It was 4 years ago this month that I stumbled upon a very beat up and rusty snare drum.
I was in the midst of upgrading my drums from the Westbury starters, and I responded to an ad on buy&sell about a certain black snare drum for $50.

"Might as well go check it out," I thought.

When I finally saw the drum, it was dirty, stinky, and covered with duct tape. I was just about to conclude my trip was a disappointment when something written on the badge caught my eyes, it read "Milestone Instruments, handcrafted in Canada".

Handcrafted, now that couldn't be too bad, could it? Maybe I could bring it home and fix it up...

So that's how I got my first Milestone 14"x6.5" snare, and then finding out the history between Milestone and Tempus (www.tempusdrums.com) , and eventually used all my work money to purchase a Tempus Carbonfibre drumset as well. And man do they rock, responsive, waterproof, sounds HUGE, and Paul the owner was the nicest business person I have EVER seen.

Fast forward to 4 years later and yesterday I found a twin! (These drums are very rare and very sought after in studios, mind you, you never see them in the store and every sound engineers just love them)

So here it is, 14x6 Milestone snare ..take 2.

04/19/2007   day 72 Milestone Snare 2 finished 1 Milestone Snare 2 finished 2 Milestone Snare 2 finished 3 Comment 0

Done!!! (A long time ago...) Alright alright, finally got off my lazy bum and took some pictures of the finished product! The drum was assembled and cleaned and now it sounds fabulous. I put on an ambassador snare side and a Aqurian JD head on top, it seems a bit stiff and mid-range happy. Gonna swap it out for an Ambassador batter eventually. Seriously folks, I'm getting sold on putting Ambassadors on all snares from now on. It just sounds RIGHT. I tried Evans and I tried Aquarians, but both versions seemed to have a thinner sound by comparison. I know it's subjective, but Remo it is! This snare has all original parts: 2.3mm hoops, diecast bottom, original wires, Ludwig P85 throw-off. And yes, I cleaned the shell with water and it's absolutely FINE. Sounds amazing!

02/08/2007   day 3 See the seam on the left? Scratched! Inside Comment 0

Naked A couple points worth mentioning: 1) The drums is clean, but really really scratched up, I need to get it polished. Time to buy more power tools YEAH! 2) Going to contact Mr. Mason to see if he still have some Milestone stickers left..but I doubt it.. 3) Check out the inside of the shell! Woven fibreglass, nice. 4) The seam is polished smooth against the finish, this feature proofed to be too time consuming and is no longer done on modern Tempus fibreglass snares.

02/08/2007   day 2 The apocalypse for wooden drums Bubbles! Even the sticker is waterproof, how neat. Comment 0

Don't try this at home Not with your regular wooden drums, anyway. Otherwise you will DESTROY your drums. Guarenteed. For Fibreglass drums, however, it's perfectly fine to give them a bath. Because fibreglass won't absorb water, they are unaffected by moisture which often causes regular drums to crack / warp / detune. Fibreglass drums stay in tune no matter what. And in the meantime, all the metal parts are receiving their own vinegar bath in a little tub, too.

02/07/2007   day 1 Broken muffler Factory mismatched hoops Milestone STICKER! Comment 0

Before... A few pictures before I begin the cleaning / fixing. First inspection of the drum reveal no damage and no broken parts except for a missing muffle. No bigger, no body uses mufflers these days anyway. Specs: 14" x 6.5" Milestone Fibreglass snare drum - 5mm thick shell 10 coffin lugs with brass inserts Stock 1.6mm top hoop Stock Diecast bottom hoop Ludwig P85 Strainer & butt Factory black. (Like the Model T, early Milestone snares only come in black) Tama(?) strainer, missing handle Milestone Instruments STICKER! This drum is even older than the first one I have, it doesn't even have a badge, only a sticker! This drum should be at least 25 years old.