Snare wires

stillgroovin

Senior Member
What, if any, difference would changing my snarewires to a 42 strand do for the overall sensitivity and sound. I am using a maple snare but am not getting the sensitivity when I play ghost notes. Any suggestions or hints?
 
I would start by first making very sure she is tuned properly! when all else falls re-tune!
 
Good advice. I have the bottom head cranked pretty tight and the overall drum sound is tight with a nice snap.....it's just those ghost note bastards...
 
What, if any, difference would changing my snarewires to a 42 strand do for the overall sensitivity and sound. I am using a maple snare but am not getting the sensitivity when I play ghost notes. Any suggestions or hints?

I've been using the 42 stranders for a while now and love 'em. It did take a new approach to tuning though. I found that with a medium tension on the snare side with the snare not too tight really brought out the nuances of my maple snare, especially ghosts. The big strands just sound more fat and full to me.
 
How Many Strands for my 13x6.5 Musashi?

Hi everyone! I have a question about snare wires so I did some searching first and then chose this thread to post my question in. I appreciate any feedback.

I have a Yamaha Oak Musashi (13x6.5) and I've yet to replace the reso head and wires and since it's been sounding like butt for some time now, I'd like to replace those things to really get the best out of it.

I read alot about how people love the 42 strands but is that too much for this snare? I'm just curious what YOU would put on it. I'm going to Guitar Center after work today.

Thank you,
 
i have a 42 strand on my picollo (3.5 inch free floating pearl). its hard to describe how a drum could have the picollo 'whang' sound but yet have a fat rich snare sound beneath it. i beleive that this much wire touching the reso naturally dampens the reso. each wire makes about 100 contact points with the head at rest so when srtuck the wires jump off the head and spring back hitting it with 4 200 coils! my top head does the ringing part but only when i strike it near the rim. this makes it a hell of a versatile snare coping with reggae and funk as well as hard rock.

j
 
i have a 42 strand on my picollo (3.5 inch free floating pearl). its hard to describe how a drum could have the picollo 'whang' sound but yet have a fat rich snare sound beneath it. i beleive that this much wire touching the reso naturally dampens the reso. each wire makes about 100 contact points with the head at rest so when srtuck the wires jump off the head and spring back hitting it with 4 200 coils! my top head does the ringing part but only when i strike it near the rim. this makes it a hell of a versatile snare coping with reggae and funk as well as hard rock.

j

Thanks for the input Jason!
 
I added a 42 to my Vinnie Paul snare. Made a huge difference.

I just bought a Ludwig Supraphonic 6.5 x 14 Bonham snare. I added the 42 wire to it.

The only draw back is the slight snare buzz you get. But, it slight and not overbearing.

It made a huge difference. Jason's description of "fat" is great.

It did help my ghost notes also!

I doubt I will ever play a snare without a 42 wire. Best $10 you can spend.
 
I added a 42 to my Vinnie Paul snare. Made a huge difference.

I just bought a Ludwig Supraphonic 6.5 x 14 Bonham snare. I added the 42 wire to it.

The only draw back is the slight snare buzz you get. But, it slight and not overbearing.

It made a huge difference. Jason's description of "fat" is great.

It did help my ghost notes also!

I doubt I will ever play a snare without a 42 wire. Best $10 you can spend.

Excellent. Thank you very much. "Fat" is what I'm looking for. Think I'll be picking that up after today unless anyone has any reasons to NOT put a 42 on it.
 
This question has been in my mind for a while and I figure that this is a good place to get it answered, but does one have to have his snare beds recut if he's going to put on 42 stranders while the drum came with 20's? This is about all that's stopped me from just going and doing it, and I just want to see whether I've been wrong all along...
 
You have to make sure the snare bed is wide enough to accomodate 42´s. If it´s not wide enough the drum will sound like poop. On some drums 42´s can be overkill; choke the drum and it will sound boxy and everything but fat. I´ve found that to be the case especially with smaller snares (13"). For greater sensitivity you can also try a different (and thinner) snare side head, Evans hazy 200 or Remo diplomat. Puresound wires are also great and increase sensitivity dramatically. I use the P-1416 (16 strands) for most of my snare drums.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I was @ Guitar Center yesterday and they didn't have ANY Puresound wires in a 13" diameter so I still haven't picked anything up. I had a gut feeling that 42 strand might be overkill and after reading this last post, I'm sort of thinking somewhere in between 20-30. Which ones should I be looking at?

Puresound Blasters:
http://www.puresoundpercussion.com/blasters_home.htm
"feature specially formulated, premium-grade steel-alloy wires on angled, copper-colored end clips. According to Puresound, the exclusive bent end clips create greater snare wire contact across entire surface of the drum head; offering increased activity, consistency, response and projection."

Puresound Custom Series:
http://www.puresoundpercussion.com/custom.htm

Puresound Custom Series:
http://www.puresoundpercussion.com/super30.htm
 
Thanks for all the replies. I was @ Guitar Center yesterday and they didn't have ANY Puresound wires in a 13" diameter so I still haven't picked anything up. I had a gut feeling that 42 strand might be overkill and after reading this last post, I'm sort of thinking somewhere in between 20-30. Which ones should I be looking at?

Puresound Blasters:
http://www.puresoundpercussion.com/blasters_home.htm
"feature specially formulated, premium-grade steel-alloy wires on angled, copper-colored end clips. According to Puresound, the exclusive bent end clips create greater snare wire contact across entire surface of the drum head; offering increased activity, consistency, response and projection."

Puresound Custom Series:
http://www.puresoundpercussion.com/custom.htm

Puresound Custom Series:
http://www.puresoundpercussion.com/super30.htm

Another option may be DW truetone 20's, which I have on my 5x14 Spaun. Sweet sound!
 
This question has been in my mind for a while and I figure that this is a good place to get it answered, but does one have to have his snare beds recut if he's going to put on 42 stranders while the drum came with 20's? This is about all that's stopped me from just going and doing it, and I just want to see whether I've been wrong all along...

Just check the bed is wide enough. My 42's were probably about 3-4 inches wide. If you check that width against your snare bed then it'll become pretty obvious immediately if your drum is able to take it. My stock Tamburo snare was absolutely fine with 42's.
 
Just check the bed is wide enough. My 42's were probably about 3-4 inches wide. If you check that width against your snare bed then it'll become pretty obvious immediately if your drum is able to take it. My stock Tamburo snare was absolutely fine with 42's.

Please provide the link to your Tamburo thread. I recall seeing it a while back- isn't it stave construction?

www.terrasonus.com
 
I keep killing my snare wires. I had some Tama ones on there (judging by the fact it said Star Classic on the logo I'd guess that they usually come with those drums) and a few days ago they started with this horrid screeching sound. I took them off, checked my tuning, put them back on, tried to make the as straight as possible, but no matter what, the snares either sound like a paper bag or a dying cat. I cut off the ones that looked very damaged and it helped a tiny bit.


Any suggestions on more durable wires? I don't think tuning is the issue, it could be my strainer. Being a UMC snare I don't even know where to begin finding parts to fix it.
 
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