Zim-Gar Snare Drum

robthetimekeeper

Senior Member
Just bought this today for a cool $12.00! Did I get a good deal? Anyone else have one or know anything about them? What's it worth?
I have to get more snare cord before I can hear it. The snares that I got with it say Made In Japan. The hoops and rods are kind of heavy. I wonder if they are the original parts. The strainer works fine.
Aside from being dirty it is in great shape. I haven't even wiped the dust off yet. The inside is very clean and I was surprised by the lack of bearing edges. I'm really digging the wrap. It just screams 1970's!
 

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No love for the Zim-Gar? I just put a magnet to the hoops and it didn't stick. I'm now thinking it may be a 60's model. Anyone know for sure?
 
Wow, that appears to be a no frills drum except for the cast hoops. I have never seen one in person or played a Zim-Gar so I know nothing about them.
The shell looks like luan ply on the inside.
 
Sorry Rob, Thought I already commented on this.

Great find. Looks like a 60's stencil kit snare. I'm curious as to how it sounds. If it tunes up easily enough and has a good sound then I'd say you got a helluva buy. If not then you could always put it on the shelf and keep it as a conversation piece, the finish is interesting enough. Heck, if those hoops are brass then I'd say thats worth more than the price of admission alone.
 
Thanks for the replies guys! I was starting to think my thread was broken.
I thought I saw another thread on the zimgar before but I didn't find any with the search function.
 
Zim-Gar was one of Pearl's many stencil brands. Both my Whitehall kits had that same finish on the interior. And yeah, I'd say $12 was a pretty good price!
 
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Zim-Gar is just a stencil brand name. Not all Zim-Gar drums were made in the same factory. This one is a Sakae. It's the same as their self branded Rhythm King. Sakae just went out of business but spent the last many years building high end drums. If you look at the wood grain on the outside it may go horizontal, making it a two ply.
 
Die cast 6 lug hoops are something that does not exist, so that makes this snare pretty rare. Appears to be from an importer/assembler guy maybe? Imports shell and parts, puts it together and sells under his brand?
Sakae were known for these hoops, but they were one of the smaller stencil brand makers.
 
I had a ZimGar for a while. Luan wood shell was paper thin but the re-rings kept it round. As you can see I "spruced" it up and it actually sounded pretty good. The red pearl wrap really popped with the wood hoops. I also found the lugs to be of substantial weight. I think their combined weight was more than the shell and hoops!!! I got the shell with lugs for $25, added the Legend throw which I had in a drawer, put on the wood hoops, remo heads and sold the dang thing for $150 to a guy who just loved the way it looked!
 

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