Oh,..the hoops you used to ID it,..don`t belong to that drum !!

Once I've been seen a muffler very similar to this one, not live, on pics only - but I can't remember where, damn!

Oh, MG! You have to find that in your memory and post it here -- we'll be hopeful.

George.

I found one in his records that has that throw and lugs that match those imprints on a Super Extra... Ochestra1..1952, I can`t save the photo cuz he`s got some block on it but I asked him in the forum and will let you know when he responds !!

OddBall is this the pic?

From 1952 Sonor cat scans?

Yes, but I can`t tell if it comes in wood or not !! This frankenstein drum here resembles it. The one on that cat. has the correct type of hoop for the throw !! Now does the cat. photo have the trio holes on opposite sides like the one here ? I wouldn`t rule out it could be Sonor !!

This thing could be cut down to the size of the t-rods that are with the hoops on this drum !!

tdennis,

Your drum could be and looks Sonor but to restore it would leave extra holes filled or not !! Is there a badge imprint shape or tack holes somewhere on it ? They painted some badges on too !!

tdennis,

The guy who helped me ID it is a Sonor collector and if you plan to sell it, he would like a shot at it !!

Thanks to everyone who has given their time to this instrument. I have included some suggested photos, but I think this snare has been reworked so many times, it's like trying to reconstruct who gave body parts to the Frankenstein creature. My fascination is w/ the heavy duty oddball machine work strainer, that seems to have been attached to a shoddily made shell. The shell is 14",355mm in diameter, & made of very thin(1/8") 2-ply wood. It seems to be bent, w/ the ends simply abutted against each other w/ out overlap, & reinforced from behind w/ a large square wooden plate. The reinforcement hoops are crude, irregular, & misshapen. The strange throwoff seems to be a later addition. (there are several miscellaneous holes on each side of the snare which appear to be from the original throw. The lugs holes are 2 1/8" , 52mm(center to center). Again, Thanks for all your input.

The Sonor factory, in Weissenfels was expropriated in 1950 by the East German Government. The Link family and presumably a contingent of loyal workers fled to West Germany , shortly after that and began a new factory in Aue, Westfalia. It would have taken a while to get into some degree of production again and the designs would likely be based on the former production in East Germany.

It is unlikely that ALL the workers would leave for the West, so a contingent of capable artisans , existed in East Germany and were more than familiar with the designs and presumably had the machinery and tooling. This is why the East German Trowa began production of high quality drums immediately , after The Links departure, which were very close to the early designs of Sonor. They were both feeding out of the same dish.

I have a snare drum with an identical shell to this----the same thin European Beech shell, the same type of overlap in the rering, the same type of patch, over the seam.It is a Trowa from the early 50's but it is 360mm. The 355 mm , that is the measurement of this shell means it is a 14" drum, something Sonor did not make until 1959. You will note that the Sonor Super Extra is a 370mm shell.

The hoops on this drum are the type of hoops, that Trowa used on snare drums that were made for orchestra. This is due to the consolidation with Dresdner Apparatebau, which also came under state management in East Germany. Dresdner Apparatebau, continues to this day to use these hoops.

Trowa switched over to inch sized shells sometime in the late 50's as well---probably somewhat earlier than Sonor.

By the time Sonor switched over to inch sized shells, the Sonor shell construction had radically departed, from what is pictured, which is a shell construction, still in use by Trowa, into the 1960's----sometime after they switched to inch sizing.

The Super Extra, did come in wood. The colours described in 1952 are; nickelplate on the metal drum,natural lacquer,mahogany lacquer,chocolate lacquer,ivory lacquer,some sort of silver paint or lacquer,white wrap,black wrap,white, grey and red pearl.

Either Sonor continued to use their old shell construction, for Orchestra drums after 1959 or this is a Trowa made in the 50's, using tooling and designs that had been left behind after the Sonor exodus. There likely would have been a lot of parts left over too.