SOME MORE FANCY SNARE WORK

Ha!  For those of you who thought "fancy snare work" meant I was going to demonstrate some skillful snare drum playing, I am afraid you will be sorely disappointed.  Around here the misplacedmtnman does more "cleaning" work than playing, so don't expect any exciting videos of me tearing up a drum kit.  I'm too busy polishing and watching The Lord of the Rings Extended Versions.  I love those movies.

So here is yet another run-of-the-mill Japanese snare drum I picked up for fifteen bucks on Ebay.  Nothing special.  Just another red sparkle snare drum like the others I already own, but I can't resist salvaging a neglected drum when nobody else wants it.

This 5 x 14" bears the name "Jewel," just like the gorgeous blonde singer who I would also gladly take into my care if no one else wanted her.  Besides a complete cleaning job it also needed new top and bottom heads and snare wires underneath.  Everything else was in acceptable condition and functioned properly.  No repairs were necessary.

Here is how it cleaned up:

Let's just go ahead and state the obvious.  Gosh dang I do awesome work.  You might even say fancy.  Now let me show you another drum I cleaned up.  This is a Slingerland with an aluminum shell.  Pretty cool, huh?  But wow, is it screaming for some polish or what?

When you have a drum in this condition, it really is time to give it a complete overhaul to bring it back to life.  This is truly a nice vintage drum, it is just extremely dirty.  If you allow this filth to set in for too long, the chrome is going to start rusting and/or "pitting."  Then the metal will not be able to be cleaned, not even with my professional-grade polish.  Fingerprints, smudges and grime I can deal with.  Rust and pitting I cannot.

Now.  That is much better, and as a result I am actually inspired to play this drum.  Because clean snare drums not only look great, they sound better too.  Yeah.  They do.  You can believe that, because you read it on the Internet, and it wouldn't be on the Internet unless it was true, right?  Now how about another look at that beautiful Jewel, huh?