Stewart Copeland's old snare drum... revisited

[Budoman]

Earlier this year several of you convinced me to keep my old Pearl snare drum, along with Jeff Seitz who finally confirmed it was the same type played by Stewart in the 1980s. I felt all warm and fuzzy about that decision.

Fast forward and now six months later, it turns out my wife and I are moving. Can't justify taking everything with us, so as much as I hate doing it, the drum is now listed at eBay. Search for Vintage Pearl COB Snare Drum if you're interested. I have mixed feelings, so I set the opening bid at what I was offered once before and turned down. It's also lower than another one that sold in not nearly as fine condition.

It's a great snare drum, and man it sucks to have to let go sometimes.

[Tamadude]

For the ultra lazy like like me:

http://cgi.ebay.com:80/Vintage-Pearl-CO ... 286.c0.m14

It's a Pearl, though. Isn't that those things women put around thier necks?

Seriously though, that's a very nice drum.

[Secret Journey]

Very nice drum seems a shame to part with it still. I think its funny how tama threw in the ' mysterious provenance ' statement when its blatantly obvious its a pearl jupiter as that was about the only chrome over brass snare they produced at the time. Atleast ive know this for over a year

[TheEqualizer]

Looks like an excellent drum.

[Skip]

Sweet!
Too bad you have to part with it.

[zilboy]

With deepest respect...

Are you nuts!? Keep it!!!

[DirtyMartini]

It's so pretty.

Sorry that you have to part with it, Budoman.

[Budoman]

I've acquired too many things so someone else will hopefully get a thrill from owning this snare drum, maybe for another 30 years. With only a day left there's only one bid so far. Someone may be getting a bargain...

A curious thought occurred to me... How well did Tama actually do replicating this snare drum of "mysterious provenance". I mean, it is written that nothing came close to sounding like this specific model until they did metalurgical studies of the one owned by Stewart. I suppose the same thing has been done with vintage Turkish Zildjian cymbals. How close do their new counterparts actually sound? If given a choice, would you take the original or its counterpart? This drum was made 30 years ago, so not exactly the product of high technology. Isn't the whole idea of replicating something of mysterious provenance somewhat oxymoronic?

Thanks for your comments everyone.

[Tamadude]

[quote="Budoman"]With only a day left there's only one bid so far. Someone may be getting a bargain...quote]

Don't worry about that, Budo; most ebay auctions get the most bids within the last hour. Smart buyers don't bid right away. They watch it. The only good reason to bid early is to "pop" a "Buy it Now", or if you can't be online at the end. You have 163 hits so far so quite a few of them might be watching it, waiting to snipe. If I didn't just buy a SC sig snare I'd have bought that for sure.

Did I mention what a beauty that thing is?

[zilboy]

Budo, I have a story for you. I got my first decent kit in 1978. I was in 8th grade. It came with a set of Zildjians. Included in the set were a pair of 16 inch K hi-hats made in Istanbul. It took a long time, but they really grew on me. They have the deepest, darkest, blow-everything-else-off- the-riser sound. I used them pretty much exclusively for about 15 years. then I began to worry about them being lost or stolen at a gig, so I quit using them.

I searched for years for another pair of hats that would give me that same unique sound. Tried every brand. I finally settled on one of the last pair of 15 inch K regular hats Zildjian ever made, but even they weren't the same. Then, they came out with their 16 inch K Light hats. I saw them at my favorite drum shop and tried them just out of curiosity. And guess what? There was THE SOUND! Even better, actually - crisper, easier to handle, more responsive, but still that deep, throaty, rich, fat, dark, meaty tone, with just enough fire to cut through. Within an hour, they were on my kit and I was playing them like we had grown up together. The similarity between them and my old Istanbul hats is simply unbelievable.

So, yes - maybe modern technology can give you the same sound as a cherished vintage instrument, or at least close enough. I have the Tama Copeland snare and to my ears, when you crank it up, it sounds just like THE snare.

Even though your Pearl snare might not be quite the same as THE snare, I still think you'd regret not hanging onto it, but that's just me.

[Budoman]

[quote="zilboy"]Even though your Pearl snare might not be quite the same as THE snare, I still think you'd regret not hanging onto it, but that's just me.[/quote]

Zilboy, your story puts us about the same age. Admittedly, it's a great drum although keeping it was for sentimental reasons. My musical needs are different today than when I ordered that snare in 1978. My previous comment was also merely about semantics. The idea of replicating anything vintage is counter intuitive. Sure you can copy or even improve on an original. But unless you have a time machine, you can't recreate the thing itself, particularly if the origin is the primary mystique. For example, your awesome modern hats may sound better to you than your Istanbul K's. They also look different and were made slightly different. Therefore they're not replicated. They're just different... even new and improved. Yet your Istanbul K's are still the original, still in the vault and worth more. Basically, replicating anything vintage with a new look, new materials and new technology just doesn't make sense, so why not just label it "new and improved"?

BTW, since Stewart's drum technician confirmed my drum to be the same model (at least 99% without direct inspection), I'm not sure why you don't think it would sound the same.

[zilboy]

[quote="Budoman"][quote="zilboy"]Even though your Pearl snare might not be quite the same as THE snare, I still think you'd regret not hanging onto it, but that's just me.[/quote]

Zilboy, your story puts us about the same age. Admittedly, it's a great drum although keeping it was for sentimental reasons. My musical needs are different today than when I ordered that snare in 1978. My previous comment was also merely about semantics. The idea of replicating anything vintage is counter intuitive. Sure you can copy or even improve on an original. But unless you have a time machine, you can't recreate the thing itself, particularly if the origin is the primary mystique. For example, your awesome modern hats may sound better to you than your Istanbul K's. They also look different and were made slightly different. Therefore they're not replicated. They're just different... even new and improved. Yet your Istanbul K's are still the original, still in the vault and worth more. Basically, replicating anything vintage with a new look, new materials and new technology just doesn't make sense, so why not just label it "new and improved"?

BTW, since Stewart's drum technician confirmed my drum to be the same model (at least 99% without direct inspection), I'm not sure why you don't think it would sound the same.[/quote]

You're correct, of course Budo - They're not the same, but they still have the same character and timbre that I fell in love with and has become such a big part of my sonic personality. That's what surprised me - that Zildjian could come so close to recreating a one-of-a-kind sound.

The reason I said that your drum might not be the same is that Stewart himself mentioned that he purchased several more of that particular model in the event that anything happened to the original and none of them sounded the same as THAT one drum. So, yes it was indeed a case of that particular drum having a very unique metallurgical composition. That's why although your drum is the exact same model, there is still the possibility that it doesn't sound 100% like the mysterious, magical snare (kind of like my hi-hats )

Having said all that, I still say you should keep it!

[Budoman]

Zilboy, that's fine for those who want to believe Stewart acquired a magical snare drum. It certainly fits the mysterious provenance story.

But as I've written in another thread, the President of Pearl Drums in the U.S. checked for me with the parent company in Japan. Pearl had changed the type of shell while keeping the same model number over several years. The heavy chrome over brass version made in Japan was the only one that shares the Jupiter shell and was manufactured for a short time. Similar versions were sold with a steel shell both before and after the Jupiter version. They all look virtually the same, although obviously sound different. They are the same model drum only because Pearl didn't change the model number. However, drum collectors know a few tell tale signs to identify the Jupiter version, including a magnet test and the location of the vent hole.

As several members here recommended, I also contacted Jeff Seitz because he is the expert who tuned Stewart Copeland's Pearl snare drum all those years -- thereby creating that distinctive sound -- and is most familiar with it next to Stewart himself. Jeff recognized my drum immediately, saying he was 99% certain. Later, he suggested I'd benefit by describing it as "the same type snare used by Stewart Copeland."

FYI, Jeff also wrote, "The new TAMA Stewart Copeland signature model is a great sounding drum. The Pearl had a real magic sound to it as well. In my opinion some drums fit certain styles of music better than others. These two snares have a real crisp crack to them which work well in tight funky styles."

So there you have it... The magic of Stewart's original snare drum was confirmed by the expert as well.

[Budoman]

Tamadude, thanks. Great avatar by the way. You're one lucky dog!

[zilboy]

My apologies, Budo. I forgot that they manufactured that model with different shells. Sometimes I am amazed at my stupidity