During Coronatimes, I’ve been working on a variety of drum/percussion and audio projects. I installed claw-style wooden hoops on my 14” Ludwig “field drum”, which was converted from a retired 1960s(?) mahogany Ludwig marching drum, and my 5.5x14”birch Yamaha Steve Steve Gadd signature drum. I love that drum, and it’s been a workhorse for me since I bought it used in 2003 for $215 (shipped!) on the PAS World Percussion Network (RIP). Over all those years, it’s been bashed WAY more than a drum that beautiful ever should have been, so it was overdue for some pampering and TLC!

Check ‘em out (more details below):

STEVE GADD SNARE: I replaced the original Gadd-designed 10-strand snare assembly. Because this drum has not been produced for 8 or 10 years, I thought the used or NOS market would be my only options. A friend of a friend (thanks, Andy!) who knows a lot about Yamaha drums mentioned that the 10 strand snare is an option with their Recording Custom snares. Sure enough, it’s available from Yamaha as a replacement part! I got the hoops from Stellar drum shop in Wisconsin (https://www.stellardrumshop.com/), in a satin black finish. They’re doing the job - Sound great and look good with the piano black of the shell.

LUDWIG: I just happened to find these hoops used in great shape at The Starving Musician in San Jose, CA (https://starvingmusician.com/). They were labeled “PDP”, which I took to mean Pacific Drums and Percussion. At 10 plies, they’re slightly thicker than a typical claw-style hoop, but the extra beefiness is nice. It does mean that I had to open up the claws a little bit to fit (see the tools I used in the process in the slideshow).