Tama Speed Cobra 310 strap conversion

[mrfingers]

I’ve wondered why some pedals are strap drives, so decided my Tama pedal would be the experiment. Simple enough to remove the double chain and order a Gibraltar strap to fit. Width was perfect but another hole needed to be drilled thru the Kevlar. After it was reassembled I played for a hour or so and found it had less “ bounce” response than it had with the chains, no matter how much spring adjustment I did. Hmmmm...?Kevlar was tough but not flexible enough for my taste.
So, I searched and found an old camera bag strap with the same width as the Kevlar. It’s tough, webbing strap material which looks just like the strap on an old Yamaha 6110. So folded and glued the ends with washers inside, reattached the strap and voila! Pedal actions were better than with the Kevlar and slightly better than the chains. About on par with a single chain Sonor on a good day.
I suppose the life of a strap drive is less than that of a chain...is that the reason they’re not as common? I play heel down which is not as popular now as it was years ago. Maybe strap drives don’t hold up for speed metal, rapid-fire bass playing? Some say strap drives have a softer hit, I use a wooden beater with a small weight attached...
Has anybody else done the switch to strap drives, not Kevlar?

 

[Bo Eder]

I’ve converted my DW’s back to straps (which I don’t think are Kevlar) and I love it. I actually grew up on straps so to go back to that feel is like going home. It feels much faster to me than it did with a chain, but I don’t have a problem playing either.
I’m not sure why people think metal music isn’t good for straps - with all the blast beats and triggering going on, a lot of those metal guys don’t play very hard at all, right? I’ve never seen a metal guy play as hard as I’ve seen Tony Williams slam.

 

[Cmdr. Ross]

I’m not sure why people think metal music isn’t good for straps - with all the blast beats and triggering going on, a lot of those metal guys don’t play very hard at all, right? I’ve never seen a metal guy play as hard as I’ve seen Tony Williams slam.

Good point. Most really fast metal guys adjust their pedals to where the beater is pretty close to the head.

 

[Bo Eder]

Good point. Most really fast metal guys adjust their pedals to where the beater is pretty close to the head.

tap tap tap tap....

 

[SYMBOLIC DEATH]

Good point. Most really fast metal guys adjust their pedals to where the beater is pretty close to the head.

It all depends who the drummer is.
Another thing to keep in mind is the faster you go the softer you will hit. It's just the way we're made, we aren't machines.