Free floating snare drums
Welcome to my website!
This site is for information only. As an artisan builder,
I sell the snare drums and shells only on the designated trade websites.
Unmatched sound qualities.
The unique design makes it easy to use any handmade or factory-made shell by just removing the top head and swapping the shell.
Choosing pieces of wood carefully by size and thickness ensures that there is a minimum of waste.
The tube lugs are custom-made and painted in the colour of the other ring.
This snare is featured on my Etsy store.
Click here to look on Etsy
Custom Free-Floating Snare Drum: A Revolution in Sound and Design
Experience unparalleled quality with our custom free-floating snare drum, where traditional craftsmanship meets cutting-edge design. This snare drum is a true masterpiece, meticulously handcrafted to deliver superior sound and aesthetic appeal.
A snare drum made by a drummer for drummers. With the ultimate sound in mind, this snare is not just built to look different; it is built for sound and to be as versatile as possible.
Unlike conventional snare drums, our innovative free-floating design features a robust metal ring where all the hardware is attached. This unique construction ensures that nothing is screwed directly into the wooden shell, allowing the shell to resonate freely and produce a purer, more dynamic sound.
Unique design.
The unique design of the laser-cut metal outer shell gives a view of the actual shell of the drum.
Each snare drum is meticulously handcrafted, ensuring the highest quality and attention to detail. The result is a drum that sounds incredible and stands out as a work of art.
The combination of the free-floating design and solid ash shell gives this snare drum a distinctive sound profile. Expect a powerful, articulate attack with a balanced sustain and a wide dynamic range. Perfect for drummers who seek a unique voice in their kit.
Personalise your snare drum to match your style. Choose from a variety of finishes, hardware options, and custom engravings to create an instrument that is truly your own.
Finishes
The wooden shell will be finished with natural hardwax or water-based French polish.
The wood can be colored with water-based wood stain. Th e stain is spryed on with an air brush.
The outer metal ring can be powder-coated or spray-painted with automotive paint.
The tube lugs are custom-made and can be prayed in the same colour as the ring
Easy head change and tuning.
The outer ring holds all the hardware, making it very easy to change both the top and bottom heads without removing the snare wires.
Tuning is effortless, and the snare will sound booming when the heads are tuned in sync with the shell. The tuning will improve while playing.
Details.
The hardware can be used for wooden shells sizes 14×5.5, 14×6, and 14×6.5 inches.
All thicknesses and wood types can be used.
The snare wires can stay in place when changing heads. After removing the top head, the wooden shell can be taken out, and the bottom head can be removed and replaced.
The snare comes with a Hardcase© case.
Collector’s item because of the very low quantities made.
Comes with a bespoke Tuner JigZ© for easy set-up of the heads before you tune.
Sound characteristics.
A snare drum has a very complex frequency signature. This makes it very difficult to get the desired sound. The Z-drums floating snare eliminates a few of the design flaws that hinder a conventional snare from sounding the best it can. Because this floating snare design has nothing attached to the wooden shell, not even an airhole grommet, the airflow inside the shell is unrestricted, and therefore the heads can resonate freely. Because the hoops are connected to each other, and not to the shell, each head only has one tension instead of 8 or 10, depending on the snare’s lug count.
Expect a powerful, articulate attack with a balanced sustain and a wide dynamic range. Perfect for drummers who seek a unique voice in their kit.
Personalise your snare drum to match your style. Choose from a variety of finishes, hardware options, and custom engravings to create an instrument that is truly your own.
Pascal Zrour - drummer and drum builder
Born in the Netherlands, now living in the UK. I started drumming when I was 12. The first drum set needed a lot of work, and I refurbished it myself. I was never shy to tweak the musical instruments and equipment I owned. Whenever there was a problem, I tried to fix it myself. When I got the opportunity to order a Sonor SQ2 set, I really sat down to study the reason why a drum sounds like it does. Being meticulous about drum tuning and sound, I wanted a snare that sounded just like a favourite snare sound from a CD. As I build my own music recording studio, I am aware that the sound from a recorded snare can be nothing like hearing it in the room. I was pleasantly surprised that the configuration of the SQ2 snare surpassed my expectations. It is still my favourite ‘shop-bought’ snare. Fast forward a decade, I received the idea for the floating snare, and started the quest for building the first prototype to hear if it would work. A year after the first working snare, I discovered that solid wood snares sound much better than a plywood shell. Reaserching this, I realised that making a stave shell is not that hard to do. Not much later, I made the first stave shell, and the result was a hit. The snare got field-tested a lot during jams and band practices. At the UK drum show in Liverpool in 2024, three of my stave shell floating snares were introduced to the public.