Cutting down a shell, the Japanese way.

A few words  about how I shortened this shell, working carefully and slowly, by hand.

First of all, I made a template using the existing mounting holes to draw the cutting line, the shell being cut a little wider that its final depth. I assumed the mounting holes were aligned, which is about right.

The final depth line was marked all around the shell using a cutter and a flexible ruler. After being completely refinished, I'll sand it down to that carved line.

I cut the shell down using a pull saw (aka Japanese saw), that has very fine teeth and that allows for a very accurate and fine cut.

Utility knife line on the left for final depth, saw cut on the right

There it is, piece of cake.

D517 BBC aka "The Rehearsal Room's Phonic Leftovers Pretty Deep Snare. Parts overview.

As a completion of the restoration works on the Champion, I had planned to turn the 14" 9-ply tom-tom into a snaredrum.

Here are most of the parts for this snaredrum build workaround.

• Shell is a 9 ply 10 mm super champion (very much like phonic) - from Marcus, Belgium
• Lugs come from a phonic plus bassdrum. Chrome is bubbly due to deep oxidation - from Friedrich, Drumhouse, Germany.
• Throw off was on a Force 2000 snaredrum. Well used and not so good looking, but made in Germany and similar to a phonic one. From Valery, Belgium.
• Tuning rods are what's left over after selecting the best matching rods for the tom-toms. From Marcus, Belgium and from Martin, Germany
• Heads are second hand REMO: Ambassador snare on reso side, Emperor X reverse dot on batter side. Reso from Valery, Belgium, batter from Clara, Belgium.
• Hoops are Tama's Power 10-hole. Yeah I know, not SONOR. Heavily pitted, from a late 90s model that I sold a couple of months ago, with new hoops. I had those lying around, so wth. I think I wrote "re-use and recycle" somewhere. Thus from my own private reserve.
• Snarewires are PURESOUND custom 24 strands. New stuff...

Code is D517 BBC

D is for snaredrum, phonic style
5 is for standard/deep size
1 is for wood shell
7 is for a 7 1/4 shell depth
BBC refers to the finish. Surprise.

Built follows.