Early light catches the Designer bops. But what is in the snare position?

Egahds! Not another Signature snare. I've seen so many of them that they're like the Mona Lisa.
BORING BORING BORING!
Yup, sure enough. I sold my last Sig snare over a year ago. What is this doing here? Oh, man, is this going to make Kelly unhappy!

This one has a secret and a story. I have so much been enjoying my Lite snare with TO2 that I began to fantasize about a Lite with parallel action. But they don't come in matching veneers for my Designers. If they had, they'd have been called Signatures. Which in fact is what this drum is; a slightly elongated Lite shell with Signature veneer, too many lugs, and parallel action. I remembered that Cliff had one for sale, and we worked out an agreement whereby I could try it out with little risk (assuming strong shipping box!)
I got it several days later, and it is fantastic. If anything, it has more guts than my Lite, while retaining musical liveliness and sensitivity. The addition of more lugs and screws must damp its enthusiasm a little, but not in any way that is offensive. The parallel snare is, of course, in the way, but it has an edge of sensitivity over the extended snare. This, were I recording, would be the snare kept in the studio, and the Lite used for roadwork.

There's a bit of humor in brackets - when I first played the drum it was AWFUL. Dry as a bone and drier, because even bones couldn't match this for dryness. And it felt funny, like beating on something sluggish and fat. I was going to pass the drum on rapidly to its next owner. Then I looked at the batter head. EMPEROR. Speaking with Cliff a bit later, we determined that that was his last attempt at making it work for him before shelving it.
