Stave Snare Drum Tuning

[Ozzy Biz]

Hey folks,
I imagine you got a pretty good idea about this thread from the title, but here we go anywhere. This question is directed towards those of you who own stave snare drums, preferably deeper ones although that's not a necessity.

How do you prefer tuning your stave snare? Do you crank it, leave it low and wet, middle of the road style tuning, or something else?

I ask this because ever since I've got my snare (14x6.5" jarrah in my avatar) I've been playing with different tunings and snare tensions trying to find it's optimum tuning range and snare tension to go with that. I've had it tuned quite high (not quite Steve Jordan territory, but reasonably tight none the less) as of late and with the snares quite loose and that's pretty damn good; lots of pop and plenty of snare sensitivity, but I think the drum still has more to offer.

For the record the drums has a pretty basic setup; Evans PC RD batter, Hazy 300 snare side, standard 16 strand wires, 2.3mm hoops, trick strainer. I'm toying with the idea of getting some block-construction jarrah hoops from the guy who made my snare, if finances allow of course (new iMac hurt the bank balance...)

What does your drum like most in regards to heads/tuning/snare tension/etc?

Cheers,
Cam

 

[blurred]

hey man, i got a jarrah stave from paul as well when i was in aus. they are freaking awesome. i got an evans reverse power dot with a hazy on the bottom. 16 stand pure sound wires. its a 14x4.5 with the machined lugs he did himself, i think he uses ready made ones now. the shell is about an inch thick and the snare wires are medium tension on the head

i find that this drum sounds the best and a medium high tension, meaning slightly above medium. anything less and the overtones are alittle hard to handle. it might be cause my drum is so shallow but i'm not sure. wat are ur thoughts on it?

 

[dwb1983]

Hi,

I have a curly maple/walnut snare from Wittman Stave Drums. Standard Remo Ambassador top and bottom, medium tight snare tension, heads cranked-really brings out the 'crack' from a solid wood stave, but a well built stave drum should sound good at all tunings, it just depends on what you're looking for.

Hope this helps.