Robert Daniels Fine snare drum

Robert Daniels is probably unique in that he only makes a drum or two each year, all one-offs for specific clients.

This mahogany monster was requested by folk superstar Eliza Carthy, who wanted a "gi-normous" deep snare drum with a military feel, but without snares under the batter head.

Build

"Once upon a time we had two Victorian mahogany doors at the farm, now we have only one," says Robert. The Brazilian mahogany shell is nominally 14x14" and is of stave construction, which is Robert's usual method: "Hand-planed and rub-jointed, absolutely no dowels or biscuiting, just timber glued together then turned on a lathe."

Hands-on

To play the drum, we placed it on a stand and approached it standing up. Dimensions-wise it's a floor tom with a snare on the bottom.

Instinctively it felt right to tune the batter low for that grungy, historic-military type side drum tone - the ominous, loose rattling roll heralding a battle or public execution.

For this, you need chubby sticks with big acorns, with your double strokes wobbling unevenly on the batter. In that sense, it is authentic and no doubt fulfi ls its role in the gritty world of Eliza's evocative folk music.

Tuning it higher, more like a modern marching drum, the snares respond quicker and yet the batter head is so distant from the bottom you still hear the stroke and then the tight snare response fractionally afterwards, while the shell emits a resounding ring.

After much consideration, we're giving Robert's Fine drum three stars, because it's such a specialist instrument, and of little use to most drummers.