Tama King Beats - 2

Here are some pix of the 6.5x14 King Beat, and an old catalog page ...

Updated - shipped this out this morning (February 8, 2013 - a very snowy day) to Winnipeg ...

Tama King Beats

Tama made a number of great snare drums from the late 70's through to the early 1990's. Their Imperialstar "King Beat" snares from the 70's and 80's are especially well known. Heavy steel shells, diecast rims, and a well-designed parallel strainer system. As I mentioned in a post on the Pearl snare drums from that period, a number of manufacturers (e.g. Ludwig with their Supersensitive strainer, Rogers Dynasonics, Pioneer with their Flo-Beam) offered these systems, which are designed to enable much finer adjustment, both "up-down" and "across", of the snares against the snare side head, and to reduce or eliminate "choking" of the snare which occurs when the wires are overtightened. I have 5x14 and 6.5x14 models. Here are some shots of the 5x14 model.

Obelisk 2

I posted some time ago on my other, now departed, Obelisk snare. This is a 6x13" snare, built up on a 6 ply maple shell, with a spectacular purple sparkle lacquer finish. Very nice single point brass lugs too, and black powder coated triple flange rims. Snaps, crackles, and pops ...
Updated - sold and gone to a good home April 21/11

Bubinga!

It's a hard, heavy, dense wood from Africa that makes great drum shells. I built this snare up on a 3/8" thick segment shell from Rhythm King Drums, single point lugs from Precision Drum (excellent parts and wraps), and maple hoops from drummaker. My current favourite - I love the sound of this snare.


www.rhythmkingdrums.com
www.precisiondrum.com
www.drummaker.com

Sweet Jane

Tom Wells is an excellent drum builder based in Brantford, Ontario. He is well known for his top quality single ply steambent snares and drum kits. This is a handpainted "Sweet Jane" snare (6x13"), built up on a Keller shell. Love the finish on this, it reminds me of artwork my wife was doing a few years ago.

www.wellscustomdrums.com