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Congrats on treating yourself to a 'real' professional snare drum. Snare drum and bass are the heart of any drum kit. Get a great sounding snare and tune the bass drum right, and it'll sound like you're playing on a million dollar kit.

1. Loose the weed-whacker strip.

2. Swap out the snares for a set of Puresound Wires. ('Split-snare' sets sound great on Supra's.)

http://www.puresoundpercussion.com/PSPProductDetails.Page?AxPageID=6211&mode=0&productid=11&ActiveID=4896&productname=Equalizer_Series

3. Take her apart down to the bare shell and start polishing everything one piece at a time. The better you do the individual pieces, the better the drum is going to look over-all when it's reassembled.

4. Treat yourself to new heads. Evans Hazy 300 for snare side with a coated REMO Ambassador on top. Crank the reso head when you tune it up. Top head medium to high tuning.

That snare drum will become the snare that compare everything else to from here on out. Not very many drums in existence from any company that sounds quite as good as a nicely tuned Supraphonic.

Good purchase drummer-boy! Fix her up and enjoy...

John

Man congrats!! Glad to see Santa came through for you! x-mas3 That'll clean up really nice it looks to be in great shape. Enjoy the Supra!!

Glenn.

Very nice find, priod correct and at a reasonable price too! That one looks like it's going to clean up really, really nicely. It all depends on how far you want to go with it. If you want to go right down to the shell and remove the lugs like you did with your kit, then have at it. You've gone that far with the kit, so I say why not? I usually give the shell a bit of windex, then use a good chrome polish, followed by a good wax. Everyone has their own methods. The only caution is to not use anything even mildly abrasive that could cause fine scratching on the chrome.

Regarding the snare wires, snap a better pic of what you've got so we can give you some advice. I agree with John though, if your budget allows, grab the Puresounds and put those ones aside.

Regarding heads, I usually use a coated ambassador on the batter side and a hazy ambassador or Evans 300 on the reso side. I do have a Genera Dry on another of my supras, and I have to admit, it does sound really good. It takes the ringiness almost right out. Not what I want for every situation, but I like having the option.

Enjoy that snare! You have an awesome rig going there.

good advice from all,as usual!

i always try to use the wires that are on snare drums when i get them. snip the broken strands. as long as youve got at least 10, you should be good.

heads too. try what you have if they are ok. ive been surprised a few times. i always scrub up the old heads and try them first.

if new heads are needed, i go with ludwig coated medium on the batter and ludwig on the snare side. remo coated ambassador over diplomat also sounds great.

its hard to make these drums sound bad. crank the snare side good and tight. do the same with the batter and then back it off to achieve the tone that you are looking for from this drum. enjoy!

mike

If you want to try cleaning up the heads, put about a half of a scoop of Oxy-Clean powder in an old plastic butter tub and fill with warm water. Take 1/2 of a fresh Magic Eraser, dip it in the Oxy-Clean solution and ring it out. Rub the top of the drum head (off the shell) evenly from side to side to get it damp. If there are spots that are really dirty you can scrub a little harder. The combination of Oxy-Clean and the Magic Eraser will whiten the head and remove any major dirt and scuff marks. Don't scrub too hard, because it will remove the coating from the head. Every once and a while, take a clean paper towel and wipe off the head to remove any dirt.

I did this to an old 60's Rogers snare head and it really made a noticeable difference.

Congrats on your Supra.

- Tim

Thanks everyone for tuning in!

I took the snares off, and it seems the snares just came unsoldered from the ends (made in taiwan). They are still plenty long enough for me to resolder them. I think I will do that for now for $$$ reasons and do the PureSounds later.

They make 12 and 16 strand puresounds? Which do you guys prefer? (for future reference)

For $$$ reasons again, I think I will leave these heads on for now, but will do the recommended ones later.

The only surprise I have found so far after the "honeymoon" unboxing period has faded is that the on/off switch (tensioner?) definitely took a shot at some point. The shell has a VERY minor dent at the batter side screw (where the switch attaches to the shell) and a pretty decent dent on the resonant side. It's not a deal breaker to me. I have a couple connections at an auto restoration shop and might consider letting him try to get them out.

I have an extra rubber foot from Gibraltor laying around, might put that on the lever for now. :)

if i was going with new wires for the supra, i would go with 16s or 18's.

if you have to replace that p85 strainer, they are inexpensive ,thank goodness.

mike

Congrats on your purchase of a vintage Supraphonic 400! I've got a beautiful 5x14, dated Nov, 1970. Very little pitting/flaking. Just lucky!

For my money, I've found nothing better than Ludwig's own reso-side head for the Supra. It's a clear X-thin with great tone. Try one and see what you think. I do use the Evans Hazy 300 on most of my other snare drums, but tend to use Ludwig on my Ludwig drums.

Mark