Adammoss1965
Junior Member
Very useful! Thank you for sharing.
...no one loves kite string or old tennis shoe strings anymore....=(Whenever I see a snare drum in a drum shop and it has plastic strips attaching the snare wires I know that the manufacturer doesn't really understand much about the product they are making or they just don't care and use the cheapest, easiest material they can find. Convenient for them and actually, convenient for me - I make drums and they make my customers.
One of the questions I get asked quite often has to do with snare wires not completely disengaging. "When I throw the wires off and hit the drum the wires are still slapping back.".
Plastic attachments act as springs. They never completely relax and so the wires are never fully released from the bottom head. It takes very little energy input to make the wires bounce upward and create that snare slapback. Apart from that, plastic strips have absolutely no flex. You want some flex to allow the snare set to move.
And while we are on the subject - stay away from that dam blue steel cable that Pures__t includes with their wires. That stuff acts like a cheese cutter on your edges and will eventually wear through the snare side head and chew into the snare bed. It is Purecrap and I have no idea why they still use that.
The best solution is 5/8" grosgrain (pronounced grow grain) polyester ribbon. You can find this almost anywhere - on ebay or at Michael's crafts etc. It costs about $3 for a roll that will last you years. It has some flex and it is exceptionally durable.
Ok, so its a plastic strap. Got it. Thanks!….KIDDDING!.
No, I don't use cord, period (per one of my posts earlier), so I've not gotten any results either way. I only found and posted the link to offer something to the conversation. I guess dude's method from the link is backwards. I also think maybe it depends on the type of end plates present...? I use straps, because that's what came on every snare drum I own. I'll be switching to ribbon soon.Timmdrum, to each their own and if you can get a good snare sound threading like that, I applaud you, sir! However, you did say that you don't like using cord, so you may not have tried threading using this guy's method. I am someone who prefers using braided cord for attaching snares so I have some experience on the subject. In my experience, threading the cord OVER the snare end plates and DOWN through the holes is the proper way. That is how I do it on all of my snares that use standard snappies.
So, I think having the two small pieces of the snare cord going underneath the end plate to the strainer lifts the snares less that running the cord all the way underneath the end plates and then up through the holes and down to the strainer. When using cord, I personally have found that going over the end plate and down through the holes is the best way. Having tried it both ways with many drums and many different types of snappies, that is the only way I will ever thread snare wires on one of my snares or a snare that I am setting up to sound good for someone else.