Because old wires are shot and bent. When the old drums were built and assembled, they had new wires on them. The technology hasn't changed very much. I do occasionally get gut snares when the drum calls for it.

What he said.

I want to hear a vintage drum "as new". That's what you hear on vintage recordings.

I go with Puresound wires (and Remo heads) unless the original snares are in really nice shape. One stretched strand can give you a nasty buzz that your engineer will want to beat you over.

(as a side note: when 'vintage' drums were just 'old' drums, we would cut the stretched strands out of the bunch to get rid of that buzz)

Good points..So we buy old drums and want them to sound new..or modern?. I'm questioning my own reason for buying vintage in the first place if I go to the trouble of new heads and wires...or does the vintage sound surface regardless what we do to it?...Mr Ludwig said "the head makes all the difference"

I agree 100% to change defective wires. I bought a vintage Sonor with original wires in great shape, and they,re staying on.

Well, Mr. Ludwig was trying to sell heads too don't forget...

But the aged shells and strangely cut bearing edges give the old drums their charm. Putting buzzy snares and stretched heads doesn't enhance sound in my opinion.

Whenever I bought a snare to try, I always put a coated ambassador on top and an ambassador snare on bottom. Then I hear the difference in the drum rather than the sound of "that head" on "that drum". I never subscribed to the idea that you need certain heads on certain drums for them to sound good. If it didn't sound good to me, with the above heads installed, it was sold off. Brass Gretsch snare and a steel Sonor both failed the test that I can recall.

I never ever bought a vintage drum for the snare wires or the old heads, that were on the drum. As with vintage guitars I never bought one for the old strings that were on it.

All of my snare drums, with the exception of my '71 Supraphonic, all have new snare wires. And for me, they don't have to be $40 snare wires. I have PDP snare wires on my Acrolite and get a great sound. They're fairly new, so i don't how durable they are, but they've held on until now. On my Downbeat piccolo i've got new Ludwig wires and they sound great as well.. I think the "vintage sound" we all try to achieve, love, and enjoy, has to do with the drum itself. My Supraphonic sounds like a new snare drum when recorded,but when played live sounds like a 70's Supra. Heads do make a significant difference, but most drum head manufacturers still make the same heads they were making decades ago. This is why i prefer Remo heads. The "vintage sound" may sound different to different drummers. You want vintage jazz, you use Gretsch. You want 60's 70's classic rock, you use Ludwig. You want that 80's pop/rock sound, you use Yamaha.. These are just examples of course, and not everyone will see it that way. New heads, wires or vintage,

don't make the sound.. I think the shell itself is the core of that sound..

I have no problem using "newer" wires on vintage drums. I think it is important to match the number of wires to the width of the snare beds. For example early narrower beds (such as those found on L&L non Standards) call for 12 or 16 strand wires.

Gotta agree 100%. It's Puresound Equalizer snare wires and Remo Ambassadors for my snares. I do save the original heads and wires just in case someone wants to buy the original equipment. Trouble is though that I never want to sell any prized possessions!!! I don't think I'm alone either!

Brian

I don't think it comes down solely to what heads and snare wires we put on the drums. Shell construction, wood type, wood age, bearing edge profile, hardware mass, type of tom mounting hardware, those all affect the tone.

Having said that, I bought my Slingerland kit 4 years ago because it looked cool, it had some history, I could afford it, it was pro level, and Gene Krupa played that brand.

I hadn't been playing long enough and couldn't tune well enough to be able to hear the nuances of tonal difference between shells with or without re-rings, sharper or rounder bearing edges, etc.

It was a vintage Slingerland kit. I wouldn't be fighting my gear while I was learning to play. And I could restore an instrument (or set of them) that would look (even more) beautiful when I was done.

My drum set has Remo Pinstripes on the toms to make up for the fact that I don't like to use the internal felt mutes that were standard on drums when mine were made, yet I don't like the heads to ring either. The batter on the bass drum is an Aquarian Superkick I, which has a felt ring stuck to the inside, like the felt strip that drummers used back when the drumset was new. There is no hole in the front head; there is no bedding nor any other laundry within.

I use Puresound wires on my 3 main snare drums. I do not find that they sound much different from other snare wires, but they seem to emit fewer stray buzzes. I record my drums, and that makes recordings sound better.

So my drums probably sound similar to what they would have sounded like when they were new. How much they do or do not doesn't much matter to me; I like how they sound and how they look. They inspire me to play them. When I play new drums at the store they sound too loud, bright and ringy for my taste.

My Slingerlands sound like a grown person playing the drums. The drums at the store sound like a teenager playing the drums, if you get what I mean.