It’s Questionable Iam looking to buy a nice 6.5×14 brass snare to use as my primary drum for studio and live applications. I really like the clean, shiny look of chrome, but I notice that a lot of studio drummers prefer nickel-plated brass snares. Is there a sonic difference between the two, if everything else is the same (shell thickness, hardware, drumheads, etc.)? And what about natural brass or black nickel plating? Do they sound different as well? Mike We sent your question to Joyful Noise Drum Company founder and president Curt Waltrip, who specializes in re-creating classic metal snare drums in addition to innovating new designs. He studied physics at UC Berkeley, and he’s been a professional drummer and drum design researcher for over thirty years, building drums for fifteen years. Here’s his take on the metallurgy behind snare drums. “In musical instrument design, the magic recipe is the […]