I noticed that the depth does seem similar to the post's drum.

Perhaps it was an approximation of a metric depth? I do have many more Tromsa and Trixon shells around than Sonor and even though each of those companies officially went Imperial in 1959( same as Sonor) and 1963 respectively, the depths of the shells on the early Trixon 14's stayed metric for a while and the Tromsa 4 x 14's of which I have a number of examples are quite variable.They can be anywhere from 3 1/2 to 4 . It seems that they went from 90mm in the early years to 100mm later but all the while called the drums 4 x 14.

The shell of the gold snare is not cut down to 4 1/2". It also has a straight shell (how does this shell construction date this snare, vs reinforcement ring shells ? )

See the shadow between the head and shell, that indicates a beveled berring edge out twords the wrap, the re-rings don`t do that with rounded berring edges. The seams on the filler layers are shaped like a dull saw, rounded teeth, kinda like finger joinning but more pronounced, they called the method full vibrateing shell !! I`m not sure of the science behind it but I think the staggered teeth joint allowed for even distribution of resonence !!

The inside finnish or outer will have matched veneer with diagonal and 90 joints mixture !! (veneering)

When did Sonor change from reinforcement rings to straight shell ? The '69 USA catalog mentions the D471 w/ floating heads. My snare is just shy of 14" & has a floating head. Perhaps it's closer to '69 than '65 like I originally thought. The interior of my snare also seems to have a more refined finish than the shells w/ rings.

I don't know when they gave up re-rings, but Sonor's shells were always undersized and are still, as were Premier's... at least through the early 80s.

I have little knowledge of, or experience with, Premiers post-'82.

I think undersized shells are a vital component of their sonic resonance.

Ron

I have a D421 early teardrop snare drum from ca 1960 (in international size, 14", so modern drum heads fit). It matches my 3-ply early teardrop (of the same vintage) kit with rerings, but the D421 has no rerings.

[img]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/D421.jpg[/img]

[img]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/Snare_butt_inside.jpg[/img]

[img]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/SD_logo.jpg[/img]

[img]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/Kit_front.jpg[/img]

/Magnus

This is my understanding on the D421 snares.Sonor shells were 3 ply with rings up to 1965.But they sold the shells to about 1968.When they run out of them and stoped making the 3 ply shells.About 1965 you could order the new 5 ply shells with out rings but still could get the 3 ply with rings.The caps were both plastic black and chrome.Sonor also made the drum in 4.5" deep but listed it as a 5" deep drum.Up to 1965 you could have had the lugs double for a total of 16 lugs on the snare but they change the lugs to single lug snares in 1965.All the shells were beech wood shells...So T/D's drum would be from 1968 on to about 1973 or 74.....Mikey

I asked around and got 4.4 4.9 4.6 4 1/4 4 1/2 but no fives,..best possible reasoning,....Becks !!

I have a 14 x 5 chrome over aluminum 424. If I were to restore it the drum is missing 8 tension rods, a throw off and snare butt. I'd get it in working condition with original parts or a complimentary brand. Anyone have parts? I'm interested to hear how it sounds. It feels like it would sound nice.