A New Very Happy Member Of The Guru Owners Family!

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!
 

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Congrats on your dream snare. You are at a place where any of us empty gear nuts dream to be: one snare to do it all.

Realistically I could cover everything I need with a single snare, maybe my favorite brass and my deep wood snares so I could have one drum to cover the 10% of situations in the studio that the other couldn't. However I'm not there, I don't trust my instruments enough to do that.

Now if I had a snare personally selected for me by the most caring man in the industry? Well then, I could sell my whole collection and take that one drum with confidence. That Andy is a right class act. I hope some day to own one of his drums. Congrats again.
 
Ohh wow - the rosewood snares are my favourites! Not that I'd swap my padauk for anything in the world, but the rosewoods are a special kind of special :)

The entire Guru experience is fantastic. This is why, time after time, people come on here and say how wonderful the drums are and how Andy has gone several extra miles above and beyond.

Enjoy! And if you put aside $1 for every time somebody says how beautiful your snare is, you'll soon be able to get another!
 
How does one drum evoke that kind of emotion?
Every time I finish a drum, I get that same childlike inner reaction when I lay a stick on it for the first time. It never goes away.

I'm super happy with my decision on this. I do tend to get a bit precious about our drums sometimes. Every one has a piece of me in it, but in my position, I shouldn't hoard as much as I do. When I evaluated all your ideal characteristics, this snare just jumped out at me.

Since then, something weird has happened though. I am getting another santos rosewood snare collected from a customer, & brought back to the UK, where it will live out it's days. It's a 13" x 7" example, & unfortunately, the shell has shrunk by 1/8" in diameter. It has been with a customer in an extremely arid area (circa 20% humidity or less) for a couple of months. This is most unusual, even taking the near desert conditions into account. It's nature's curved ball, & there's no predicting it, even amongst drums crafted from the same batch of timber. Luckily for me, we have great customers. This customer is most understanding, & we're discussing a more appropriate replacement drum. Once back in the UK, it will return to it's original dimensions.

We almost certainly will never build these again. They're a bear of a drum to build with all the PPE necessary, & they work out to be hideously expensive. We are currently building a whole range of new In-Tense series drums. One of which is a new ovangkol (Amazique) thin shell segmented In-Tense construction with near identical sonic characteristics. Wasn't going to announce those yet, but as we're here ;)
 

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Very impressive all around. Congratulations, R2112, on your finely crafted instrument!
 
Ah, one of the rosewood ones! I might have to come steal that, they sound unbelievable. Great purchase IMO. Andy, is that your first one in Texas?

Ha! Well, if you're ever in the Dallas area let me know and you can try it out. I won't leave you alone with it though :)


Congrats on your dream snare. You are at a place where any of us empty gear nuts dream to be: one snare to do it all.

Realistically I could cover everything I need with a single snare, maybe my favorite brass and my deep wood snares so I could have one drum to cover the 10% of situations in the studio that the other couldn't. However I'm not there, I don't trust my instruments enough to do that.

Now if I had a snare personally selected for me by the most caring man in the industry? Well then, I could sell my whole collection and take that one drum with confidence. That Andy is a right class act. I hope some day to own one of his drums. Congrats again.

Thank you. I feel the same. I've loved my vintage LM402 but it will be up for sale soon!

Ohh wow - the rosewood snares are my favourites! Not that I'd swap my padauk for anything in the world, but the rosewoods are a special kind of special :)

The entire Guru experience is fantastic. This is why, time after time, people come on here and say how wonderful the drums are and how Andy has gone several extra miles above and beyond.

Enjoy! And if you put aside $1 for every time somebody says how beautiful your snare is, you'll soon be able to get another!

Thank you Magenta. The Padauk was a wood that Andy also thought for me. What a gorgeous sounding wood. You said it perfectly though. The Rosewood is a special kind of special. :)

Yes! Another is definitely going to happen. I can't see me ever buying a snare from any other drum company. Gurus just sound too amazing!!


Very impressive all around. Congratulations, R2112, on your finely crafted instrument!

Than you!
 
Every time I finish a drum, I get that same childlike inner reaction when I lay a stick on it for the first time. It never goes away.

I'm super happy with my decision on this. I do tend to get a bit precious about our drums sometimes. Every one has a piece of me in it, but in my position, I shouldn't hoard as much as I do. When I evaluated all your ideal characteristics, this snare just jumped out at me.

Since then, something weird has happened though. I am getting another santos rosewood snare collected from a customer, & brought back to the UK, where it will live out it's days. It's a 13" x 7" example, & unfortunately, the shell has shrunk by 1/8" in diameter. It has been with a customer in an extremely arid area (circa 20% humidity or less) for a couple of months. This is most unusual, even taking the near desert conditions into account. It's nature's curved ball, & there's no predicting it, even amongst drums crafted from the same batch of timber. Luckily for me, we have great customers. This customer is most understanding, & we're discussing a more appropriate replacement drum. Once back in the UK, it will return to it's original dimensions.

We almost certainly will never build these again. They're a bear of a drum to build with all the PPE necessary, & they work out to be hideously expensive. We are currently building a whole range of new In-Tense series drums. One of which is a new ovangkol (Amazique) thin shell segmented In-Tense construction with near identical sonic characteristics. Wasn't going to announce those yet, but as we're here ;)

Wow! I've never heard of that happening. Natures curve ball for sure. I have no doubt you will make that customer a perfect replacement.

I can't wait to hear the new range of In-Tense snares including the Ovangkol. I have a feeling one of those might just be Guru snare #2 for me ;-)
 
Congratulations! I have your drum's 7 x 14 sibling and I'm not exaggerating when I say it's been life changing for me. As Andy said, there won't be any more of these so I reckon we can count ourselves lucky.
 
Hey congratulations. That's one rare snare. The rosewoods look all kinds of gorgeous. The 5.75 is a nice depth.
 
Congratulations! I have your drum's 7 x 14 sibling and I'm not exaggerating when I say it's been life changing for me. As Andy said, there won't be any more of these so I reckon we can count ourselves lucky.

I totally understand what you mean. Congrats on yours. I saw your video. What an amazing tone! Yes, I feel very blessed to have it. This is one drum I know I'll never sell. :)
 
Hey congratulations. That's one rare snare. The rosewoods look all kinds of gorgeous. The 5.75 is a nice depth.

Thank you so much Larry! Your Guru collection is staggering. I'm very envious for sure! Are you a doctor on the side? lol.

I was wanting an extremely versatile size. The combo of Santos Rosewood and 5.75 fit me perfectly. :)
 
Congratulations! I have your drum's 7 x 14 sibling and I'm not exaggerating when I say it's been life changing for me. As Andy said, there won't be any more of these so I reckon we can count ourselves lucky.

Welcome to the Santos rosewood club. They're extraordinary! I have a 7x14 as well.
 
Congratulations! I have your drum's 7 x 14 sibling and I'm not exaggerating when I say it's been life changing for me. As Andy said, there won't be any more of these so I reckon we can count ourselves lucky.

What is special about it? What makes you love it so much?
 
Welcome to the Santos rosewood club. They're extraordinary! I have a 7x14 as well.

Thanks! That's a great word to use in describing them. I've seen a few photos of your Guru snare collection. The word extraordinary comes to mind describing your collection too! :)
 
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