Overview
The ultra-thin shell of the Black Panther Traditional Maple Snare series produces a reliable, earthy response that’s been embraced by players for generations. No matter what size you prefer, the Black Panther Traditional Maple Snare delivers equal tone at any tuning.
This size of the flat-black maple was released towards the end of 1999 (see the advert from Modern Drummer below) and at the time was the only 10" Black Panther model available. It only appears in the 2000 catalogue , was gone by 2004, and never made a reappearance in this configuration, although they produced other 10" maple shells with different finishes and hardware.
It comes with the I.T.S mount in chrome that fairly ubiquitous on 10" shells of this period.
Background
This is a slight anomaly, so a bit of back story is probably in order.
I originally found it on an old listing by Graham Russell Drums, but there was no reference number for it and I couldn't find it in any catalogue, so I described it as "Satin Black" and made a separate listing to the Flat Black Maple with Gold Hardware.
However, on trawling through old issues of Modern Drummer at some ungodly hour one night (one of the "benefits" of insomnia!) I found the advert in the November 1999 edition that shows it as a "New Edition"...with black hardware. I'd been looking for a model with gold hardware like its contemporary Maple Deluxe stablemates, but it turns out that doesn't exist!
The advert shows the original Maple Deluxe version but this would have been rebranded with the rest as "Maple Black Panther" almost immediately after this advert apppeared. The 2000 catalogue has that later branding and I can't find a single example of a badged Maple Deluxe version
Photos courtesy of Graham Russell Drums and Fernando Botero - thanks folks!
