I took it out of the box and started to play it without any need of adjusting the tuning. Amazing sensitivity and definition, warm and fat sound, a beautiful overtone. The range of sounds one can get from this snare is so vast that it can fit any music genre. I also have a Ludwig Black Magic, which is a great snare drum, but since I received the Sonor AS 12, two months ago, the Ludwig has been resting. The Dual Glide snare strainer has the smoothest operation I?ve ever seen. What else could you ask? That it also looks gorgeous? It does and no photographs can do justice to the beauty of the real thing.