Style/action poll, snare strainers. Opinions needed.

Andy

Honorary Member
Yet again, I'm calling on my forum chums to offer guidance. I'm developing a new strainer, & I'm super keen to find out what you guys like, dislike, prefer, etc. I'm also after your wish list features, style cues, etc.

Thanks in advance, Andy.
 
The strainers on the new Black Panther line up are beautifully made. They have a tight, easy feel to them, and you can keep the snare wires centered by adding tension from either end. The one downfall it has is that the lever opens and closes away from the drum leaving the handle sticking out. This makes it harder to set up close to another drum, plus you would need to loosen the tension each time to have the handle in the upright position to store in a case.

Use string instead of nylon for the strainer wires. Many seem to think it makes a difference in sound, and it looks more old school.

Do not make the strainer anything like the entry level Ludwig strainer.
 
Might as well start so you have a pleb's eye view ...

I've had two decent snares. One is the vintage Drouyn. Andy, you've heard on all my current recordings. The vintage snare strainer is terrible and it's only my silly romantic notion of authentic retro that stops me from replacing it with a strainer more like that on my other good snare, a Rogers Dynasonic (you've heard that one on my old rock recordings).

The Drouyn has a latch that pulls horizontally and down to release. It's very clunky and I have to be super careful to release or engage the strainer without making noise in quiet passages. The Rogers just pulled out and down from the drum - very quick and easy, with a smooth action - much better.

Now bring on the experts ...
 
Make me a strainer that does not produce snare buzz. Even though I don't have any issues with that. I could care less what it looks like as long as it captures the sound of the drum as well. I have a Honeymaple Noble and Cooley I have yet to find a snare that compliments that drum. can I be your tester. KIS pm me if you want.
 
I think the best strainer I ever played is the new DW magnetic throw-off with the three position butt plate. The throw-off itself pivots up and down 180 degrees, so bagging the snare is no problem at all. The three position butt plate design gives complete and accurate choice of three different snare tensions at the flick of a switch without having to guess later exactly where the tension was earlier set when a sound needs to again be duplicated.

I don't know about copy right infringements, but the design, in my opinion, is one of the best.

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Dennis
 
I use to like the Sonor Signature's parallel throw off mechanism, the strainers would go up/down evenly from either side of the snare bed opposed to a pivoting action, I felt it reduced the buzz of the strainers with some low frequencies.

So, Andy, if you design a strainer with an action that would reduce snare buzz provoke by unwanted frequencies would be an ideal combination.

Good luck with this project.
 
Thanks for all the replies to date guys, especially Pol. Pol on a gear orientated thread? Hope you get well soon Pol ;) & Yes Scott, you'll be on the testing list (will be a good while though).

Dennis's post is thought provoking. We have a flip out for the throw & a cross lever for the butt tension selector. Which do you guys prefer as a throw action, flip out or cross lever?

I have an idea to encompass two features in one action. A low profile three stage cross lever throw, with the fine adjustment on the butt. It's probably been done before, but thoughts?

Snare buzz reduction is beyond the control of the strainer, except for correct adjustment & even tension. The most effective buzz reducing mechanism I ever saw was an internal snare application. Very complexed, & has to be built into the drum.
 
I want one that works with a control module built into it. I want an small display screen (kinda like a Snark tuner). In fact, I want a built in tuner too. I want 3 levels of tension (light, medium and hard) to choose from at the push of a small button. Lastly, I want a switch for strainers on and off. Since I thought of this, I will also require a free snare drum with this strainer built on to it. Thanks! ha ha!
 
Simple, positive action, unobtrusive and with a few different tension selections. I really liked the 'triple' strainer on that snare drum you had in London but there's not much of a market there, I'd imagine.

Which way around the action is isn't a factor for me, although a sideways lever is probably more convenient for most players.
 
DW MAG throw off. light handling, not a lot needs to go into switching it off or on. cheeper than the trick ones, too
 
Personally, I think a lot of people put way to much thought into strainers.

Once the snares are in place, they all work the same, regardless if they're cheap or expensive.

I have simple Ludwig strainers on both of my DW snare drums because I kept breaking the then 1st generation stock strainers the DW's came with. The old DW strainers had several small internal parts, and consistent rim shots would snap one of the internal parts in 1/2. After breaking 3 or 4 of them in a short time, I said forget it.

And given Ludwig snares have been popular recording drums from 40+ years, I can't say I'm the only one who find the simple design just works.
 
Personally, I think a lot of people put way to much thought into strainers.

Once the snares are in place, they all work the same, regardless if they're cheap or expensive.
And given Ludwig snares have been popular recording drums from 40+ years, I can't say I'm the only one who find the simple design just works.
I completely agree that simple, especially from a component point of view, is best. I'm certainly not looking to create some goliath of a contraption with multiple bells & whistles, in fact, quite the reverse.
I do find that many of the simple designs available, especially the cheaper ones, struggle at higher wire tensions. I also take the point that, once the strainer's on, they're all the same, but there are players who frequently switch from snares on to snares off, & then the action becomes important. I'm looking to come up with a minimalistic design that has features that players really want, hence this thread.

Thanks for chiming in everyone, but I need more opinions, likes, dislikes, & yes midnite, even crazy stuff you'd like to see. Brainstorming the loopy stuff often turns up a gem.
 
Count me in as another favoring the simple but solid design. As long as those two conditions are met, I'm not terribly picky. However, I'm as much a sucker for a sexy strainer as the next chump.

I don't have much experience with the Trick strainers that seem so high-end, but they're so massively constructed that I can't imagine anything that big fitting into a standard snare case, and in my opinion, they just look a hideously over-engineered tumor on the side of a drum - the furthest thing from sexy I've ever seen.
 
I kind of like the look an simplicity of vintage stuff,so the newly updated and beefed up 3 point strainer thats being marketed by Drumandsome really fits the bill.Its to bad though that after all the redesign of that strainer,it uses a different bolt pattern than the original(what were they thinking?)The look of Slingerland Radio kings with those strainers with the snare bridges ,was not only beautiful,but functional as well.I'm also a fan of the older P-83 WFL strainer which was heavier brass that the later steel P-83's.I have one thats over 50 years old,and it still works perfectly.

Steve B
 
Andy , With everything that I done so far in getting opinions and input it pretty much mirrors what everyone here is saying.

Simple operation and the least amount of moving parts to break were high on the list. Oh and size matters. When I did my prototype everyone liked the design but said it needed to go on a diet.

As I found out , its nearly impossible to reinvent the wheel, but luckily with the advance of machining and materials we can make the wheel a little better, but you know that already !
 
This is one subject I have no opinions on.
 
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