Signature Snare
"There's always been a need for the snare drum to cut through the racket created by the other musicians in the band. The dirge emanating from the bass and the clattering, ear piercing sounds of a guitar need to have a snare drum that will cut through the din.
"Which explains my signature snare drum. It's thicker than a standard brass shell so it provides sharp attack, but with good low-end. The attack of the die-cast batter hoop provides an extra arrow in the quiver…another weapon in the arsenal. And I like having the high rim on the top hoop so the rim shots are easy."
"The clarity of the drum is its most unique feature. You can do roughs and drags and other cool stuff and they all speak clearly without getting lost as they would with a booming or rattling snare drum. The sound of the drum also complements the rest of my kit. My drums are tuned from very high to very low and have a lot of ring so the snare drum is a good contrast."
"To answer the question of how the drum came about, I originally found this mystery drum (But in an online chat Copeland says it's a Pearl:
"Since early Police days. I don't know where it came from. It's a
Pearl drum. All my drums are TAMA. They make the best drums and that's
why I play them. This one snare drum, I have tried to get the same model,
year and everything else from the same company. But I can't replicate the
sound of this one drum. It's the drum on all those records. And I just can't
get that sound out of any other drum. I think it must be warped in some
way. Which is what gives it its unique unreproducible sound.)
a long time ago and ended up using it for everything, including the Police. I asked Tama to reproduce it since it was of unknown provenance. What they came up with is my signature snare drum; it's as close to the original drum I used with the Police as the metallurgists at Tama could make it.
"Then there's the question about why the Egyptian hieroglyphic style designs on the drum…well, I've always felt an empathy with pharaohs smiting."
My Info and Recent Opinions on this drum:
I ordered Stewart's Signature snare and it arrived today (8/20/01). It came with the following: Remo ambassador heads, a Tama drum key, 2 Tama labeled red sacks (one for the drum and another for the key), and this little ad shown here. I would have just taken one whole picture if I had a digital camera.
After playing the drum with my kit for a little over 2 hours, it really shows Stewart some justice. Without a muffling ring, the drum has a perfect jazz ring to it. There is no buzz from the snare whatsoever, which allows for more boom from my bass drum - at least compared to my previous snare drum (a 1980's Yamaha). It's really sensitive and snap'crackle'pop'ish in the center; a lot easier to do clean rolls and presses which were impossible with my previous snare -- I swear. The rim shots are very satisfying; not too painful to the ears (didn't get a headache), but incredibly loud and clear. People down the hall said they could barely hear the rest of the kit besides the snare, but maybe I was breaking it in more than titting on the rest of the kit. etc.. etc..
Here are some physical attributes I feel like sharing:
it's about 13lbs
has 10 lugs (previous snare had 8)
has a really neat snare lever
the top hoop is practically straight (die-cast)
it came with snares that have nylon straps instead of the plastic kind
inside of the shell, there's a sticker that's actually been signed by Copeland, looks authentic *shrug
there are these black nylon washers for the lugs, I was afraid they might break and didn't want to tune the drum too tight and break something on the drum the first day :-P.
uhh.. till I think of more things to say about the drum, I'm quite excited and happy with it for now.
bachhhehhehh..
