I just bought a 1965 (stamped) Ludwig Pioneer snare drum and I noticed there's no snare bed cut into the bottom edge.
What's up with that? I thought all snares had to have a snare bed. It's making it impossible to get the snare tension correct.
Is this a defective shell that simply got skipped by at the "snare bed" station? Or, did they actually make some Pioneer snares without snare beds?
Thanks
Without pics ...
Has it happened to others? Yes. Both Ludwig and Slingerland have let them slip through.
The first 2 show it sits pretty darn flat on the table.
The 3rd does show a very light cut but it's barely there.
The last pictures shows a very shallow bed but it's 3 to 4 inches to the side of the strainer. The center of the strainer is at the very edge of the bed.
Some of my keystone badge snares have fairly deep beds, about 2"-3" wide, but lots of them have a long gentle slant that is almost from one side of the shell to the other. In other words, if you set the shell on a flat surface, it would rock slightly, with first the butt side, then the strainer side, hitting the table. It's subtle. For sure, the lowest point on each side of the shell should line up with the strainer & the butt. Sounds like yours doesn't. How does it tune up? How does it sound?.....marko
The tuning is OK but the snare won't seat. It sounds real loose until I crank it real real tight and then it's all choked.
I hate to do it but, I may have to cut the snare bed myself.
Once again........ thanks to Vintage Drum Forum, I emerge a victor over my drum problems and I am enjoying the spoils of my victory. This snare sounds PERFECT, now.
I wish I could remember specifically who to think but I don't remember which post it was that I read that tipped me off.
I was searching around and read read reading the forum and someone (thank you, whomever you are) suggested the Evans web site for tuning tips (and posted a link). I clicked the link and instantly recognized the tuning video as I have seen it several times in the past. However, THIS TIME when I watched it, I took note of how he mentioned that the snare must be nice and straight and evenly tensioned. Funny how you'll see different things in the same video, as you watch it over again.
So, I went back and took very special care to make sure the snare was JUUUUUUUUUST right.
It sounds absolutely perfect.
Thank you, once again to VDF. This place is an unbelievable source.
I have a 1960 (transition badge) Pioneer and I compared the 2.
WOW! What a difference. These 2 snares are night and day. The bearing edge on the '60 is as round as my wife's behind. And, almost as wide.
However, the '65 Pioneer has a totally different edge. It's sharp in comparison. Certainly nothing like the bearing edges of today but a ton sharper than the 1960 edge. I'll take some pics when I can.
Also, the snare bed on the 1960 is a considerable bed. Just like it should be. I believe this 1965 is simply out of spec, that's all.
I'll be playing it next week so I'll tweak it then. So far, I'm pretty happy about the way it sounds, albeit very different than I wanted. My 1960 Pioneer is my bread and butter snare. I wanted the same snare in white pearl (Mine is Black pearl) to match my '69 white pearl set than I have been playing out.
I guess that's why we need to own more than one snare drum. LOL
