Neil Peart -- The Latest News

We're starting to get more details about the three DW Limited Edition "Icon" snares that were announced last week at the NAMM show. Here's what we know:

• There are three snares being produced, including a Neil Peart Time Machine design, as well as one for Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and one for Roger Taylor of Queen.
• DW is making 250 of each snare.
• The Time Machine Icon snare drum is a 6.5x14-inch 10-ply Collector's Series Maple VLT (Vertical Low Timbre).
• A portion of the proceeds will go to the charities of each drummer's choice. Neil Peart's charity is The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation in Toronto, Canada.
• As far as price goes, one drum store in England has listed the Time Machine drum for 1399 pounds -- or around (US) $2,308. Yes, this is a lot of money for a snare drum -- but these are limited editions being produced at a level of craftsmanship far above typical snares.
• To purchase a snare, DW recommends contacting a dealer from their locater map. In the past, Neil Peart limited edition items have sold out, so if you're interested I wouldn't wait.

DW has also released a handy inlay legend (PDF) detailing the different woods used in each drum. Just to be clear (because I didn't understand this at first), the designs and colors aren't created by stencils and paint, but by inlaying different woods into the drum itself.

• The dark wood used throughout the drum is padauk.
• The Time Machine symbols are made of natural maple.
• The gears surrounding the Time Machine symbols are made of dyed orange maple.
• The cogs around the lugs are made of natural walnut.
• The vertical borders are made of white poplar and dyed black poplar

A promotional video is now available from DW about these drums:

Neil says in the video, "This is made to replicate the exact snare drum that I use -- not only in concert, but on every one of our records since I started using it -- five or six years, I would suppose. It's a personal instrument in that it is the drum that I play, but it is an evocation of the design that we came up with for the live kit -- the Time Machine kit. This is a further development, if you like, of that technique of what it takes to do this kind of inlay, and what it takes to create such a beautiful piece of art and craft."

Here's a close-up of the inlays in the snares (from left to right, Roger Taylor, Neil Peart, and Nick Mason):

The "Icons" and their snares:

Labels: Drum Workshop, drums, Icon Limited Edition snare

At the NAMM 2014 show held this week, DW introduced three new Collector's Icon Series snares to honor Neil Peart (Time Machine), Roger Taylor (Queen's crest), and Nick Mason (Dark Side of the Moon). You can download the PDF brochure here.

You might be wondering how this version is different from previous Neil Peart Time Machine Collector's snares. According to the brochure, the Time Machine motif is "...is painstakingly laser-cut, then hand-inlayed from a variety of jaw-dropping exotic wood veneers."

This means the designs on the drum aren't painted -- they're laser cut from different exotic wood veneers and hand inlayed. The design and construction is illustrated in the DW video (at the 9:20 mark).

Here's a close-up of the snare:

Here's what the "gear" looks like before it's inlayed:

DW video:

Here's the text from the official brochure:

Created by DW Drum Designer, John Good, to pay tribute to some of the most iconic drummers in the history of Rock, the all-new line of Icon snare drums honors Neil Peart of Rush, Roger Taylor of Queen, and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. The snare drums sizes and shell configurations are as played by each artist, with one dramatic new design element. The finish is painstakingly laser-cut, then hand-inlayed from a variety of jaw-dropping exotic wood veneers. For Neil Peart's drum, the Time Machine motif is realistically created in the wood, while Queen's ornate, Freddie Mercury-designed crest is depicted, as is Pink Floyd's famous Dark Side of the Moon prism and waveform image.

Each drum is protected with clear gloss lacquer and includes Collector's Series snare drum standard features such as our MAG throw-off system with 3P (3 position) butt-plate, True-Hoops, True Tone snare wires, True-Pitch tuning, and DW heads by Remo USA. Also included are a premium DW snare bag, certificate of authenticity, and a legend that describes the woods used for each specific drum. For more information on this iconic collection, visit: www.dwdrums.com.

There's no list price yet, but you can imagine with this level of craftsmanship, these snares are not going to be cheap.

Labels: Drum Workshop, drums, NAMM