Totally! If you can find a close approximation of those, I would be interested too. I literally looks like a shellacked shoe string or something. Ditson cataloged something they called "Clock Cord" and Nokes & Nicolai cataloged what they called "NO-NIC Waterproof Snares" which I believe were both this same sort of material. Perhaps some experimentation is in order. Let me know what you come up with!

@Dave - You're more than welcome to use the info if you think others will find it useful. I'll try to take better pictures next weekend. I'm away from my drums and my camera until next Saturday!

-Lee

toy drums and various wire sets:

This set appears to be VERY similar to a long, red shoelace! The material is some kind of cotton, I think.

and the drum they belong to...

and another wire set...

And guess what? it IS a shoelace! Again, I think it's cotton....maybe with some kind of shellac or wax coating.

^^^^and the drum...

from a Ludwig Junior...

These appear to be wire-wound silk.

Ludwig Junior T-Rod...

from a different old toy drum...

These look, to me, like a wire-wound cotton shoelace.

^^^^the drum.....

This is another toy drum wire set...

This set is just the wire -no core material. It looks just like the wire from the inside of an old toaster!