Well, unfortunately, these MIJ strainers are not great pieces of hardware, but I can offer a couple of ideas that might help.

First of all, since there is not a lot of adjustment available on these strainers, be sure to have the adjustment knob backed all the way off when setting up the snare wires so you can maximize the adjustment range. That might give you the extra 'play' you need to set the tension to your liking.

If that doesn't do the trick, the snare beds could be a little off. They could be uneven or maybe not wide enough. So you might want to check those.

That is a cool snare drum, by the way. Could you post a couple more pics including the badge? I love blue strata wrap. My guess is that this is a Pearl made drum.

Thanks for your comments cn679! I will take a look at the snares themselves as I had already tried the adjustment knob backed all the way off!

I will keep playing around to see if I can trouble shoot this - otherwise, it may need a new strainer mechanism (which I am always reluctant to do!).

Here are some extra pic of my snare and the kit it belongs to! I have two identical replicas of these kits (refer to my earlier posts: http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=9091).

Cheers again!

Grant

and more pics.....

Hey G. Did this come from the bay? I think I passed on it. This is a Hoshino, later run snare. In the latter days, they went back to the thin shells, with very limited success. This shell has rings with very sharp edges, and will be a bear to tune. This strainer is a very difficult strainer to tame. My suggestion, and I think you guys know how I feel about these drums, but....replace it. You can grab a Pearl 60s stencil strainer that is similar and will fit the existing hole pattern. It will ultimately work much better. On the other hand, if keeping it completely original is of no reeal value to you and you want it to play very nicely, G/C sells a new Pearl SR-013, P-85 style that is amazing. I love it and replace some of my old stencils with them when I know I will be fighting an uphill battle with them.

The rest of the kit is a Pearl stencil, and a very nice one at that!

Thanks Jonni! Great advice!

I too love these drums. You can pick 'em up for an absolute bargain and once given some TLC they can shine up like a real treat (and they certainly don't sound bad either!).

I have some more pics here

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFGQBeH848s[/ame] (look from 1 min in)!

Enjoy

G.

Nice vid, and very cool groove! The Pearl strainer is a 013 or 014, and they are 20 bucks at GC, and come with a really nice butt as well. I hate to do it, but sometimes, the modern gear just works better, and I know if that is the snare that was on ebay last week, you got it at a bargain price, so taking the junk off and putting on the goods ain't really gonna kill the value of this one since it is a late run Hoshino. They are not as desirable as the early Star and Pearl stuff, IMO...but we all know what opinions are....

Anyway, dude, that is some serious drum mastery you voodoo'd up there! What part of the world are you in?

The Riviera snare has the matching wrap and badge to the Pearl rack tom, so I think it's probably the original snare to the set, making it a Pearl, not Hoshino. I dont think that Hoshino drums had re-rings either.

Its funny, but the Hoshino snares looked so similar to the early Pearl snares. They had the same clam shell lugs (which Pearl also used as center lugs for the Clubdate style drums.) I dont know, with the similarities it's so hard to tell.

He just bought that snare last week, B-I saw it on ebay and passed. The ebay pix showed the interior and edges much better, and I have 5 of those shells, and I despise them. There is nothing good about this shell, and it is really thin, to the point that if you tension it up too high, it will crush the shell. The badge is correct, and I think the lugs are the later Hoshino ones due to the fact of this shell. I have 2 of those on my shelf I took the harware off of already.

Also, the butt is the newer type.

Grant, did you do anything else to the snare drum by any chance? Change out the muffler, perhaps? Snare wires?

*EDIT: Wait, I'm a bit confused... Grant, did this Riviera snare come with the set, or did you buy it on its own?