When Brandon came to us and said he wants something rude and dirrrty, we weren't sure whether he had messaged the right RTCustoms, or was just suffering from lockdown blues? Luckily it was neither, he just had a really cool idea for a new snare! So of course we were happy to help (and relieved)!
First up was sourcing a 14x6.5 copper shell during a global pandemic, which was as tricky as it sounds! Nevertheless, this beauty arrived within a reasonable timeframe so we were able to get started. Having only forced a patina on brass shells before some experimenting was needed. The shell came with a layer of natural oil on to prevent tarnishing so first job was to remove this and let the air get to work on the bare metal. Brandon had an idea of the finish he was after which was something along the lines of this circled... but with more colour. So we set about trying out different chemicals to reach the desired effect.
Without looking back at my copious notes on the experiment, I think we settled on a mixture of salt, vinegar and ammonia sprayed on randomly around the shell. The salt helped the solution stay in one place while it worked it's magic. After repeating the process a few times, the shell was left for a few days to finish reacting, and a matte lacquer was applied over the whole shell.
While the lacquer was curing we set to work on the hardware. We wanted every piece to match the worn look of the shell so we used a 3 stage abrasive process to give the weathered, worn look as seen above. Bit of a difference from the glossy lug next to it!
We were excited to get assembly underway and see what all the different parts would look like together. As you can see from the photo, the edges and interior remain clean from patina, although slightly darker than the original photo of the shell.
As with all our builds, we like to make the strainers match and this was no exception. Aged to match the rest of the hardware and finished off with a blue/green sparkle in the adjustment screw. We were over the moon to see the finished snare put together. We think it creates the industrial, dirty look that Brandon was looking for but will still give the relative warmth of a copper shell that will cut through any mix. As always, completed with Evans heads and Puresound wires.
A few words from Brandon - 'Richard did an amazing job with custom copper snare drum! It looks and sounds incredible and the build time was also incredibly fast! Rich also gave me plenty of hardware options to get the exact look I was looking for and I couldn't be happier with it. It's a really versatile snare! I would highly recommend RTCustoms and I'm positive I will be going back to Richard in the near future for another snare.' Thanks for your kind words and patience Brandon, hope she's dirty enough for you! Rich RTC