"I came up with the basic concept for my Melody Master signature snare drums (I named them after my daughter Melody) about 4 years ago. I thought about how many drummers use several different snares for the studio. Or how they have 2 snare drums on their own kit to get 2 different kinds of sounds. So I suggested to Tama the idea of a snare strainer that locked into several different positions as opposed to just 2. In response they built me a custom drum with a foot pedal that activated the throw-off on the drum. It functioned much like a tympani or it could lock into 3 positions: off, loose, and tight. Later we took the 3-position concept and applied it to the much simpler manual throw-off that's used in the new signature series."