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Hater
Genuine GMS Junkie
Ain’t nothin’ but a bling thing baby…
Ladies and gentleman, may I present my first Craviotto snare drum:
It’s a 6-1/2” x 14” single-ply maple shell with a one-of-a-kind finish called Pewter Sparkle. The hardware is all nickel plated, although it didn’t come across as well as I hoped it would with the late afternoon sun and all.
I purchased it from my former boss at Ellis Drum Shop about two months ago. He bought directly from Johnny Craviotto himself at the 2004 NAMM show. (This drum was one of the few they had on display that year.) Johnny told him that he would never do another drum in this finish because he didn’t like the way it turned out. (I think Johnny is crazy, because this thing is beautiful!) My boss then had it sitting around his house until he offered it to me. He never played it, not even once. It came with the Craviotto soft case and the Craviotto tuning key.
The construction of this beast is top notch all the way. The bearing edges are perfect, the finish is immaculate. The one thing that someone else pointed out to me is the inside of the shell is prettier than a lot of the finishes that I see on the OUTSIDE of the shell on other drums.
It’s already seen lots of playing time. In fact, here’s a picture of me a week ago at the Fine Line Music Cafe here in Minneapolis with it:
(It matches my silver sparkle 70’s Slingerlands real well, doesn’t it?)
The sound is a good solid crack, but very fat sounding. (Those two traits usually don’t exist on the same snare drum in my experience.) It’s very articulate as well. It’s a fantastic rock snare drum.
That’s said, I do have a few minor complaints:
#1 – The nickel plated hardware is a bitch to keep clean. It fingerprints like MAD!!! Everyone who knows me knows that I love to have every thing clean and shiny. (It adds to the overall presentation!) It’s hard to do that with this drum.
#2 – I absolutely love the tube lugs on this thing, but they seem to bind up on me. That’s something I rarely experience on other tube lug drums that I’ve got. I try to avoid putting a little 3-1 Household Oil on the tension rods because it usually causes more problems than it creates, but I might have do that in this case.
That said, I still love this thing. It’s a fantastic drum. It brings me joy every time I play it. Hopefully I’ll be able to record with it in the near future.
Thanks for your time! One final picture for the road…
Ladies and gentleman, may I present my first Craviotto snare drum:
It’s a 6-1/2” x 14” single-ply maple shell with a one-of-a-kind finish called Pewter Sparkle. The hardware is all nickel plated, although it didn’t come across as well as I hoped it would with the late afternoon sun and all.
I purchased it from my former boss at Ellis Drum Shop about two months ago. He bought directly from Johnny Craviotto himself at the 2004 NAMM show. (This drum was one of the few they had on display that year.) Johnny told him that he would never do another drum in this finish because he didn’t like the way it turned out. (I think Johnny is crazy, because this thing is beautiful!) My boss then had it sitting around his house until he offered it to me. He never played it, not even once. It came with the Craviotto soft case and the Craviotto tuning key.
The construction of this beast is top notch all the way. The bearing edges are perfect, the finish is immaculate. The one thing that someone else pointed out to me is the inside of the shell is prettier than a lot of the finishes that I see on the OUTSIDE of the shell on other drums.
It’s already seen lots of playing time. In fact, here’s a picture of me a week ago at the Fine Line Music Cafe here in Minneapolis with it:
(It matches my silver sparkle 70’s Slingerlands real well, doesn’t it?)
The sound is a good solid crack, but very fat sounding. (Those two traits usually don’t exist on the same snare drum in my experience.) It’s very articulate as well. It’s a fantastic rock snare drum.
That’s said, I do have a few minor complaints:
#1 – The nickel plated hardware is a bitch to keep clean. It fingerprints like MAD!!! Everyone who knows me knows that I love to have every thing clean and shiny. (It adds to the overall presentation!) It’s hard to do that with this drum.
#2 – I absolutely love the tube lugs on this thing, but they seem to bind up on me. That’s something I rarely experience on other tube lug drums that I’ve got. I try to avoid putting a little 3-1 Household Oil on the tension rods because it usually causes more problems than it creates, but I might have do that in this case.
That said, I still love this thing. It’s a fantastic drum. It brings me joy every time I play it. Hopefully I’ll be able to record with it in the near future.
Thanks for your time! One final picture for the road…
Congrats man...thanks for the review.
