John Blackwell Signature Snare

The History of the John's Signature Snare Drum

In early 2016, John tried out several Hendrix snares and fell in love with the bright resonant tone, piercing attack, and sensitivity of our African Padauk snare drum. He went with a 14" x 6" size combined with the 1/4" thin stave shell wall, which gave John's drum optimum performance at any tuning, so much so, that he used two of them for every gig; one cranked up for his main snare and the other is tuned low as his side snare. We collaborated with John to produce a limited run of Signature snare drums, making only 30 of them in total. They became available in the summer of 2016 and sold out quite quickly. In early July 2016 while on tour in Japan, John fell ill and lost the use of the left side of his body and was diagnosed to have multiple brain tumors. He returned to the US to undergo surgeries and other treatments. After a year long battle, he sadly passed away on on July 4th, 2017. John is truly missed, and it was an incredible honor to have had the chance to work with him. In conjunction with John's family, we have decided to produce a final limited run of 30 more of John's Signature snares. Though this time, in honor of his life and drumming legacy, each drum will bear a commemorative badge, showing the year of John's birth and the year of his untimely passing. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each drum goes directly to John's family. If you are interested in purchasing one of these drums, be sure and contact us or your favorite Hendrix Drums dealer soon, as these will not last long. These snares are scheduled to start shipping in late March of 2018.