Just received a prototype of the redesigned Venus snare drum.
Ludwig gave it a new strainer and the snare now drops enough below the bottom head and there is no "buzz" like there was in the original drum.
They sent a brand new drum at no charge!
Thanks to Brenda and James at Conn-Selmer (Ludwig).
Can't complain about Ludwig's customer service!
Dave
I just sent her an email last week asking if it had been fixed with no reply.
I guess I'll try again.
The Ludwig website states the drum will be available in August and the emails I've had with Brenda, the snare strainer has been redesigned.
Cheers!
Dave
Just got an email stating the same.
You know, there won't be a re-design needed, if they just assembled the drum correctly. If you look, the snare side hoop is not lined up correctly. On drums with top/bottom lugs, the batter hoop is the one that has to be offset. Meaning, I would disassemble the drum and reassemble it in the following manner:
The lugs that hold the tension rods for the batter side, should now hold the tension rods for the snare side, and vice versa.
This will align the cutout in the snare side hoop so that the snare cords are free on each side. Then, I'd use a thinner weight cord so when you tune the drum, you aren't "pinching" the cords against the hoop and snare bed (the reason why they snares don't release when "off". Not sure the nuts attached to make a "stop" before the lug will allow you to tune the snare side head appropriately.
But then again, this could have been fixed by using a die-cast hoop with a drop gate....
