Man, I finally got it !!

Here's my solution.....

I've got a pair of late 50's/early 60's Chicago badged Clamshells that both have these "inserts" for the strainers. I'm pretty sure the inserts are original. They space the wire set down a little, plus it's stepped so that it fits inside the wire end holes. This enables the screw to fully tightened against the insert and still allows the wire end to swivel freely. The '61 was missing one when I first aquired it. I imagine quite a few of these have gone awol over the years. BTW, the hole ends on the Puresound Clamshell wireset are slightly smaller than the original RK's, so they have to be enlarged a little bit for the inserts to fit properly.

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Hi guys, can someone tell me where to look for '58 radioking Clamshell Strainer (butt side) because I dropped my snare and bent the strainer. I've tried on eBay but these things are extremly rare.

Joe Partridge of Famous Drums did an excellent repair for me once.

There's contact info for him here.......

Link

Please forgive the temporary thread hijacking. I know Joe personally, we worked together at a music store in Jackson, MS for a few years. Joe is truly a craftsman - can build or fix just about anything he sets his mind to - and a super good human being. I have two stave snares that he built - one to my specs, the other he told me I was going to want when he still had it in pieces. Needless to say, he was right. They are both amazing drums!

Hellraiser, you'll spend months looking and lots of money on another. Save yourself the headache and give Joe a call.

Back to the topic of this thread - I finally got my clamshell drum back together. The clam shells are mounted fairly high on the drum and the original washers/inserts are missing, so I had to put 6 thin washers between the wires and the clam shells to get the wires to lay flat on the reso head. I had to crank the tension on the batter and reso heads, but now the drum sounds amazing! I'll try to get a pic of the setup posted in the next day or so.

Thanks again for starting this thread Kevin! It sure helped me get mine right.

Lynn

P-85!

Mike Curotto

YES! That is the correct way to mount the snares. With that little spacer washer thingy; that's the way it came from the factory.

But you and someone else in this thread refer to the snares as the strainers.

Don't know why, but the term "strainer" refers to the throw off mechanism, not the snares. Just sayin'...

I've got a 59 snare that came with my 59 GK Deluxe kit that has a clamshell on it. It is the worst piece of crap on the planet ever. I finally decided to just set it off to the side and replace it with a 60's Ludwig Acrolite. I tried everything and just could'nt shake this weird "herrrrrrrr" sound. Not a ring or a buzz, just a weird "herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" when hit anywhere except dead center. All different tunings, different heads, everything I could think of. I fianlly gave up after putting a Evand HD Genera Dry on it and still couldn't tame it. What a piece of crap. Drove me nuts for a year until I finally gave up. Clamshells suck, plain and simple. I told the wife, just sell it with the rest of the pile when I assume room temp......hopefully later than sooner. Not one of Slingerlands better designs to say the least.

Not having played my 1958 Super GK for some time, your post motivated me to put mine on the stand.

It elicited the usual reaction: What a great sounding drum and what a pleasure it is to play! IMO, when properly adjusted and not abused, the clam is an excellent design, both functional and uniquely beautiful.

Ron

Maybe this will help ....

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=42615&highlight=clamshell