Sonor Delite shell set (Tiger finish)

Wow... I missed this thread...

Congrats Arky, wonderful kit, looks great, I bet you're a happy guy, there's nothing like a real drumkit... all you have to do now is a little demo for us, so we can hear this beauty in action ;)
[*Takes a deep breath*] Henri, now this makes me start to sweat ;-) I'll keep it in mind but it will take a while I think. My confidence on a real kit is close to zero. A new era has begun. At least I have the stuff to record the kit (Audix DP7 drum mic package, studio stuff like pre-amps, EQs, compressors, Transient Designer...).
 
Quick info: I got a (slightly used) Sonor single tom holder & stand for more setup flexibility. I guess I'll keep 1 tom on the bass drum mount, 1 on that new tom holder, plus the floor tom. (I've picked up the floor tom legs a few days ago, was around my music dealer.)

ATM I'm giving the shellkit a polish - not that it was dusty but to treat the chrome parts with a conditioner so it should last longer. Haven't really played on the kit yet but will do so after the cleanup.
 
Hey Arky!

Haven't seen this thread until now. Really, Derek has a Tiger finish kit? Newer knew...
I've seen Benny using one, though (see pic).

I decided to go for a 20" BD, and as you mentioned, the 20" already has lots of boom!!

If you're still going for the Benny Greb snare, you will end up with pretty much the drum
set I have, LOL. Don't want to derail your thread by any means, but just for the love of
the Delite Tiger here's a pic of mine :). (The second one, without Benny in it, of course)
 

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Hey Arky!

Haven't seen this thread until now. Really, Derek has a Tiger finish kit? Newer knew...
I've seen Benny using one, though (see pic).
Hey Matthias!

I'm not sure that Derek _owns_ that Tiger finish kit but. Maybe it was provided for the DVD shoot.
I decided to go for a 20" BD, and as you mentioned, the 20" already has lots of boom!!
I decided to get that shell kit for that offered price, there was no way to choose the sizes, it was a 'yes' or 'no' thing. I did think about 20'' vs. 22'' but ended up that so many drummers do use 22'' so I'd go that route as well. I can imagine getting a 20'' bass drum at some time unless I'll get fully accustomed to a 22'' until then.

If you're still going for the Benny Greb snare, you will end up with pretty much the drum set I have, LOL. Don't want to derail your thread by any means, but just for the love of the Delite Tiger here's a pic of mine :). (The second one, without Benny in it, of course)
That snare is hot (sonically and cosmetically) - and I like it being only 13'' size. While I'd love to have all the shells in Tiger finish it's ok to have a different snare, and the Benny Greb would fit nicely.

No prob, no derailing - a Sonor Tiger finish shell set is a Sonor Tiger finish shell set ;-) Thanks for the pics, they look great!
 
Hi Arky.
If you are interested in a 13" Sonor snare I urge you to check out the Artist beech. This drum is stunning. Among other musicians it is my most popular snare. I have seen all heads in a band turn back to see what it is after the first backbeat. The finish is the original tribal, not tiger though.



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Hi Arky.
If you are interested in a 13" Sonor snare I urge you to check out the Artist beech. This drum is stunning. Among other musicians it is my most popular snare. I have seen all heads in a band turn back to see what it is after the first backbeat. The finish is the original tribal, not tiger though.[/IMG]
Hey, cool! Thanks for the info. I think they have that snare in the shop (that dealer I'm mostly buying stuff from). This tribal design isn't particularly to my taste but I'll give it a try next time I'm there.
 
Yeah, that was a good deal.

2 days ago I got my first real snare to finally complement that shellkit - it's a Sonor Force 2000 (Scandinavian Birch) wich I got for 80 Euros from a member of this board. The Sonor/model label is missing but that's a minor thing. From stock the finish looks a bit rough to me so I decided to give it several additional layers of wax (plus polishing in-between) - it looks far better now and has much more 3D effect. I might repeat this. Also gave the hardware some cleanup, looks nice now.

Basically I had that Benny Greb snare in mind (but would have tested some more snares before buying) but that Force 2000 came very handy, the price was fine so I grabbed it. It's not too far away from the Benny Greb Snare in terms of cosmetics.
 

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Hi David,
I've seen that Sonor satin finish at my music dealer and at the Frankfurt Musikmesse before. I noticed that the wood 'holes' weren't perfectly filled etc - which is a matter of manufacturer preference. On that Force 2000 snare it was even rougher than that but again, that's not wrong. Some might love this as the graining can be felt with one's fingers and isn't sanded to a perfectly smooth finish. I just decided to "add something" to it - which is typical for me, adding some final touches for studio gear, guitars, whatever.

See detail pic - this is after 3x waxing and applying some Dr. Duck's Axwax afterwards (my cure-all for clean-up work) for smoother feel and more glossy look. So the 'holes' have been filled up but there's some minor bumps all over. Either I'll get completely used to this (or come to loving that 'natural' look) or I'll rework it some more to make it even smoother.

That snare sounds like a snare is supposed to - great!! No need to buy more snares (at least for now - my ears might grow though, and I can't rule out some GAS in the future).

David, what makes me REALLY REALLY disappointed is... I thought that when buying that snare I was also buying 5% of your skills... but no ;-)
My handwork is still the same crap as before, haha.
 

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David, what makes me REALLY REALLY disappointed is... I thought that when buying that snare I was also buying 5% of your skills... but no ;-)

Haha, I was a bit scared when I read "disappointed" :D thought "what? what was wrong :-O"
Anyway.. Sorry.. You should have told me, I would have packed you 5% in a little box and sent it to you.. :p
 
I have the same type of finish on both of my S Classix and Benny Greb snare. Only the high gloss finishes are smooth. If you really wanted to I know that any furniture builder or perhaps a car painter can put a very smooth finish clear coat.

Possible, but I guess the fact that the finish will become muddy and the veneer will look muddy holds sonor from making it very smooth..
At least that's what I heard from a laquerist..
 
I think you can definitely get a smooth satin finish.
I'm judging from my (limited) experience I've made with one of my custom guitars. I had 4 custom electrics built but only 1 of them had a satin finish - my "Natural":
http://www.siggi-braun.com/de/custom_shop/261_Natural.html

That veneer (both front and back top) is wild maple and that wood didn't have the same depth of bumps like on that Scandinavian Birch veneer but it looks stunning with that smooth satin finish. I could look at that guitar top all day long, it makes me want to take a bite. So to me it seems satin finishes can indeed be perfectly smooth - except for that very fine and even satin microscopic 'structure' but the bumps are all gone. And the wood details/depth don't get blurred - rather the opposite, you'd have more visual depth, similar to hi-gloss finishes. The feel is great, too - there's much less 'slowing you down' effect when handling/playing this instrument, compared to the hi-gloss tops I have on my other electrics.

Now if Sonor choose to not do a 'closed' satin finish I'd assume this is done for sonic reasons. I'm not sure how much of a difference that extra processing in finish would do on the sound. I guess it's rather tiny.

Anyone interested in detail pics of that "Natural" veneer?
 
Sonor offers all their drums in the SQ2 line in satin finish (low gloss) or high gloss finish. The low gloss always shows the grain; the high gloss does not and I don't think it has an affect on sound. The inner most ply is always just a satin finish though so perhaps the inner play has an affect on sound. I have a drum of each line of Sonor in each finish except wrap. From what I can tell the high gloss does not affect the sound; more so the wood selection and shell thickness.

When I was at the factory they did not mention any change in sound or reason why the satin allows the wood grain to show through.

Arky - was there any special method or wax you used? I think it the snare drum looks great!
 
As for sonic differences - I think on acoustic guitars this migt (slightly) affect the tone. Good to hear that the Sonor guys don't overthink this. But yes, as for the inner ply finish - I think I read on Drummerworld that this does change the projection.

The wax I used is "Antik-Wachs" by Clue (200g). I just googled - looks they have changed the outward appearance of that product - it also comes in various sizes - but it should be the same stuff. It _looks_ great (adding a very attractive yellowish colour, depending on the wood), but it also _smells_ really good. I was using special Warwick (bass guitar manufacturer) Carnuba wax but had to buy new wax as I had quite some use for wax. (I reworked 4 big studio racks/20 rack units each/ and a few smaller ones because I really like that wood look.) Honestly I don't exactly remember the difference between that Warwick product and that Clue wax, I guess the colour/smell might vary but both are great.

On those wood racks I applied 2 layers of wax: to fill up any bumps/graining lines and to cover the whole surface. Let it dry for a while, then applied a 2nd coat - because there will be some bumps left (although some finer ones). Let it dry, then polish. The polish provides that fine look and satin finish but even then the surface wasn't perfect - but "woody" and nice enough to keep it that way.

On that Sonor snare the coating was already finished so I had 2 choices: Sanding and then waxing it, or applying the wax on the existing finish - for more 3D effect and minimizing those bumps (which is far less work than sanding etc). I applied the wax in circular motions, making sure to fill the bumps. Then did a round of polish, applied more wax etc. You have to keep using fresh pieces of cloth every few minutes as they start to soak, get rigit and aren't suitable for polishing any more. So no mysteries at all ;-) I should add that I'm using good pressure when both applying and polishing the wax - this feels like really working and is hard on my hands. In fact I might feel some strain in my hand tendons for a few days after some wax/polishing work.

In the end I used some Dr. Duck's Axwax Deluxe for more smoothening effect, both in terms of handling feel and look. (BTW, this is the 2nd bottle of Dr. Duck's I'm using throughout my 22 years being a guitarist, and I'm using that stuff to polish my guitars, wipe strings clean, studio gear - it provides more contrast, more gloss - many applications. Those bottles will last forever.)

It just struck me that this is my 2nd Clou wax already. I used that Warwick and 1st Clou wax up for the studio racks...

Also uploaded a pic of that 'magic' metal polish I'm using - I've already mentioned it in the DIY Bells thread. "Gundel-Putz". Just got a brand new one as I was running out of it. I also used it (but in tiny amounts) to rework the hardware on that snare. You have to use it sparsely though if you're polishing alloy surfaces. Some Gundel-Putz and then some Dr. Duck's afterwards to wipe away all residue - that's my way.
 

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Frankly I'm a bit tight on funds at the moment ;-)
Hey, you still have 1 more tom (but I'm planning getting more in the future).
That new snare is nice enough (both in look and in sound) to make me forget about the BG snare, at least for a while until I'll be able to afford one.

Well the MAIN difference is... You can play and I can't. Haha.
 
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