Overdrive Customized Snares

Gutentag,
I got an interesting email this morning concerning yesterdays blog content. Among other things I mentioned that Overdrive Percussion is considering building a line of custom snares. Perhaps I didn't explain it correctly, or make it clear to what exactly we are attempting to do. So allow me to elaborate a little on it this morning.
One of the issue's I have with the hundreds of Drum Boutique manufacturers that have popped up over the last few years is among other things low resale value. I don't care how " custom" a drum is if it's from a small or unknown company, when you sell it generally your gonna take a bath. That being said it seems to me that many of these companies do little more than assemble a drum. Aside from the finish they all appear pretty much to function the same.
Many use Keller shells which you can purchase from a variety of sources. You can get these shells pre-drilled and the finish already applied some companies just slap on hardware and they're done. I want to emphasise not all boutique companies do this, some make your kit from scratch. They do everything from bending and gluing the ply's to drilling the hardware holes, in short they are true manufactures.
I'm not saying either approach is wrong nor did I mean to imply that yesterday or today. I do feel that many of the smaller companies the main differences between them is in the finishes. As much as I would like to be a Percussion manufacturer at the moment we have our hands full. What I did allude to was in reference to Overdrive Percussion which is already engaged in producing Cymbals that we are also working with a company to produce a line of snare drums for the US market. We are also considering offering our customers a line of customized snare drums, and like everything else we plan to do it a little different. Let me elaborate.
What we plan to offer sometime next year is regular production model snares under the Overdrive brand. We also are planning to offer drummers the opportunity to create their own " customized " snare drums. Here's how we plan to approach it. We are going to have a line or lines of snare drums manufactured, when we receive them we will then strip down the snare to the shell and existing finish. We have decided to forgo the purchasing of shells and hardware and drilling sanding and blah, blah, blah. You get the picture. Instead we have come up with a novel approach to offering drummers the opportunity to customize their snare drums. To create a truly one of a kind instrument.
Cost is always a factor in business, in an undertaking like this it's everything. We are going to have a OEM manufacture a snare drum, we will then strip it bear until only the factory finish is left untouched. This is where we differ greatly with the boutique companies, many their claim to fame is there unlimited choices of finishes. We then plan to retro fit these snares with parts purchased here in the United States from percussion hardware companies. We will do this for 1 or 2 regular lines of snares, these upgraded snares will be our " Top of the Line " snares.
At the same time will offer our customers a chance to order the exact type of hardware he wishes to " Customize" his snare. The choices will be everything from Rims, 1.5 mm, 2.7 mm or 2.7 mm power hoops. To choices in hardware style, coloring, snare throw-offs to tuning rods long, short, medium, coarse thread or fine. even the choice of drum heads will be an option. The choices are limitless and drummers will have an opportunity to create a " Customized " snare drum that won't run them $800 and take 7 months to complete. I hope I have made our idea a little clearer and stated it in a more precise way. That's the plan for now until it changes. and like always till next time. T.