Drum Factory Direct "home made" snare drum?

Totigerus

Totigerus

Well-known Member
Anyone here ever make a "home made" DFD drum? I put together the parts for a black beauty-ish snare drum and I was kinda surprised at the total price. Some of the parts don't match in my pic attached because DFD didn't have the correct parts available at this time but it's still a ball park estimate for demonstrative purposes.
Show us your DFD drums if you got 'em!
 

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Apparently. this is a DFD drum, based on my Google search skills. Not sure if that means a Drum Factory Direct drum or some other company I've never heard of, but...anyways it's still a nice drum to lust after. 😊 Still hoping someone has some pics of their actual Drum Factory Direct drums made from their website's parts.
 

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Just my two cents, but I'd buy the basic stuff from them, and then source the rims, heads, snare wires, etc, anywhere you can get a better deal. $73 apiece for rims is sick. Buy them used.
 
Scroll down a bit here:
www.ebay.com

Ludwig Black Beauty 6.5x14 Snare Drum for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Ludwig Black Beauty 6.5x14 Snare Drum at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
Most places say 'out of stock', but it looks like they may have one.

EDIT: oops - "This listing was ended by the seller on Wed, Jan 31 at 6:44 AM because the item is no longer available."
 
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I have built a few snares over the years.

I'm mostly a wood snare guy (who enjoys the few well chosen metal drums I have as well) so I built 3 wood snares, one of which is a primary recording drum in cherry ply.

BUT....

For a first build, one option is the route I went based on advice from a drum building forum that has since disappeared......

Shop for a cheap used snare with decent hardware in the size you want to build and then source a shell and go through all the finish, layout, drilling etc. and that way you don't have too much into the whole project. My first started with a used Gretsch Catalina drum for <$100 and a Keller maple shell......all in maybe $200ish with heads a few years back. Learned a lot.....it still is a great meat and potatoes maple ply snare with a good vintage tone to it.

Just an option......if you are hankering for a project as you can source some decent hardware for a heck of a lot less than DFD. Of course I used DFD and Drum Foundry for some or all of my hardware on the other builds (walnut stave and cherry ply)
 
Totigerus said:
I would have thought that was a Tama drum. So that's a DFD shell with Tama lugs and a Tama throw off? Can you walk me through how you chose your hardware?
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Yes, that's Tama hardware. I scavenged it from a Tama snare with a damaged shell (okay, I admit it - I damaged the shell trying to modify the snare beds!).

I bought the raw shell from DFD, finished it, laid out the holes and drilled them, and then put it all together.

So, in fairness, it isn't a strictly DFD drum.

I have bought a bunch of hardware from them, though. I have bought nickel hoops, 302 style hoops, snare wires, regular 2.6 mm chrome triple-flange hoops, etc. I've been pleased with everything I've gotten from them.
 
I'm glad you got what you wanted but that build could have been MUCH cheaper by using triple flange hoops, no-tube lugs, non-Puresound wires and a basic strainer instead of a DW MAG and a non-P77 Color Tone head.

No offense, but if you are using a Powerstoke 77 batter head and Die Cast hoops, you could have just played the cardboard box it came in and used inferior snare wires. That drum is going to have very little subtlety and tone with that combo, but again, if that's what you want then that's all that matters.
 
Totigerus said:
I put together the parts for a black beauty-ish snare drum and I was kinda surprised at the total price. Some of the parts don't match in my pic attached because DFD didn't have the correct parts available at this time but it's still a ball park estimate for demonstrative purposes.
Click to expand...
Well, if you want a Black Beauty, and you want tube lugs on it ....... and you want die cast hoops ....... I found one on Reverb for $940. So your price of $574 sounds pretty sweet.

https://reverb.com/item/79439395-lu...ass-snare-drum-w- protection-racket-hard-case

Closest thing I could find on video is this. With a matte finish, tube lugs & die cast hoops. Certainly the die cast dry the sound a bit. If the matte finish is a paint, then it probably dries out the sound some more (I know my lacquered Yamaha Kabuto sounds a tad warmer that it's "standard" brethren. ;)

 
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BobC said:
Do you need diecast hoops?
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I just added die casts hoops because I've played Gretsch my entire life so I'm used to them. But no I guess I don't "need them" But I've already realized that this project is a no go for me. I found lots of B stock and used snares for cheaper so I'm just gonna do that. 🤓
 
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vyacheslav said:
I'm glad you got what you wanted but that build could have been MUCH cheaper by using triple flange hoops, no-tube lugs, non-Puresound wires and a basic strainer instead of a DW MAG and a non-P77 Color Tone head.

No offense, but if you are using a Powerstoke 77 batter head and Die Cast hoops, you could have just played the cardboard box it came in and used inferior snare wires. That drum is going to have very little subtlety and tone with that combo, but again, if that's what you want then that's all that matters.
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Well, I am trying to go for that Herman Rarebell snare sound, so none of that matters to me...except the high prices of the parts of coarse! 😁
 
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