Is maple considered a better sounding wood material for mid to high priced snares?

Thanks for taking the time to write the detailed information. There is a lot there to unpack. I will definitely note and use this info in my search.
Yes, as you mentioned there are many factors that affect the sound of the snare. This discussion about the wood type for the snare, and wood verses metal is one of those never ending discussions.

I think that training the human ear to be sensitive to the sound of different wood snares may take years of drumming experience using various wood types. My own experience is very limited, and I am sure in a blind test it will be very difficult for me to say what snare is what wood.

Having said that, I wonder why the recoding studios and recording drummers prefer certain wood types to other woods for recording. They all call it "My go to snare". Is it just marketing on their side because they endorse a specific drum manufacturer? OR Do different woods emit different frequencies that are better suited for the sound that they want to capture by electronic devices? Can these experienced recording drummers just walk into the studio with a cheap Poplar snare, modify the heads, snares, and hoops, and make it sound like a million bucks in the recording?

About wood verses metal. Other folks on this forum have previously posted sound samples of wood snares that sounded very much like a metal snare, and I have heard my share of the wood snare sounds that resonate like metal snares on YouTube. Anyhow, these snare drum blind tests are always fun.
Having owned a basswood snare for a couple years, I think it or poplar could be made to work. It’s passible at best, though, and why use it if you don’t have to? The better an instrument sounds on the front end, the less back end work you need.
 
Having owned a basswood snare for a couple years, I think it or poplar could be made to work. It’s passible at best, though, and why use it if you don’t have to? The better an instrument sounds on the front end, the less back end work you need.
Basswood and Poplar are both quite low on the Janka hardness scale for wood (410 and 540). Both are considered Hardwoods but at the lower end of the scale. Birch (1260), Oak (1290/1360) and Hard Maple (USA Maple - 1450) are all much harder which will affect the sound. Of note, not all drums are made with the Hard Maple and Soft Maple has a much lower Janka score of 950. The better maple kits often advertise USA Maple to indicate it is a Hard Maple shell.

That doesn't mean that Basswood or Poplar are bad, just that the shell will react differently. A poplar or basswood shell with great hardware, clean bearing edge, good heads etc can still sound great.
 
also a matter of collapse

Maple on either end of a poplar core also is Support
an all Poplar shell better be top shelf poplar- I think there is one- cheap will collapse inward under Tension (the Bowie song)
 
also a matter of collapse

Maple on either end of a poplar core also is Support
an all Poplar shell better be top shelf poplar- I think there is one- cheap will collapse inward under Tension (the Bowie song)
This is a pretty key point that I don't hear mentioned as much as tone or projection. We've all had or seen those cheapo shells, and know that the number one problem they have is along the bearing edges, which can be very irregularly warped, wobbly, frayed, crushed, etc.

At the outset they might sound great, because if it's round it's not too hard to give it a good head and tune it up just right.
But with the shell holding all that constant tension and compression, softer and warpier wood will lose definition and collapse along its bearing edge really quick. That's why the drum is cheap: cheap wood, coming with cheap wood problems.

So I wouldn't be surprised if the real reason hard maple is so prized as a standard is because of its ability for those razor-thin bearing edges to last without warping or compressing.
 
Also, that makes me think that if there were a cheaper wood to source than maple that gave the same perfect ratio of strength to weight, it would have replaced maple by now. Softer woods come more cheaply because it takes less time to grow and harvest. Harder woods tend to take longer, therefore are most costly to grow, and more expensive to use. But also different woods have different masses, and the weight adds up.

So convenience also comes into it. Steel & iron is going to be the best at retaining precision edges and roundness under stress and beating, but in general they're too expensive and also too heavy to be worth it. Some woods may be better than maple, but too heavy to be manageable, or way too expensive to source. Maple seems to have become a gold standard for what durability people want vs how much weight they're willing to schlep and vs how much money they're willing to spend on materials.
 
To the OP: Maple is a fantastic wood for drums, but there are so many other variables when it comes to what makes a good snare drum.

Thanks. Threads like this are helpful for me because other drummers suggest other options and it is always good to evaluate other options before a major purchase.
 
Also, that makes me think that if there were a cheaper wood to source than maple that gave the same perfect ratio of strength to weight, it would have replaced maple by now. Softer woods come more cheaply because it takes less time to grow and harvest. Harder woods tend to take longer, therefore are most costly to grow, and more expensive to use. But also different woods have different masses, and the weight adds up.

So convenience also comes into it. Steel & iron is going to be the best at retaining precision edges and roundness under stress and beating, but in general they're too expensive and also too heavy to be worth it. Some woods may be better than maple, but too heavy to be manageable, or way too expensive to source. Maple seems to have become a gold standard for what durability people want vs how much weight they're willing to schlep and vs how much money they're willing to spend on materials.

In marketing jargon, they call it finding the "sweet spot" among several factors.
 
$500 on trade in for a set of cats? Wow!
what you do is add in a couple cymbals you don't want and other accessories not using.

Bos 20" Trad Flat, 18" Thin Crash, 16" Antique crash, near new Pearl Session Select 5.5 x14
all things I wasn't using could stand to "let"go..
they GC- gave me $536
toward a $1699 60s Gretsch set.
So I took the 1966 near mint 20/12/16 heaven set home for
$1163 +tax
I thought they were very generous

as Pap used to say, like anything else, Gotta hit the "right day"..

014.JPG


that was June of '23
 
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Also, that makes me think that if there were a cheaper wood to source than maple that gave the same perfect ratio of strength to weight, it would have replaced maple by now.
Central Europe has beech. Asia and Britain has birch. This is what I mean by "American dominance", because people will automatically think of American wood prices when comparing drums, whereas a lot of drums are made in China, Japan, or Germany.
 
@striker, you want pop and crack? Get a Canopus The Maple snare.

Here is another Canopus model with Maple/Poplar shell, but it sounds nearly IDENTICAL to my Canopus The Maple 14x5.5".


Thank you. It sounds really nice, has the traces of that rack and pop sound at high tuning, and has the die cast hoop which I like. I have noted and put it on my list.

Is there an equivalent of this snare from the classic three drum companies Ludwig, Gretsch, and Rogers that you may be able to suggest?
I am trying to zero in on these three classic companies for my next purchase before looking at other options.
 
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Personal opinions, some relevant to the OP, plus more (at risk of being in the Department of Redundancy Department) :

In my experience, wood type, combined with craftsmanship, matters more in its inherent ability to maintain shape (true round cylinder, true flat [except for snare beds of course] and consistent bearing edges) than as a tonewood. Shell integrity variation is what produces varying ability to enable the heads to do what they're supposed to do.

The heads are much louder than any sound produced by the shell itself. That said, with all other things equal (size, bearing edge shape, tuning, etc) I feel I can hear more difference between hardwoods and softer woods, than I can between types of each- i.e. I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between hard rock maple & bubinga or poplar & luan, but I can hear a bit of difference between one of the first pair and one of the second. With toms and with snare drums with the snares off, the tone difference is faint; with the snares on, it's even more difficult. Metal shells make a more distinct... well, metallic ping sound so it's easier to hear their tones' differences from wood. However, I once owned a Legend 5.5 or 6 x14 rock maple snare that, with its die cast hoops and flawless craftsmanship- including very consistent 45° edges- sounded more like a metal drum than any other wood snare drum I've owned- to my ear, indistinguishable with the snares on.

I can't speak much to the tone of birch, as I have very little experience with them. While working at an instrument store nearly 2 decades ago, I was very underwhelmed by a Tama Starclassic Performer snare (pre-blended wood, all birch) that sounded boxy and dull no matter the tuning of either head. (That stung, because I was and am a Tama fan.) This very early 1st gen Export birch snare drum sounds pretty good so far, but I haven't put it through its paces after putting a better head combo on it.
 
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To the OP, have you tried a Ludwig Acrolite? They can be tuned to a wide range from Fat and wet sounding to Crisp and poppy. Sensitive, reasonably priced, well made and versatile. Every drummer should have one in their snare stash IMHO.
I have one maple snare, it's a very old Slingerland Artist with re-rings and its very nice but has a smaller tuning range. Sounds great in that range
though.
I bought a Tama SLP maple snare with maple hoops but never really bonded with it and sold it. It was a really loud drum

Regarding the Catalina Club Jazz snare drum, I've had the same kit for over 10 years (sparkle copper wrap) and disregarded the snare drum for about 9 of them. It just sat there on the shelf. Last year I went and upgraded the hoops on the toms with Gretsch 302 hoops (much stiffer and heavier- more like die cast hoops) and was really happy with the improvement in the sound. I decided to pick up a set for the snare drum and the improvement was stunning. I've been using the snare for a while now.
(NOTE- I swapped them over to the Acrolite to see how it sounded and didn't really like the result and swapped them back to the Catalina. The Acro sounds better with the thin Ludwig hoops)

The 302s cost about $35-$40 each from Portsmouth Drum Ctr. or Reverb. Less than half the cost of a die-cast hoop or maple hoop.
I really like them. Later I replaced the hoops on my Yamaha Rock Tour toms with 302s and love the sound.
 
To the OP, have you tried a Ludwig Acrolite? They can be tuned to a wide range from Fat and wet sounding to Crisp and poppy. Sensitive, reasonably priced, well made and versatile. Every drummer should have one in their snare stash IMHO.
I have one maple snare, it's a very old Slingerland Artist with re-rings and its very nice but has a smaller tuning range. Sounds great in that range
though.
I bought a Tama SLP maple snare with maple hoops but never really bonded with it and sold it. It was a really loud drum

Regarding the Catalina Club Jazz snare drum, I've had the same kit for over 10 years (sparkle copper wrap) and disregarded the snare drum for about 9 of them. It just sat there on the shelf. Last year I went and upgraded the hoops on the toms with Gretsch 302 hoops (much stiffer and heavier- more like die cast hoops) and was really happy with the improvement in the sound. I decided to pick up a set for the snare drum and the improvement was stunning. I've been using the snare for a while now.
(NOTE- I swapped them over to the Acrolite to see how it sounded and didn't really like the result and swapped them back to the Catalina. The Acro sounds better with the thin Ludwig hoops)

The 302s cost about $35-$40 each from Portsmouth Drum Ctr. or Reverb. Less than half the cost of a die-cast hoop or maple hoop.
I really like them. Later I replaced the hoops on my Yamaha Rock Tour toms with 302s and love the sound.

Thank you. Over a year ago, I bought an Acrolite look alike. I bought the Yamaha Recording Custom 5.5x14 Aluminum snare.
This time around, I am looking at something totally different. A wood drum (maple is one choice) 6.5x14. I am limiting my choices on purpose to the classic American brands - Gretsch, Rogers, Ludwig. My drum set is the Gretsch Catalina Mahogany.
 
I am limiting my choices on purpose to the classic American brands - Gretsch, Rogers, Ludwig. My drum set is the Gretsch Catalina Mahogany.
I'd go for a Gretsch Renown to match it, or just get a Rogers Powertone for that classic shell blend. Some will argue that Rogers is a Chinese brand now - but DW and Slingerland would be more or less Japanese by such criteria.
 
I'd go for a Gretsch Renown to match it, or just get a Rogers Powertone for that classic shell blend. Some will argue that Rogers is a Chinese brand now - but DW and Slingerland would be more or less Japanese by such criteria.
Gretsch Brooklyn and Ludwig snares are my present top choices.
 
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