Iristone
Silver Member
DISCLAIMER: I fully understand that snare buzz is a normal condition. I often use it (on my other snare drums) to my advantage to augment the volume and attack of my toms.
The thing is, this buzz is even louder than the tom itself! More like a huge swarm of bees than a humming snare drum.
It's a Gretsch RB 4157, presumably from the year 1960 (6-ply, but before paper tag and key holder), with the deep, not-too-narrow snare bed. Evans UV1 over Clear 300, tuned to sound like Phil Collins on Duke and Abacab.
The buzz mainly happens with 42-strand wires (Dixon, Tama), but 20-strand wires (Ludwig, Canopus) don't cure it, either. It seems there's a weird resonance if I tighten the snare wire just right (not rattling but also not choking the head). Tried tuning the tom away, and tightening/loosening the reso head, with only marginal improvement at best.
Good news: the drum is in almost pristine condition for its age, and I've got all the original hardware, so I could easily trade it for a new (used) Gretsch snare if all else fails.
Any insights?
The thing is, this buzz is even louder than the tom itself! More like a huge swarm of bees than a humming snare drum.
It's a Gretsch RB 4157, presumably from the year 1960 (6-ply, but before paper tag and key holder), with the deep, not-too-narrow snare bed. Evans UV1 over Clear 300, tuned to sound like Phil Collins on Duke and Abacab.
The buzz mainly happens with 42-strand wires (Dixon, Tama), but 20-strand wires (Ludwig, Canopus) don't cure it, either. It seems there's a weird resonance if I tighten the snare wire just right (not rattling but also not choking the head). Tried tuning the tom away, and tightening/loosening the reso head, with only marginal improvement at best.
Good news: the drum is in almost pristine condition for its age, and I've got all the original hardware, so I could easily trade it for a new (used) Gretsch snare if all else fails.
Any insights?