Help me with my snare drum

Before I spend money on experimenting I want to ask for advice ...

I have a Pacific MX maple snare that I purchased used; put Evans Genera Dry on top and Hazy 300 on bottom along with some new, inexpensive Sound Purcussion snare wires attached with ribbon rather than cord or plastic. I like it and am satisfied with the sound

My new Pacific FS set came with a Birch snare. I have done nothing to upgrade it except replace the plastic snare connectors with ribbon. This thing sounds horrible, lots of ring and buzzing snares So, this is where I want your help with my lack of knowledge.

First thing I notice is a wrinkle at both sides of the snare head where the snare ends contact the head...

My MX does not do this ...

Now, the bearing edge on the MX seems to be the same all around whereas the FS is shaped differently at the snare mount. I would "assume" this is the snare bed I have read about in other posts. If you look at the bottom of both drums you will see the snare wires on the MX cover almost the entire diameter of the drum wheras the FS snares do not.

So, my question is would new heads and snare wires "correct" these things that I think are wrong? I could swap the heads off the MX onto the FS but I don't want to damage my Hazy 300 (or have to retune the MX).

If I am going to have two snare drums I would rather not have two so similar. My decision is which one to keep. At this point it looks like the MX but I would like to play around with the FS some before selling it.

I'd try swapping the bottom head of the F5 first before worrying too much and getting too far ahead of yourself.

The other thing to consider is that snares with a snare bed (should be all of them, as far as I'm concerned) need to have the lugs near the snare bed tuned tighter to compensate and actuall make the head taught across the bearing edge at that point...

Usually, for me it's been a difference of about 2 full turns of the key for each of the 4 lugs nearest the straps.

What Jenks said.

Lose the stock reso head first. Then, your minimum tension on the reso head is the tension at which all the wrinkles disappear. No doubt the wrinkles are contributing to the weird buzzing.

It looks like the snare beds are cut differently, so don't be surprised if you end up with a different tension on the reso for each drum.

Weird. I actually like to keep the lugs around the snare bed tuned a bit lower. They are still wrinkle free, but I seem to get a more pleasant snare buzz this way. I think it does make it more prone to sympathetic vibration, but it also makes it nice and sensitive.

I disagree.

don't eff with a drum that sounds good. especially with snare side heads, as the snare beds deform them a bit. you may end up with one snare that still sounds bad and one snare that used to sound good, but doesn't anymore. it's going to need a new snare side head so just bite the bullet and get one.

disassemble the snare that sounds lousy. if it doesn't have any beds (it might not) you'll need to get that fixed.

Grab a cheap but good snare head and slap it on there. Manufacturer might have put the heads on the wrong sides as well as the hoops and wires, seen it done before.

I always got wrinkles around the snare beds, I cut my beds deeper and ya can't crank too much or you'll crack the head. The wrinkles there aren't going to do any harm, as long as it sounds good leave it be.

I used to keep the tension even, then when I'd flip my snares off (damn them!), they'd still get popped enough to rattle.

same my snare buzzes a little more when I hit tom's and the kick but I think it adds a nice little snap to the kick

Some drums respond well to this, some do not. My cherry shell Dunnett plays best with wrinkles, of course the beds are so deep you can't get rid of them. But all my metal Ludwig snares (they all have the same gradual beds from one to the next) sound best with the snare head tuned evenly across the beds.

I like my reso's tight and fairly even, I'll go a little loose on the beds only if buzz problems. Snares about medium tension, clean roll sound. I suggest going tighter than you're used to.

xtranoise:

From the picture, there appears to ba a significant difference in thickness between the clear plastic snare strap, and the black "ribbon" type. IF you have shallow snare beds, that difference in thickness will be enough to give you lots-o-extra buzz no matter what you do. I would check the thicknesses with a micrometer. If significantly thicker, you may have to perform surgery and deepen the snare beds.

Just a thought. Bob

ok .. allow me to show my ignorance ... I do not understand the concept behind snare beds. Two lower spots on the shell so that the head cannot be evenly tensioned??? If snare wires ran all the way across, and beyond, the shell (like I know some used to do) then I might understand it. I know the wrinkles in my FS reso head are due to the beds and the pressure of the snare wires at that point. I will experiment with it some to see what type tuned sound I can get from it. Please educate me, my understanding of snare drum design is obviously lacking.

google it man, theres plenty of info out there.

What manoeuver said.

Plus: I don't get the idea of guys leaving wrinkles in the reso head. It's just wrong. I would think you're just asking for weird buzzes. 'Course, if you like that, cool.

Well, I read all replies, learned a lot and read up on snare beds. Finally switched heads between the two drums, applied some of the tensioning tips posted here and have a Pacific FS birch snare I am completely happy with I will probably sell the MX snare. Thanks for all the input!

hello, I couldn`t help to register so I can reply on this, escuse my inglish, im from Argentina.

I don`t get snare beds! what are they for?

I seemed to have the same wired buzzing problem on my snare, tryed heads, wires, tunnings and could not resolve it,

until a gloreus day, when I said, "all right, nobody cares about original condition on a Basix custom snare shell"

so I cought it with my belt sander `till I got a nice plane edge all around the shell, and it, thank god!

resolved the problem absolutelly.

no wrinkles, no wired buzzing, I can use any head an tune it however I want and it will be ok.

call me any thing that you want, but come on!, you all must have seen snares with no beds,

I did and thats what leaded me to do this crazy thing.

love.

Manolo

Hokay Paco. Ai no so shure how you cawt it estrate or watt but jure correck, you don needit a snare bed. A place called Orange County Drum and Percussion sells beddles snare drums standard. They claim it reduces the resonance - as you seem to have discovered.

I bet snare not sounding so good now but?

Don't mind me I dig broken English.

hahahahah! loco, don't get me started with misspelling or I`ll write everything how it's pronounced in spanish

and you wouldn`t undertand a single word. (wich wouldn`t be such big of a difference, I guess)

broken lenguages are funny but I'm not sure of what did you mean with:

"I bet snare not sounding so good now but?"

spell it right, if you may, and will see.

however, I don't see why beds will reduce resonance (meaning sustain), in fact I think that in a bedless snare,

the head is in contact with the entire shell edge, and this will stop him a bit to resonate.

my snare has lost some sustain since I've done this, wich is great if you ask me,

but it might be also because i've tuned the reso head really, really thight.

all I did was erasing de beds, saveing the original bearing edge(Single 45 degree with a round over) as much as possible.

I meant snare resonance - the wires hissing and buzzing sympathetically. The topic we're on.

The last part, well the bearing edges are critical to drum tone. And they require an even, precision cut all the way around. You may have stopped the snare buzz but I just wonder if the drum sound suffered. (?)

yeah, it has suffered a ceveral improvement!

I think an irregular bearing edge would clearly dificult the tuning or make it impossible, but not sure about afecting the tone,

and off course that I'm not a japanese robot but don`t worry, results are quite fine.

sereously, before this, when hited hard, it sounded awful, and what is worst, awful whith lots of sustain.

Well then you must post examples.

it's not too easy for me right now,but will see.

like a sound sample or a pic?

Sound clips, video, The making of, "I Belt Sand the Damm Ting and it Improve Sucka" etc...