They should be recessed inside the butt. Not only will it be more stable, but it'll protect those little screws and the butt plate from getting bent when they inevitably get bumped.

Nahhh... We can do better than that. Let's make this thing work properly. And those adjustment screws will take a beating. It wouldn't even be practical to put the drum in a case with those exposed outside the butt.

You could, and that is an option. I don't know how common they are, especially if you're looking for one with a weathered nickel finish. You may also need to drill at least one hole in your shell for the butt's third screw. I don't know if the other two screws line up, either. (As already evidenced, I'm not the world's foremost expert on the P34!)

Of all the options so far, this is the route I'd go. It preserves your drum's original parts and doesn't make any permanent modifications. Decent snare wires should be easier to find and a whole lot cheaper than the ones for your P87/P34 setup.

The Puresound Vintage wires for a WFL 3-screw mount might fit well if you decide to go with an adapter plate. They have an overall length of 15¾", they have a single hole at one end that should work with the P87, and two holes at the other that should work with string. Here they are on the Puresound web site and here they are on Interstate Music's web site (they're the bottom set in the picture).

well hot damn, theres my solution!

Looks like Im off to the drum store to annoy the parts guy ;)

I've already made a template for my adapter, just need to raid the garage for some aluminum plate.

Skydog, thank you for your assistance, I really appreciate it and owe ya a beer.

hrm, those are for 14" drums...being a 15" it may not work.

My local Drum HQ can get them, not sure if it'll work though.

My drum and I are going to pay them a visit and see what we can do.

What about using a double end string mount and tying it to the strainer mounts using a fab'd plat on one end?

They're for a 14" drum, but for a 14" drum whose snare wires extend past the bearing edge on both ends. If you do the adapter plate, you'll be extending past the bearing edge on the throwoff side, but not on the butt side. The goal would look almost identical to mfry55's pic on the second page of this thread. Break out a tape measure to figure out the length of the wire set you'll need and compare it to the overall length of the wires I included in the previous post.

OR... A more obvious option would be the replacement wires intended for a P87 with P32 butt:

15" 12-strand heavy wire snares for P87/P32 = part L-1932

15" 12-strand thin wire snares for P87/P32 = part L-1933

Way back when, I bought a Ludwig No. L-483 in natural maple. I loved the looks and function of the P-87 and after living with it for a while started not to care for the P-34. In theory having the snare go completely across the head is great but after a while I felt it was more of a perception than actual performance thing and thus just had to part ways with the concept. I remember the consideration process and thinking that if it was so grand, why isn't it standard on virtually every snare? I also looked at all those parts and just realized that every one of them can become a source of failure. Also when the drum "went out" I really didn't want to have anybody messing around with the tuning of the individual snares... just to be able to play and go and not tinker.

This may not be what you are trying to achieve however, I did some minor mods so that I could have the P-87 throw-off I wanted plus the ability to easily change the snares out to whatever I wanted. It's exactly what I needed.

I opted for a strip of plastic in lieu of cord on the P-87 end.

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=25986&stc=1&d=1298149413[/IMG]

I bounced the P-34 snare butt and replaced it with P-32. The P-32 needed nothing extra for the mount and I simply returned the hardware into the now "extra" hole that is required for the P-34 mount. I used snare cord on the butt end.

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=25987&stc=1&d=1298149413[/IMG]

The other images show the internal view of the return butt hardware, and the tone control knob minus the rattler, I mean muffler.

Hoppy, I almost went that route! I had the butt in my hand at the shop, I kid you not.

I picked up a Gibralter Snare wire set #SC-4467L for a 14" drum.

I picked up some extra strength cord and then went to Home Depot.

Bought a length of 1/8 Aluminum and went to town!!!

Excited

I made it work! Using an adapter plate I made for the Butt end, and a "cord keeper" for the strainer end I got it to work.

Holy COW is this thing loud.

[IMG]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5058/5459630948_d0b017eb8b_z.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5173/5459631044_07aff47091_z.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5140/5459025297_467a9fab5b_z.jpg[/IMG]

Thank you all, to everyone who helped me out on this.

I appreciate the hep and support I've gotten here.

Just spent some time tweaking the tune of it, wow! Way more sensitive then I had anticipated and the projection...just wow...so I glad I got this over a steel shell.

I have always loved the deeper Ludwig wood snares, glad to see it's going to work out... I do like the looks of the heavier butt and that plate you fabbed is a great solution to allow the retention of it...

...Nice mods and a happy conclusion!

Hey Shawn,

It turns out the wires I posted pics of earlier in this thread are for a 15" drum, and the exact fit you need for the earlier P-34 on your drum. I have them on e bay right now. Just search Ludwig snare wires. If you decided you want your drum all original, and it's not to late to return your wires, you can either buy them on e bay now, or if they don't sell on e bay I will work something out with you. Let me know.

Thanks,

Mike

Hi Mike, thanks for the heads up!

Lemme know if they dont sell on ebay, my current solution "seems" to work fine so far.