Building A Pancake Snare (DIY Drum Building)

Thanks for checking out this video on my Pancake Snare build. I had a ton of fun putting this together, and I hope it inspires you to do the same. If you enjoyed this video you might enjoy the drum set I built from Keller shells earlier this year. Both parts of that video are linked below.
Part 1: • Building a Skinny Bass...
Part 2: • Skinny Drum Set Build ...
Also, if you're not up to building one, you can always purchase the A&F Pancake Drum from retailers like Sweetwater (linked here)
www.sweetwater...

[@famitory]

hot tip: adding one of those internal snares to the top side of a normal snare drum is totally wicked too. having snares on both heads gives you more wires and adds the sound of muffling without dulling overtones too much.

[@malonedrum]

Yeah, I don’t know if I’d add one to any one my snares, but I love the convenience of it on some small accessory drums. The dampening is helpful too for sure

[@Heavyperro]

Sounds awesome. Great work!

[@malonedrum]

Thanks!

[@robbiedestocki7749]

I think it sounds fantastic! Sure it has its limitations as far where you’d use it but I’d use it as a side snare, and the snares on the bottom sound the best. For $30 and some old parts you created a winner!

[@malonedrum]

I agree, I still have it almost 2 years later, although it doesn’t get used very much. Cool project either way though.

[@bd764]

Awesome.You cant tell the sound difference from a full sized snare drum!

[@malonedrum]

Haha, I’m not sure if that’s a plus or minus, but I agree I initially thought something for polar opposite for this drum from a traditional snare.

[@sebastianeverding4411]

Great Idea! Love the Pancake Snares from A and F and the budget version seems to be working. I really like the idea of using the lug inserts for tuning the heads. Keep up the great work!

[@malonedrum]

Thanks for checking it out’

[@keyframer.]

This is great info!!! Thank you for making it. I love the higher tuning and wires on the bottom. Very trashy. Throw a Big Fat Snare Drum jingle muffler on it might be cool.

[@malonedrum]

I have one of those! I'll have to try it out, but honestly I don't think I've ever found a good use for the jingle BFSD.

[@BostonDrummer]

@@malonedrum yeah, I finally found a use in a recent video involving a cat. So yeah.

[@malonedrum]

@@BostonDrummer that video was great, I have two cats. I should be able to find a use for mine soon

[@dancollinsandapiano]

So dope! Two of my favorite worlds colliding in one video.

[@malonedrum]

Me & 4K video?

[@dancollinsandapiano]

@@malonedrum 😎 woodworking and drumming ofc

[@malonedrum]

@@dancollinsandapiano Future collab video for us building a piano from scratch

[@dancollinsandapiano]

@@malonedrum I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t dreamt up such a project

[@MrMusiclifer]

I liked what you did making this, Mike-Thumbs up and thanks for the great video coverage! A few years ago I bought the LP internal throw snare wire set to make an SD version with an old Tama mini timbali and had the same issue tension adjustment lacking.

[@malonedrum]

Thanks for checking it out, I actually just finished a new project similar to this that’ll be released in a few weeks. Shameless plug to subscribe if you wanna see it!

[@Onyxaxe]

Exactly the vid I needed. Wanted to know if the swivel nuts would work like this. Thanks!

[@malonedrum]

They did for me at the time, and certainly still work, but in the last couple years I have found a square nut that works even better

[@nitobateradrum]

Ficou muito massa o som e com várias possibilidades de som.

[@malonedrum]

Thank You!

[@krenwregget7667]

neat project. That snare would be great with a set of Purecussion toms and kick for a super lightweight practice kit.

[@malonedrum]

I have a “mini” or travel kit that I built. There’s two videos on my channel building it if that interests you.

[@leeasbury7273]

Could've maybe tried 13 snare wires and got creative with the implementation? A thought 👍. Sounded good for that coffee shop vibe

[@malonedrum]

Yeah, that's an interesting thought. Maybe on another variation down the road!

[@royrivas894]

Your video gave me a great idea for a snare I made and made the shell too short that both heads bottom out on the lugs

[@malonedrum]

That’s so cool to hear! Is it finished? I’d love to see some pictures of what you did!

[@royrivas894]

@@malonedrum here is link to the video I did of the shell. It is made from some plywood that I got from work. The wood was from a piece of equipment we had received. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2LNqZhjnNGAo8U

[@johnlebrun2148]

Very cool Mike. Thanks for sharing.

[@malonedrum]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@RainMakeR_Workshop]

Those wires seems like it might be a better solution form a Snom than traditional snare wires.

[@malonedrum]

Eh, I think I’d prefer regular wires on a drum this large, but I do like the concept for a smaller drum.

[@RainMakeR_Workshop]

@@malonedrum Oh on a drum like that, certainly. I was more thinking on something like a 10, 12 or 13 inch tom at most, converted into a snare/tom hybrid "snom". One of the issues with snoms is that they never quite sound like the other toms. A big reason is because of the cranked snare side head and snare rattle. Where as with something like this LP snare mechanism, you could have it push up against the batter head and use a regular resonant head to match the rest of your toms. So when its "off", it would match the other toms, and when its "on", you get a popcorn/piccolo snare kind of thing. Btw, you mentioned that you'd rather be able to adjust the snare tension, the Tama Metalworks Effects Snare's can be adjusted, though they aren't as pretty as the LP one.

[@johnsanchez5204]

Wow! :D, That's Amazing! :D l loved the sound of the Pancake-Drum, With the Snares, On the bottom, Much, Better! :D

[@malonedrum]

Glad you liked it! The choice of which head to set the snares to is a super cool feature in my opinion.

[@deviant1330]

Very cool build and video!! Well done.

[@malonedrum]

Thanks!

[@NorthernChev]

Well done. Fantastic videography.

[@malonedrum]

Thank you!

[@NuDrums]

Hey dude! Great job. I am glad I found your channel, another guy fixing and building drums- awesome. Also, I see that you're in Oshkosh- I lived in the U.P for six years and did a ton of restorations there :) Keep it up man!

[@malonedrum]

Thanks for checking it out. I love doing these kind of things, maybe we’ll cross paths one day.

[@iyangu1]

wonderful work, thanks for sharing.

[@malonedrum]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@yesno4065]

Pancake. Yummy

[@malonedrum]

Maple Syrup

[@tomputc]

excellent, great video. thank you

[@malonedrum]

Thank you!

[@jaymeramirez7435]

This is so bad ass

[@malonedrum]

Agreed! Cool project with little to not investment.

[@baddrummer94]

Nice sound!!!💯🥁🤓

[@malonedrum]

Thanks!

[@HarshitBujarBaruah]

This sounds great.

[@malonedrum]

Thanks! For all the projects I’ve tried that were unsuccessful, this one surely did out nicely. I’d highly recommend others to try it

[@Eurodrummer666]

This is a very nice build! I was just wondering... There are some short and flat lugs you could have used in an offset positioning. This would have allowed double tension so you could fine tune this slim snare. What do you think?

[@malonedrum]

At the time I built this, I was also excited about the single tension drum, so I have no regrets on building it the way I did, but sure, you could choose to do something like that yourself if you built a pancake drum.

[@Eurodrummer666]

@@malonedrum actually I´d like to try to build my own. Thanks for your comment.

[@StuartJrBarrett]

That sounds great!

[@malonedrum]

Working your way through the archives!

[@StuartJrBarrett]

@@malonedrum haha yeah!

[@egz7086]

Love it

[@malonedrum]

Thanks!

[@johngrant5749]

Sounds good to me. Snare on top sounds best.

[@malonedrum]

Thanks for checking it out, and I agree on top head.

[@johngrant5749]

Hopefully I’ll be making my own at some point so some useful info to keep in mind.

[@malonedrum]

@@johngrant5749 I'd love to see it!

[@johngrant5749]

@@malonedrum don’t hold your breath 😄

[@user-nc6qh1my5b]

))) I made this from aluminum a couple of years ago. sounds good too.

[@malonedrum]

I’d love to see it!

[@MTRDave]

I'd like to hear it if it had two snare wires inside, one on the top head and one on the bottom.

[@malonedrum]

Yeah, that thought crossed my mind, but I don’t know if I’ll ever invest the money into a second one of those mounts.

[@venteach.6289]

That’s cool!

[@malonedrum]

Thank you!

[@brandoesntsocialise]

New subscriber here! This is exactly what I was looking for. Is that “shell” 3” depth? It honestly sounds better than other pancake snares I’ve heard around KZbin. Great content!

[@malonedrum]

Thanks for checking it out, I think it's more like 2-2.25" or so. I couldn't go any shallower with the internal snare bracket, but I wanted it to be as shallow as possible. I initially thought I would disassemble this drum after the video, and use the parts elsewhere, but I actually still have it together because it was surprisingly useful.

[@brandoesntsocialise]

@@malonedrum It sounds really good to my ear! You’ve inspired me haha thanks for the response! Keep up the good work, Mike!

[@williamperri3437]

@@malonedrum my dream is to play drums again but I have bad Hyperacusis. I'm trying to find a way to work around it after the past 20 years of being off the drums and I'm doing my best... I feel like this snare may be very helpful for me if you want to consider selling it. Thanks for the awesome video!

[@malonedrum]

@@williamperri3437 yeah, I’m not totally attached to keeping it forever. Feel free to email me at [e-mail] and we can discuss it further.

[@williamperri3437]

@@malonedrum I'm gonna email you now. Your main demo group I've been messing around with since the late 90s. I heard Questlove play something pretty similar to it around 99/00 live started messing with it and sometimes I turn it a little bit more somber like Stevie Wonder would have played and then sometimes I'll make it a little bit more afrobeat. Or I'll play exactly what you do but not typically four-on-the-floor which I really like and will cop for sure!

[@williamperri3437]

Wow! This is killer. It should be manufactured on a large scale. I gotta go back and figure out how you built a snare that goes to the top and bottom head. More attack with snares on top! I have pretty bad ringing in the ears and sensitivity the sound from playing drums and I'm wondering if you think one of these pancakes snares are going to clearly be quieter than a deeper drum? My initial thought was there would be so much more attack and a higher-pitched would affect my ears more than a 5 or 6" snare but these 2" pancake snares have so much less body that it may be ideal for my hearing.

[@malonedrum]

I’m not expert on how it would translate in that aspect, but to me it’s still similar to any standard drum in sounds. It is a quick decay, depending on tuning, but I can say it’s any softer than a normal snare.

[@williamperri3437]

@@malonedrum quick decay is huge.

[@NATAGUILARMUSIC]

wow the A&F's have rust on the parts? or is that patina?

[@malonedrum]

It’s totally intentional, a patina. Really matches their whole aesthetic as a company.

[@bamswisnu4823]

Wow i liked, how many height Shell ?

[@malonedrum]

About 2”

[@claudiocostavargas5279]

Meteu uma vaneira...

[@malonedrum]

???

[@Quartiano]

Sweet

[@malonedrum]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@TempoDrift1480]

Shit, high tension with the snares on the bottom sounds pretty legit for shit laying around.

[@malonedrum]

Well shit, thanks.

[@miriangraafsma9732]

Man the sound is fantastic can you "Vst" this? into a Kit Like Skinny Bassdrum Pancake Snare and 14 inch hi hats (Paiste 14" PSTX Swiss.)?

[@malonedrum]

Yeah, the funny thing is I’ve actually never used this snare with that kit. It makes a ton of sense but I just haven’t done it!

[@miriangraafsma9732]

@@malonedrum Well actually it was the algorithm that just made me wonder I'm not even a drummer it's just that I thought that the high pitched and dry sounds would really make a great VST instrument. If you pitch up snare's in a Vst they sound somewhat unnatural that and this snare just sounds great Btw!

[@malonedrum]

@@miriangraafsma9732 oh you mean like a virtual instrument. Yeah, that’d be cool.

[@miriangraafsma9732]

@@malonedrum Exactly that the way to go with unique instruments right?

[@malonedrum]

@@miriangraafsma9732 I don’t use VST instruments really for what I do, but sure!

[@geoffsides408]

DRUMS ON SALE closed :(

[@malonedrum]

Unfortunately yes. A major bummer.

[@williamperri3437]

Hi hats? Size?

[@malonedrum]

Pretty sure those are 13” Bosphorus Syncopation Hats

[@mentalitydesignvideo]

1 year too late, and I know you don't want to invest any more money into this project, but still: I'd file the holes on one of the rims to accept square lug inserts, rather than rely on friction. Also I'd use a conventional batter head and put a diplomat snare on the snare side. The super thin head will produce a higher pitch under single tension and add sensitivity. And I'd think about modifying the LP mini-snare throw-off to control full sized internal or even perhaps external snares. Not sure how, but what immediately springs to mind is this: use snares with string, rather than plastic straps. Install a simple "eye plate" (maritime for a mounted ring) opposite the throw-off, it'll serve as buttplate (let strings run loose in a loop, it'll equalize tension side-to-side). Then drill and grommet two small holes right under the T-handle of the throw-off and feed the string ends into the mechanism. If it can tension those rudimentary snare, it can tension the string connecting the external snares.

[@malonedrum]

Cool ideas, probably more like 3 years too late on this build, but you should build one to these specs and post a video, I'd watch that.

[@mentalitydesignvideo]

@@malonedrum I'd love to but I have no means to do any of this right now.

[@puresoulg]

Nice!!

[@malonedrum]

Thanks!

[@onegrainofsand]

slammed the fuck outta the sub button great content!

[@malonedrum]

That’s the most aggressive subscription I’ve ever seen, thanks!

[@Eddie_Light]

Wanna sell it?

[@malonedrum]

I would actually consider selling it, if you were serious about buying it.

[@michaelsorrells4649]

You don't had many drummer

[@malonedrum]

Hmmmm??

[@theothertroll]

I can get that same sound from my Ludwig chrome acrolite, actually I can get any sound I want from it. The only thing stupider than a pancake snare is DYIing one 🤮

[@malonedrum]

Enjoy your Acrolite, they are fantastic drums. Hope you can find some better quality content watch than this schmuck recycling drum parts into stupid pancake drums.