Attention Sonor Phonic and Sonor Hardware Experts

Goody602

Senior Member
Hi,

I have a Centennial Phonics Rosewood kit from 1975 or 1976 with the old, curved folding spurs on them. There is a flat screw and a hand rod to adjust the tension on the part that folds.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/SONOR-vintage-sonor-Phonic-bass-drum-SPURS-/00/s/OTYwWDEyODA=/$(KGrHqN,!ocFCqvlqu!9BQ)MKQiuL!~~60_57.JPG

Even when I have these tightened as much as possible, I can still easily move the spur with my hand. I've taken these apart to inspect them. The splines on the spur seem to be intact and there doesn't seem to be much noticeable wear on the bracket. None of the threads have been stripped but they still have almost no holding power. Since I play a one tom set-up this means the bass drum is constantly tilting to my left while I'm playing, and short of me jury rigging it with a towel or something underneath to keep in place, there doesn't seem to be much I can do about it.

I've looked for replacement parts on eBay but they don't surface too frequently. The link above was the first I've seen in a while and I obviously didn't win the auction. Frankly, it seems like a really poor design, which is surprising, because everything else on these drums is so well built. I guess they are nearly 40 years old though. Has anyone else had this issue with an old Phonics kit or older Sonors that have these spurs?

Another thing that seems weird to me is that the positioning of the bracket on the shell is closer to the batter skin than the reso. Most of the modern spurs I see have the bracket much closer to the reso than the batter. I considered that maybe someone mixed up the heads, but the tom bracket is mounted the correct way, and it's also consistent with pictures I've looked at on the Internet.

I'm not opposed to switching to a different spur but I'd really like to avoid drilling additional holes in the shell. Does anybody know if there are any later model Sonor spur models that have the two screws in the same place? Any advice in general about dealing with this problem?

Thanks
 
There is a small rectangular piece of metal that fits inside the housing that has apparently come out. The mount cannot be tightened fully without it.

The spur mounts are placed closer to the batter head to allow the shell to resonate more fully. If they were placed closer to the reso head they would have a greater damping effect on the shell.
 
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