In the mid-1970’s, the Hingers developed the Space-Tone snare drum. There are several conflicting stories on the Internet about how this came about, who developed it, and how it was developed. Most of these stories are completely wrong. The design and development of the Space-Tone snare drum was more of a discovery, that happened by accident, rather than a designed invention.
In the early 1970’s when Bill’s children were very young, they would frequently go to dinner on Sunday afternoon at Fred's house in Leonia, New Jersey. Bill and Fred would almost always find their way down to the studio in his home where they would talk about drums and try different things. On one occasion they were trying different combinations of snares and heads on 6 ½” x 14" snare drums. There were three drum stands set up in a row, one of which held a 12” x 15" field drum that had only a bottom head and snares on it. They were using the other two stands to go back and forth comparing different drums that Bill had made with different snares or heads. As a matter of convenience, they were using the 15” drum as a table. They would take a drum off of one stand and put it on top of the 15” drum, as it fit perfectly inside it, and put a different drum on the stand beside it to compare. Each time theymade a change on drums,they would take the snares off of the drum that was on the field drum so that it didn't make additional sound as they were comparing the other drums that were set up.
After about 15 minutes of this, while Fred was changing the drums, Bill happened to walk over, turn on the snares on the 15” drum and just tapped on the drum that was sitting on top of the 15” drum. The sound was incredible. They looked at each other with the same exact reaction. The focus of experimenting immediately changed to determine exactly what they were listening to and what was making this incredible sound on the snare drum. They spent the next several hours experimenting with different configurations, separating the drums, and discovered the tremendous expansion in volume as they pulled the drums apart. They went so far as to play on the drum with it over 2 feet above the 15-inch drum. Although at that level the sound spread out and was not very good, there was still a significant snare sound at that level by just tapping on the head of the 14” drum.
Monday morning at the little shop in Hackensack, New Jersey, Bill took one of the snare drums that had been in the production process, found a way to cut it in half, and bolted four pieces of aluminum channel to the top of the drum and cut a slot in the bottom half so that it could be adjusted. The next several weeks and months were a blur of trying different things, and experimenting with different openings, different configurations of snares, and generally determining the best way to go about putting this great new concept into production. They applied for, and eventually received, a very comprehensive patent for this entire drum and concept.
Over the next months and years Fred and Bill conducted many experiments with this concept and discovered that the accepted theory of snare drum sound production had been completely misunderstood. The conventional wisdom was that the stick hitting the top head created the excitement of air inside the shell that stimulated the snare head and snares sound on the bottom. To a small degree that is correct; however, it was only a small part of the discovery. They discoveredthey could record a tom-tom, take only the snare side of the Space-Tone drum, hold it directly in front of the speaker, play the tom-tom sound through the speaker, and it would react almost exactly as if they had just played the drum normally. As they would move the drum away from the speaker, it would react exactly as it did the first time they discovered this concept, by moving the drum away from the 15” drum. After much experimentation with the opening, they determined that a 1¼” to 1½” gap was the optimal opening and would produce the biggest and loudest sound. By varying the size of the opening all kinds of different sound levels could be achieved, giving this drum exceptional versatility.Closing the drum entirely creates a standard 6½” x 14” snare drum.
They also discovered that by changing the opening in the drum, the physics of the drum changed completely. In the standard 6½” x 14" snare drum, the bottom head is never heard when the drum is played. When the drum is separated, and played normally, the bottom head is heard independently of the batter head. When closed, the sound of the bottom head when tapped is actually an octave and a fifth higher in sound than the actual pitch. When the drum is separated, the pitch of the bottom head is actually an octave and a fifth lower in sound. This produces an unusual sound when standing in close proximity to the drum; however, once you get away from the drum, this unusual aspect of the sound tends to dissipate.
One summer they visited with the Philadelphia Orchestra percussion section when the orchestra was performing at Wolf Trap in Virginia. After rehearsal they set up a number of different snare drums on the stage and stood back to listen to them.The drum assortment included a Gladstone drum that Mickey Bookspan used and a Ludwig Super Sensitive. They played the Space-Tone drum closed and they played it open. This comparison went on for quite some time, trying different combinations and trying to compare different drums with the Space-Tone drum opened and closed. At some point, Mickey Bookspan made a very interesting observation that Bill had not observed before. Mickey noticed that when they moved farther away from the drums, as the stick hit the drum, there was a slight lag in the time that it took the sound to reach the listener. Mickey said, “Isn't it interesting that when the Space-Tone drum is open, you hear the sound at the same time you see the stick hit the drum?”This observation changed Bill’s entire thought process as to how the physics of the drum actually worked. What had been discovered that day in Wolf Trap was that drums want to speak and project from the side and not from the top and the bottom. This is just one of the aspects that make this drum such a powerful presence on stage.
In subsequent years, through 1986, Bill manufactured many Space-Tone drums. These drums are still highly desired in today’s market and frequently sell for more than twice the original sale price. Bill still retains the original prototype Space-Tone and the experimental 15” drum that were responsible for this accidental discovery.
During the 16 years Bill made drums at the Hinger Touch-Tone Corporation, he devoted much of his time to experimenting with different concepts and materials. Most of these experiments were failures. Failures, however, are the most valuable assetsto invention. Without the failures and learning how not to do things, the gems that work along the way would not be possible. As Thomas Edison once said when asked about the thousands of failures he endured in developing the light bulb, his response was,“I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”