Are you talking about the snare wires? The strainer is the clamshell. The little things/wires that go under the bottom of the drum that look like a spaghetti strainer are actually called snare wires....The "strainer" puts tension on the wires, therefore "straining" or tensioning the wires so they come into contact with the resonant head.

Some people over tension these wires and end up with a sympathetic buzz. When setting up your snare, the tension on the wires is very critical, too much or too little tension, or a snare bed that is not correct will cause this buzz.

I have found it best to space the wires so that they barely miss contacting the shell at the snare beds. This gives the most sensitivity without them digging into the wood. No two Radio King snares are alike but typically one washer on either side will do.

Hope this helps!

Hey Lenos;

Congrats on picking up your first Radio King. They are GREAT drums.

jonnistix missed the point yet again but at least he has finally turned on his spellcheck!

As far as the washers go, yes, there is supposed to be a washer between the snare wires and the clamshell on both sides. They were included when I ordered my wires from Puresound. The rest of your adjustment comes from the knob at the top of the butt side clamshell. If this doesn't give you enough adjustment to get your snare wires to the tension you want them you may have to adjust the nut on the inside of the drum, (that holds the throw off lever), in or out a little bit. That is all the adjustment you have on a clamshell rk.

As far as the level where your wires should sit, hopefully you can get them to rest JUST off the head when in the off position.

While the clamshell design is nice to look at, it's functionality leaves something to be desired. Spend a little time fiddling around with it and learning how it functions and you will be able to get it sounding like a million $.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out and let's see some pictures!

I stand corrected on my terminology, and perhaps I should turn on my splell cheacker. (Clanshell??)

The problem I'm having is getting the off position to be off i.e. no wires in contact with the head.

Also with the wires removed the butt side will go through its full range, but with wires installed the adjustment screw loses contact with the clamshell before the clamshell bottoms on the rim.

I will try shimming and will back.

I agree that the function of this thing is less than optimum

The Radio King snare drum with a clamshell strainer that I owned engaged the snares when the lever was moved to the left. The snares were disengaged when the lever was returned to the center (straight up) position. The snares would also be engaged when the lever was moved to the right. I was informed that this was the proper functioning of the strainer. And, yes, most of the tensioning adjustment was accomplished with the knob on the snare butt side. These drums can be bit finicky to set up. But, I will take one of them over a Dynasonic any day for ease of set up and operation.

Having 5 of these rascals has taught me a thing or two about them. Leedy is correct on placement of the lever...I learned to change the the springs that sit inside the clams...that really seems to freshen up the mechanism.

Mine could use a "freshning"....

What did you use for a replacement?

Thanks

Kev

hey kev...went to lowes and got a box of springs..its a multipack...a couple of the springs fit perfectly with a tad more tension than the originals.