Snare wire strands

skunkendilly

Senior Member
Hi Drummers
I have just bought a snare drum for a very reasonable sum of money.
It is in sound shape but needs new heads and snare wire and a clean up.
I am waiting for a 20 strand 14" puresound blaster to arrive but have just noticed that the original generic snare is a 24 strand.
Do you think there will be much of a difference soundwise between 20 and 24 strand?
I think not but the original snare wire was shot so nothing to judge against and I have not had a drum with a 24 strand wire before.
I do not know whether to fit the 20 strand when it arrives or return and change it for a 24 strand.
Any thoughts?
 
I really don't think 4 wires will make any difference. 40 to 20 maybe but not 24.
 
I wouldn't worry about it, man. It will probably sound better with less strands anyway. I prefer no more than 16 strands myself. Maybe you can get a 24, then cut out the 4 in the middle.
 
12 strand was the standard for many years. Then 20 strand became popular.
The important thing about the amount of wires that you use is to find the right amount to fit the drum that you are using and the sound that you want.
Experiment until you find your sound.
Bob Gatzen has a great 2 part video about the subject.
http://youtu.be/WcHAFgafPkE
 
Thanks Guys.
I shall not worry about it then.
Will post again when I have the drum refreshed and tuned.
In case you are wondering it is a Ddrum Shawn Drover signature snare.
Nothing fancy but I got it for a ridiculous price which made it very hard next to impossible to resist.
If anyone has any thoughts or opinions on this drum I would be very keen to hear them.
Paul.
 
Am I the only drummer that doesn't really care about sympathetic snare buzz? I'm not about to retune my toms to avoid the snare buzz. When playing the kit I'm more concerned about the sound of the kit as a whole.

To stay on subject, I use 20 strand snares and I think that I get a great blend of drum tone and snare tone. Snare tension is huge in getting your drum to sound right. The more tension on the wires, that more it will choke the drum. I prefer my snares to be tensioned just enough to get rid of that "tom-like" sound.
 
Am I the only drummer that doesn't really care about sympathetic snare buzz? I'm not about to retune my toms to avoid the snare buzz.
You may very well be one of the few who doesn't take buzz into consideration.
When I was just starting out my first instructor spent a lot of time explaining the working and tuning of a kit to me. He showed me how achieve a balance when tuning a snare and toms.
Just as Bob Gatzen did in his videos.
 
If you listen to a lot of old school recordings you can hear all sorts of snare buzz. In fact, listening to a Bonzo solo, it actually adds to his sound believe it or not. Honestly, unless I'm hitting one drum at a time and listening for it, like in Bob's video, you rarely notice the buzz. And when you're playing with other instruments you won't hear it. That's like telling the bassist to not play E cause it happens to be the right frequency to make the snares buzz a lot.

The only scenario I can see is if you're in the studio. But even then I've never noticed it. Time to go back and solo the drum tracks and see if it's there I guess (?)
 
My 12" Sonor Protean has only 8 wires and has great snap regardless. In the design brief, Gavin Harrison suggested his trick of removing the outermost wires from standard snare strainers to more optimally and evenly tension the more critical inner wires. The combination of this and in my case the 12" model results in virtually no sympathetic buzz.
 
In general, 16 strands is considered to be the "middle ground" in the balance of snare wire/drum sound ratio. This is the standard balance point on a 5" drum. More wires tend to increase the snares sound, and less brings out more drum sound. I used Puresound 20 custom pro wires on my 5" snare, and they sounded good, but I cut 2 wires off of each side to make 16. The 4 wires difference is noticeable, and I really dig their 12 strand concert wires. Some use more than 24 wires, but they sound better and more balanced on 7" deep or deeper drums, to balance out the more pronounced deep drum sound.
 
If anyone has any thoughts or opinions on this drum I would be very keen to hear them.
Paul.

I haven't personally played one but I did own a Drumcraft cast Aluminum snare and I ready a pretty good review of a Shawn Drover snare online. From my experience with a thick aluminum snare you're going to get a limited tuning range in the low end. These heavy snares shine at higher tuning. Mine had a snappy, powerful rimshot that would have work very well in loud rock music.

As for wires, it really doesn't matter. I have a 30's Leedy brass snare that I had to order some Puresound 12 strand wires for because of the narrow snare bed. It sounds just delicious and doesn't at all lack in snare tone. I do get a little bit more of the shell tone, which I like but if was too much then I could just muffle slightly.
 
Hi Guys
As promised some before and after pics.
When I stripped the drum about two cigarettes worth of ash fell out of it.
Sounds sweet now though..
Paul.
 
Sorry guys
Pics here.
Paul
 

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Are the lugs original? I have thought about pulling the trigger on this a few times due to it being a deep lower priced aluminum shell but always thought it had oval lugs..
 
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