Canadian stave snares

A

AVA Drums

Member
Hi folks.
Been playing around with building stave snares over the last 5 years.
I'm really happy with the results I'm getting now so I stuck a website together.
These snares are technically not round on the outside, they retain the flat outer sides of the staves... The staves interlock with custom made inhouse cutterheads for the moulder. Have a look if you wish.
Thank you!

avadrums.com
 
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Old Dog new Cans

Old Dog new Cans

Senior Member
They look pretty great! Audio clips, and pics or videos of the bearing edges and I'd like to see the inner shells.

With the outside not being perfectly round, is there like a "lip" near the bearing edge?

Very cool. I hope you sell some here. Good luck
 
A

AVA Drums

Member
Yes there is a 1" reveal on the top and bottom for the skin to seat. Technically the drums are undersize at 13.75" where the skin sits. Just like my signia kit.
I'm working on custom made lugs that will allow me to run a 13.875 diameter and avoid lug splay.
They will move the tension rod closer to the shell..... But I like how they tune being that 1/8" undersize so I might not even bother and leave them as is.


20191129-214803
 
A

AVA Drums

Member
You can see on the last pic how my staves come out of the moulder. Inner radius is cut perfectly and the interlocking profile keeps alignment bang on during assembly. Just needs a light sanding after glue up. 0.05mm precision cutting gets me to exact OD I require everytime.
Snare bed is 7" wide with a continuous curve. I use a cnc cut template for that too.
It's just something a bit different from the norm.
No sound vids yet. Working on it though!
 
Old Dog new Cans

Old Dog new Cans

Senior Member
I like different for sure. Really nice work. I will be keeping my eye on your drums for sometime next year. I've been wanting a stave shell snare. Thanks for posting the extra pics. I'm more into the building side of drums these days. I like the work. I've built one, with a keller maple shell. I also recently purchased a shell from Champagne Drums in Canada. Greg does nice work with birch shells and offers some veneers that I took advantage of.

Good luck.
 
MrInsanePolack

MrInsanePolack

Platinum Member
That blue is just gorgeous. Looks deep enough to swim in.

Do you finish the uncolored section with a clear or is it bare wood?
 
A

AVA Drums

Member
Thanks for the comments.
The uncolored section is finished too.
I tint the lacquer, apply, then machine through it then clear over everything.
Working on some exotics right now too.

Care to guess the species?

 
A

AVA Drums

Member
There are quite a few running keller shells so trying something different from the ground up!
Purpleheart, zebrawood, tigerwood, beech with purpleheart stripe and merbau mahogany. These will be just clear finished except the mahogany, it looks like poop
 
A

AVA Drums

Member
Not sure how that would sound!
I can tape it up tight without glue to machine the edges and fit the lugs. Then when skins are tensioned cut the tape.
I'd imagine it to be quite dead as a taped up non glued shell has no resonant note like a glued one.
Once you take the skin off it would all fall apart. Part of the fun I suppose!
 
D

Drum_Muffin

Active member
AVA Drums said:
Not sure how that would sound!
I can tape it up tight without glue to machine the edges and fit the lugs. Then when skins are tensioned cut the tape.
I'd imagine it to be quite dead as a taped up non glued shell has no resonant note like a glued one.
Once you take the skin off it would all fall apart. Part of the fun I suppose!
Click to expand...
 
retoxtony

retoxtony

Senior Member
I like the idea of leaving the staves flat on one side. I’ve always wanted to try to make a stave drum out of my old hockey sticks and somehow leave the sides flat so you could see the old logos on the side and just lacquer over them. From my understanding wooden hockey sticks were usually made of birch, maple, ash or a combination of them, so it should be decent wood for a drum.

Any thoughts on this Ava?
 
D

Drum_Muffin

Active member
retoxtony said:
I like the idea of leaving the staves flat on one side. I’ve always wanted to try to make a stave drum out of my old hockey sticks and somehow leave the sides flat so you could see the old logos on the side and just lacquer over them. From my understanding wooden hockey sticks were usually made of birch, maple, ash or a combination of them, so it should be decent wood for a drum.

Any thoughts on this Ava?
Click to expand...
But you'll have to put the shell on a turning machine which will surely tear off the logos... Maybe you shouldn't make the shell fully round. Just cut the bearing edges?
 
A

AVA Drums

Member
retoxtony said:
I like the idea of leaving the staves flat on one side. I’ve always wanted to try to make a stave drum out of my old hockey sticks and somehow leave the sides flat so you could see the old logos on the side and just lacquer over them. From my understanding wooden hockey sticks were usually made of birch, maple, ash or a combination of them, so it should be decent wood for a drum.

Any thoughts on this Ava?
Click to expand...

That would be pretty cool.
The way I machine the staves uses an 8 cutter head moulder so the material is s4s'd, dimensionalised and shaped in one pass ... now if the pieces could be machined from one side only to get the correct dimensions it could possibly retain the stickers. But there are drive wheels that might ruin them and if not flat may move in the machine too.... I dunno if its doable in my setup.
I have an old Jack daniels barrel i was gonna try the same sort of thing with... maybe some day.
 
MrInsanePolack

MrInsanePolack

Platinum Member
retoxtony said:
I’ve always wanted to try to make a stave drum out of my old hockey sticks and somehow leave the sides flat so you could see the old logos on the side and just lacquer over them.
Click to expand...

That's a cool idea. If you did the math, you could figure out how many were needed for the snare diameter. Take this number, divide 360 by it, then cut that number in half. This is the degree you need to set a table saw at to bevel the sides. You can now assemble the snare shell.

A turning lathe would be needed to round the inside of the shell and outer bearing edge surfaces. Those machines are uber expensive, pay a woodshop to do it.

Bearing edges can be cut on a router table.
 
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