Snare Beds
A Little Bit o' Theory Never Hurt Anyone
The snare bed of a snare drum is the "dip" in the bearing edge where either the snare attachment cords (on a drumset snare) or snare cable (on a concert snare) pass over. The reason for a snare bed is a bit different for a drumset drum versus a concert drum. In the early snare drum days, the snares were made of "gut," much
like the natural gut strings for string basses or harps. The gut strands extended all the way from the butt to the snare usually. Here is a Leedy parade drum with snares made from wire-wound silk, which was a later development in snare material. The arrows point to the beginning and the end of the snare bed.
When the snare strands cross over bearing edge they must change direction. If this drum did not have a snare bed, the snares would be prone to launch away from the surface of the head once it passes over the bearing edge.
However, by relaxing the angle at the bearing edge, it makes it possible for the snare strands to lay more naturally across the entire length of the head. The relaxed angle is a result of the snare bed.
Other Forces of Nature - Oh the pressure and tension!
The next two concepts to understand are vertical pressure and lateral tension. To further illustrate the purpose of snare beds we'll use this example. Imaging taking a 2 foot piece of rope and holding one end in each hand. Now lay the rope across a 12 inch wide board and pull down on the rope
on either side. Can you see how you would need a tremendous amount of force to pull the rope down at a 90 degree angle to make it lay flat on the board? Now imagine taking the same piece of rope and laying it over a basketball. You now need hardly any force at all to make the rope take the arced shape of the basketball. You are creating an arc when you put snare beds on the snare side of a snare drum. If you split a snare drum down the middle you can see the arc shape the snare beds create.
The vertical pressure and lateral tension are separate yet interconnected forces. If there is little or no arc in the snare side head, it takes greater lateral tension via the strainer tension knob to pull the snare "into" the head. However, this only can do so much (remember the flat board?), and of course the tighter the snare strands the less responsive the drum will be. The dynamic range that in which the snare sounds good will shrink and move into the higher volume levels.
Having a snare bed creates the vertical pressure naturally. The arc is allowing the snare to be pulled into the bottom head, and less strainer tension is necessary because you're not making the snare tension do both jobs. It is most advantageous to have the snare strands (concert drums) or attachment cords
(drumset drums) run as close to parallel with the shell as possible once they come off the head and "turn the corner." Again, this is like pulling the rope over the basketball.
Some Other Snare Bed Samples
Above - a snare bed with a gentle arc will create a gentle arc on the snare head.
Below - a snare bed with more abrubt sides and a flatter bottom will create a snare head profile that has more "flatness." The curve in the snare head profile will also be more abrupt and closer to the bearing edge.
There are as many concepts of snare bed shape and size as there are drum builders. The bed we'll show you in the next chapter is a basic bed that is extremely versatile, effective, and easy to make for the beginning drumbuilder. The more you understand the fundamentals behind snare beds, the more success
you'll have in experimenting and creating the perfect snare bed that makes your drum respond and sound like you want it to.
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