Actual 14" snare drum shell diameters; mine seems unusually small

[Sequimite]

IIRC, Gretsch was once infamous for making their 14" shells... 14" in diameter. Others were at 13 15/16". Rogers was 13 7/8"; I wonder if they used taller rims because the smaller shell caused the rim to be lower with respect to the playing surface.

I just received a lovely steam bent walnut shell made by Dale Vigent which is 13 13/16" in diameter, a 1/16" smaller than Rogers. Is this as unusual as I think it is? (Very)

Off to search through my heads for ones with minimal shoulders.

 

[Sequimite]

Fortunately, no problem with new heads even though they all seemed to have about the same shoulder rise.

 

[JimmyM]

I have no idea, but looking at it, maybe he did it so the hoops don’t stick up too high above the heads. At any rate, if the sound is happening and the hardware works, I wouldn’t give it a second thought.

 

[AaronLatos]

Yep, that's a rare bird. Very few makers undersize their shells that much.

And in my opinion? It works great.

I'll eventually make a post getting deep into the nerdery when I have the time, but the long story short is that in addition to ensuring plenty of head clearance, undersizing that much changes the "break angle" of the head, resulting in fuller head-shell contact at the edge of the drum, makes the head feel different, and boosts the bottom end subtly.

I believe that true OD of the shell is the most overlooked element of drum design by the vast majority of builders. It's subtle, but designing an instrument is an equation with many subtle factors working together, and it shouldn't be overlooked.

The biggest downside to undersizing a drum that much is that most of the shelf hoop and lug combinations on a shell with that diameter will result in not insignificant tension rod splay (one reason of many that I machine all of my own hardware to fit everything together).

Your drum is fine, and not only will it take any head you put on it, but it will actually be more forgiving of different head designs because it is less reliant on a preformed collar.

 

[Ptrick]

Gretsch shells (even old shells) are still undersized from a true 14”, just not as much as a standard shell. Add in the wraps they used on the shells, and you had a shell that had a hard time taking certain heads.

Undersized shells are great. More of a tympanic type effect. Sonor and 90’s premiers have undersized shells, and they tune up like a dream.

 

[drumtimejohn]

Camco as well.

 

[ThomasL]

I think undersized by 1/8" is most common on modern drums, but (at least some) Sonor drums are undersized by 1/4".

 

[FLratrodder]

My daVille stave drums are undersized by about 1/4". They tune up really easily and have great sustain.

I did however once get a stave shell from a different builder that was just unusable. The actual diameter was 13.5", so the hardware didn't line up and snare wires were too long.

 

[kdgrissom]

Rogers was 13 7/8"; I wonder if they used taller rims because the smaller shell caused the rim to be lower with respect to the playing surface.

I alway heard it was because calf heads had a habit of stretching, so the tall boy hoops kept the rims from becoming level with the bearing edge. After plastic heads became the rage, they discontinued them.

 

[flung]

Premier under sized their drums as well.