On the Mayan Trail

The Mapex Black Panther Mayan is a bit of legend amongst those who know about these things (and I'm assuming you're one of us, as you're reading this). Not produced in particularly big numbers, this snare wasn't especially cheap when it was part of the Mapex range in the late 2000s, but since then prices have pretty much gone off the charts. Even If you can track one down these days, you're definitely going to have to get your big boy/girl/person wallet out.  

In addition to the "standard" Mayan (or "Aztec" as it was known on the European side of the pond: nope - no idea why), Thomann also released their own version of this snare. As per usual, this exclusive version was a little cheaper, with a primarily stainless steel shell and chrome hoops/lugs, rather than brushed bronze. Still a striking looking piece of kit though. 

And there, for years, the story ended. At least in the west.

Then sometime in 2019 a Drum Forum posting listing appeared (probably also crossposted elsewhere) offering for sale another version of this iconic snare, with black chrome hoops and lugs. According to the post, it was one of only two rare "Black Mayan" snares ever produced by Beyond Shimano. The price asked was...a little high: over $700 / £550. Not sure if it ever sold, but there was certainly some controversy over whether it was authentic, or a "Chimera" where someone had just swapped the hardware. I'll be honest, I did contact Shimano San about this, but his reply was a little ambiguous - I'm sure down to my poor Japanese - and I didn't want to hassle him, so I left it. Then COVID hit and everyone had other things to worry about. 

Fast-forward a tad, and that snare (I'm sure it's the same one: the photo is identical) shows up on Reverb...and the price has shot up to north of $1700 / £1200! Given the now sky-high price, queue more incredulity and suspicion from members of Mapex FB groups (Morgan Deveney especially, as he has both the other versions). As I was working on trying to document all the Black Panther snares for this site, it really bugged me too. 

Ok then, time to put this one to bed once and for all, and ask Shimano San directly again. This time the answer came back a lot more clearly (maybe my Japanese just got a bit better - God I hope it hasn't got any worse!). Yes it's a real thing, originally made by Shimano labs. I dug around through Shimano San's FB posts from the time, and sure enough the original post from him about this snare appeared, together with more photos.

Awesome. Case closed... 

...except not. 

Literally a few minutes after I added the "Black Mayan" to this site, I was poking around the net for more information about some other elusive Mapex snares...and in the depths of the Pearl Drummer's forum I found photos of yet another version, this time with all chrome hardware and what might be a different shell finish. The original poster wasn't sure of its provenance (Thomann maybe?) and I can't find any other information about it at all.  

So, back on the trail again.

If you do happen to know anything about this fabled "chrome" version, put me out my misery will you? I'm getting to old for this Indiana Jones lark!  😉