Beautiful drum! Congrats on a rare find. Won't take much clean-up to put it in tip-top condition.

*Straighten the bottom hoop! It has a twist in it by the rear snare guard.

Best..

John

Hi John, I know. The hoops are a little bit out of whack, top and bottom. I tried bending them slightly by standing on the inside of the hoop and pulling the opposite side upwards, but I remembered doing this with an old Ludwig hoop in the past and I heard a crack. The hoop actually cracked right at the seam. Brass is such an unforgiving medium to work with. Laughing H

Best to leave well enough alone. I broke a WFL strainer in the past too when I started messing around with it and thought, Oh boy, I really did it this time. You bailed me out on that one and sent me a replacement part. I shouldn't be allowed near a drum. My ham-fisted approach to things isn't what's called for in these situations. Any advice on how to straighten or should I say "rounden" a drum hoop. That's not even a word, but It aught to be :)

It's easy. Place the hoop on a flat surface (kitchen counter-top) if it rocks back and forth, note where the bend is, the point on the hoop where it is rocking. Then I hang the hoop half way over the edge of the counter (at the bend) and I push down on the hoop -in opposition- to the bend. Place it back on the counter and repeat the bending process until the hoop sits flat on the counter with no rocking at all.

You'll get it, it's easy. Just hang the hoop over the edge of the counter -at the bend- then push down. You'll get where you can straighten out hoops quickly once you've done one or two. Having them flat will make tuning go easier and the pressure will be even on the head all around the bearing edge with no -contact soft-spots- 'gaps.'

Love the drum. I like clips and single flange hoops. It's pure vintage.

John

Cheers John, that's using the ol noodle. I would have never thought of that. That bottom hoop is really out of shape. I just flipped it around and put it back on the drum hoping that would sort it out. It's clear what has happened. It has obviously been over tightened at the snare beds to get the wrinkles out. Right at that point is were it bends upwards. I'm going to follow your advise and I'll take some before and after shots.

Sorry forgot to knock :-) Great snare! Pictures as it goes please.

Thanks,

Creighton

Great advice by John. Beautiful snare too! Brass is a biotch for sure. After a good bend it's tensile strength gets maxed and it can just snap. I work as a printer and many press parts are "sacrificial brass" as I call them and made to bend to a certain point. Beyond that point it breaks. This so it does not cause major damage to the machine. Far as drums go I love the sound of brass hoops on a wood snare! Brass lugs however is a love hate thing. And break if you even look at them funny. Are those zephyr lugs brass?

x-mas3

Hi, FFR428

I'm not sure if the lugs are brass. I never checked. Brass or steel it won't change the sound of the drum as they're just lugs and I knew the hoops were brass. I didn't need a magnet to confirm that. Lugs don't really bother me as long as they work and there are no issues with the zephyr lugs. I was skeptical about them because they seem very simple, but they're really great lugs with no inserts that rattle around and super smooth when threading the bolts even after all these decades. I was in the printing game myself for years back in the day when a printer would get his hands dirty which wasn't too long ago. Glad you liked the snare.

Zephyr lugs are stamped steel, to the best of my knowledge.....a magnet does stick, so they are not brass or "pot metal"

Cecil Strupe designed them as a cost saving measure for WFL... from the Ludwig Book by Rob Cook, page 193....(more details there)

It's true! I can confirm that the lugs are indeed nickel over steel.