My New Catawba Snare!

Hey everybody! I am now the proud owner of a beautiful new custom snare from Palmetto Drums in Greenville South Carolina! (God I sound like an Ad) It's a 14x7 Catawba snare with black chrome tube lugs and die-cast hoops. It has a trick strainer and 20 strand Pure-Sound Blaster wires. The shell is a Vaughncraft solid Catawba shell with maple reinforcing hoops.

Let me just tell you right now, this snare is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard! It has a musical crack but with massive body and a presence that fills a room. The tuning range is absolutely unbelievable too. But the real magic of this snare is something a little more difficult to describe...when I hit the snare, it feels good. Not in a musical sense or a mental sense, but it physically feels pleasant when I hit this snare. The vibration in my hand, the rebound, just how much it digs into the head, it all feels good. I think anyone who's played a snare that is truly perfect for them knows what I'm talking about.

Anyway, here are some pics and I'll have a nice recording of it by the end of the week. The heads I have on it right now are a coated vintage emperor for the batter and an ambassador snare for the reso. Oh, and sorry for the blurry pics, they don't do the wood justice at all. But hey, it's just my phone's camera

Oh and I almost forgot, a quick shout out to Fred and Gentry from Palmetto Music. If your in the Greenville area looking for some truly amazing drums, look 'em up. They do great work and I promise you won't be disappointed!
Here's a link: http://www.palmettomusic.com/

congrats!!! I was wondering about the sustein of the drum , compared to ply drums ,

thanks!

I haven't noticed any loss or gain in sustain as compared to a similar ply shell. I will say this though, Usually I dampen my snare just enough to get rid of overtones because in most of the snares i've tried the overtones clash and don't sound musical at all. With this snare, probably because of the shell construction, I get one pure tone when i let the drum ring. And just to let you know, I am not by any means, a skilled tuner. The pure tone is entirely due to the shell.

thanks for the answer , I'm really considering getting one steam bent snare drum

If I were you, I would buy one. They are beautiful instruments and I don't think anyone can disagree with that. I will say, they are a tad more expensive, but its worth it. If your like me, then your getting a really nice snare that your gonna keep for many many years so its worth it to invest in something a cut above.

Is Catawba a kind of wood or a place? I couldn't find anything about it on their site.

You may not have found anything because the proper spelling is Catalpa. The native americans in the area that this wood grew were known as the Catawba and even though their word for this wood was Catalpa, some explorer just called it Catawba wood. Since then, its become the "street name" for the wood but you'll find more under Catalpa.