-) The snare that Andy sold to me was the last in only a handful that he ever made - the In-Tense Series Santos Rosewood, 14” x 5.75”. The tone is everything I wanted and so much more! It is beautiful and rich in any tuning; never dead sounding and doesn’t choke. It’s such a true joy to play and I feel like a kid again. I am reminded of just starting to play the drums when everything was so fun, new and exciting! How does one drum evoke that kind of emotion? A humble and sincere thank you to Andy, for making a dream come true!
IMHO, Andy and Dean of Guru drums make the highest quality, best sounding and most beautiful drums in the world. That’s not the end to the genius of Guru though. Equally as important, is the level of compassion, generosity and care that Andy gives his customers…which he delivers upon in spades! Andy, you have another life-long customer.
In case anyone was wondering… ;-) The snare that Andy sold to me was the last in only a handful that he ever made - the In-Tense Series Santos Rosewood, 14” x 5.75”. The tone is everything I wanted and so much more! It is beautiful and rich in any tuning; never dead sounding and doesn’t choke. It’s such a true joy to play and I feel like a kid again. I am reminded of just starting to play the drums when everything was so fun, new and exciting! How does one drum evoke that kind of emotion? A humble and sincere thank you to Andy, for making a dream come true!