Snare strainer question

Larry

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
Looking for opinions. Or Art

Do different snare strainers alter the snare response differently? This notion has been making it's debut inside my wrinkled brain for about a week now.

Case in point. My walnut snare has this big block of metal on it AKA the Sonor dual glide strainer.

I would say my walnut snare response is different from all the rest of my Guru snares. A little sloppier to my ear. The strainer, like all Sonor's hardware, is comically overbuilt, JMO.

So the question is...does anyone think a light (in weight) snare strainer makes for a crisper response than a heavier snare strainer with the same amount of tension? Assume the same shell and heads for an imagined apples to apples comparison.

I'm going with a hard maybe
 
Well we know that adding mass effects the shell. I dont see how that added mass on the throwoff effects the snappiness of the wires however.

Tension is tension, right? I would think build quality and tolerances would be more of an issue for maintaining tension than the mass of the object tasked to do so.
 
I not a physicist, an engineer, or a drum maker, but @MrInsanePolack 's hypothesis makes sense to me. I can't imagine that the weight of the strainer would have a marked impact on wire response. On shell resonance? Maybe. But wire response seems more a function of wire construction and tension, reso construction and tension, and the subtle interplay between the two. If that assumption is wrong, I'm all ears.

What I've noticed more readily is the difference between snare-wire cords and snare-wire straps. I get a livelier sound with cords, which is what I normally use. Straps have something of a muting effect. Perhaps I've just never come across the right straps, but until I do, I'm sticking with Pearl's orange cords.
 
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Try grosgrain straps if you haven't already. Could it be an issue with the snare bed? Have you tried different snare wires? I'm trying to think how you ended up with a dual glide on a walnut snare? Who made the snare? As someone who's played/plays a walnut snare, and kits for that matter, I've always found walnut to produce a bit less defined sound than say maple, birch or beech.

Also, is the strainer lined up correctly? I ask this because I once bought a boutique snare from a guy and it turned out that the drilling points on the shell for the strainer mount was off just a touch but it was enough to produce symptoms like you're describing.
 
I would think different throw off mechanisms have different amounts of play. I wonder if that is contributing, especially if you use less tension on the wires
 
I think beds have waaaaaay more influence on snare response than the strainer.

As ThinShell said, the strainer can be mounted too low and cause problems, too. I had a snare side edge recut once, and though the edge and bed were perfect, the drum did NOT sound good when I reassembled it. It wasn't until the strainer and butt were raised that it sounded right.

But as for strainer mass affecting snare wire response, I'm gonna vote no, not much.
 
larryace said:
does anyone think a light (in weight) snare strainer makes for a crisper response than a heavier snare strainer with the same amount of tension?
Click to expand...
No, unless you're comparing a regular strainer to a Ludwig Super Sensitive strainer. The Super Sensitive will be better across the board, in any category of sound/crispness/response.
 
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