Wrinkly snare side head ?

[crocodile]

I finally finished putting my snare drum project together( its a 3/4" thick
14x6 walnut stave) and am having a few problems with tuning the snare side
head.
Firstly i ought to mention that the snare beds are 1/4"deep and about 6"
wide.

Ok , the problem is this
I'm finding it hard to get rid of wrinkles beside the snare beds and when i
do tighten the adjacent lugs really tight to get rid of the wrinkles the
snares then need to be tightened fairly tight to follow the bow of the drum
head.
This results in the drum sounding very snappy , good if i'm after that sound
but not so good if i want a loose snare sound.

If i loosen off the lugs at the beds the bow is less pronounced and i can
afford to loosen the snares also, however then i end up with wrinkles on the
snare head.

I've had no previous experience with such deep beds and am wondering if i'm
missing something ?

Any ideas/thoughts are VERY welcome please.

Michael

[fourstringdrums]

I've always been told that if the head has a few wrinkles in it by the snare
beds, that was ok.
--
Rob
--
www.handidrummed.com - "Where Determination Overcomes Disability"

--

Post by crocodile
I finally finished putting my snare drum project together( its a 3/4" thick
14x6 walnut stave) and am having a few problems with tuning the snare side
head.
Firstly i ought to mention that the snare beds are 1/4"deep and about 6"
wide.
Ok , the problem is this
I'm finding it hard to get rid of wrinkles beside the snare beds and when i
do tighten the adjacent lugs really tight to get rid of the wrinkles the
snares then need to be tightened fairly tight to follow the bow of the drum
head.
This results in the drum sounding very snappy , good if i'm after that sound
but not so good if i want a loose snare sound.
If i loosen off the lugs at the beds the bow is less pronounced and i can
afford to loosen the snares also, however then i end up with wrinkles on the
snare head.
I've had no previous experience with such deep beds and am wondering if i'm
missing something ?
Any ideas/thoughts are VERY welcome please.
Michael

[-MIKE-]

What kind of bottom rims do you have? I find that the thinner the
bottom rim, the easier it is to tension the bottom head, with much
better results. I hate using die cast rims on the bottom snare
head-- they just will not conform to the bed.

Single flanged rims are the best for conforming to the snare bed.
Second best are the really thin rims, like 1.5mm el cheapo. Even
better are the ones with the notch cut out, leaving the single
flange at the snares, allowing the hoop to bend very easily.

Loading Image...


You should be able to have the snares loose or tight with a thin
bottom rim.


-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com
***@mikedrumsDOT.com
---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

Post by crocodile
I finally finished putting my snare drum project together( its a 3/4"
thick 14x6 walnut stave) and am having a few problems with tuning the
snare side head. Firstly i ought to mention that the snare beds are
1/4"deep and about 6" wide.
Ok , the problem is this
I'm finding it hard to get rid of wrinkles beside the snare beds and when
i do tighten the adjacent lugs really tight to get rid of the wrinkles the
snares then need to be tightened fairly tight to follow the bow of the
drum head. This results in the drum sounding very snappy , good if i'm
after that sound but not so good if i want a loose snare sound.
If i loosen off the lugs at the beds the bow is less pronounced and i can
afford to loosen the snares also, however then i end up with wrinkles on
the snare head.
I've had no previous experience with such deep beds and am wondering if
i'm missing something ?
Any ideas/thoughts are VERY welcome please.
Michael

[crocodile]

Bottom rims are 2.3 triple flanged

Post by -MIKE-
What kind of bottom rims do you have? I find that the thinner the
bottom rim, the easier it is to tension the bottom head, with much
better results. I hate using die cast rims on the bottom snare
head-- they just will not conform to the bed.
Single flanged rims are the best for conforming to the snare bed.
Second best are the really thin rims, like 1.5mm el cheapo. Even
better are the ones with the notch cut out, leaving the single
flange at the snares, allowing the hoop to bend very easily.
http://www.mikedrums.com/rimcutout.jpg
You should be able to have the snares loose or tight with a thin
bottom rim.
-MIKE-
"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com
---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

Post by crocodile
I finally finished putting my snare drum project together( its a 3/4"
thick 14x6 walnut stave) and am having a few problems with tuning the
snare side head. Firstly i ought to mention that the snare beds are
1/4"deep and about 6" wide.
Ok , the problem is this
I'm finding it hard to get rid of wrinkles beside the snare beds and when
i do tighten the adjacent lugs really tight to get rid of the wrinkles the
snares then need to be tightened fairly tight to follow the bow of the
drum head. This results in the drum sounding very snappy , good if i'm
after that sound but not so good if i want a loose snare sound.
If i loosen off the lugs at the beds the bow is less pronounced and i can
afford to loosen the snares also, however then i end up with wrinkles on
the snare head.
I've had no previous experience with such deep beds and am wondering if
i'm missing something ?
Any ideas/thoughts are VERY welcome please.
Michael

[Steve Turner]

Post by crocodile
Bottom rims are 2.3 triple flanged

From whence did the shell come? I presume you bought it from one of
the shell companies and they put the snare beds in for you? If so, it
seems to me they aren't making the beds wide enough; 1/4" is pretty dang
deep, and 6" doesn't seem wide enough for that depth. I recently built
a snare where I "only" made the beds 3/16" deep and about 7" wide, and
it takes a *lot* of tension to get the wrinkles out (of course, I like
the snare head tight!). I am using a die-cast hoop though, and that
makes a difference (as Mike mentioned).

Have you ever seen the snare "beds" on a Ludwig Supraphonic? There
really aren't any *distinct* beds; the entire bottom edge of the shell
is one big snare bed. I don't know if they are quite 1/4" deep, but
that design works quite well. You might consider modifying the beds so
they are wider (or having somebody do it for you).

[-MIKE-]

While everything Steve wrote is valid, I have a snare with a very
deep distinguished bed, on which the head tensioned up just fine. I
normally use brass single flanged hoops on this drum, however, so
it's very easy to get the hoop to conform with the bed and get the
wrinkles out.

I see two types of bed transitions. a) distinguished, where there
are short "ramps" between the bed and bearing edge, 1 to 1.5 inches.
2) indistinguishable, where there just seems to be two levels of
bottom bearing edge and the ramps take up almost as much edge
surface as the beds.

The second can be tensioned very low, with any hoop. The first
needs to be tensioned very high with thicker hoops (which is fine,
since we all know that an extremely tight snare-side head is one of
the keys to a good snare sound).

Two radical approaches for the original poster.....
1) cut a notch in the snare-side hoop, to let it bend more easily.
II) hand sand wider ramps in the snare bed

Safer approach: buy an el-cheapo 1.5mm bottom rim.


-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com
***@mikedrumsDOT.com
---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

Post by Steve Turner

Post by crocodile
Bottom rims are 2.3 triple flanged

From whence did the shell come? I presume you bought it from one of
the shell companies and they put the snare beds in for you? If so, it
seems to me they aren't making the beds wide enough; 1/4" is pretty dang
deep, and 6" doesn't seem wide enough for that depth. I recently built
a snare where I "only" made the beds 3/16" deep and about 7" wide, and
it takes a *lot* of tension to get the wrinkles out (of course, I like
the snare head tight!). I am using a die-cast hoop though, and that
makes a difference (as Mike mentioned).
Have you ever seen the snare "beds" on a Ludwig Supraphonic? There
really aren't any *distinct* beds; the entire bottom edge of the shell
is one big snare bed. I don't know if they are quite 1/4" deep, but
that design works quite well. You might consider modifying the beds so
they are wider (or having somebody do it for you).