I had a 60's SS for about a year before I sold it, cleaned it up and did my best to get it going.

It sounded great, but it takes alot of time to dial it in.

I'd start all over if there's buzzing , loosen reso head, and both sides of the strainer and tighten them up together. Could be the right side is too tight with not enough slack for the left side. They're finicky.

If the wires aren't sitting flat against the head no matter how much you try to adjust them, then they are "sprung" and you need a new set of wires. Don't go with puresound wires on yours, get the genuine Ludwig wires available from any Ludwig dealer still. They just fit better. I would only recommend puresound wires on a pre-1968 supersensitive. Reason being, they are the only ones that make them! :p

Super sensitive mechanisms are -easy- if you understand how they work. You can't attempt to fix or adjust one unless you first study the mechanism itself. Once you get the 'concept', it's easy to adjust whatever part of the strainer you need to adjust.

Re: your snares...

The strainer is held on the shell with a plate and four screws: two lug screws and two strainer screws.

1. Remove the snares, bottom hoop and head.

2. 'Loosen' the retaining screws on the side that is giving you a problem.

3. Using the bearing edge as a guide; adjust/twist the entire strainer until the bottom edge of the strainer is perfectly parallel to the bearing edge of the drum. The alignment should be as perfectly parallel as you can make it. There should be about a 16th" of shell showing between the bottom of the strainer and the bearing edge.

4. Once the bottom edge of the strainer and the bearing edge are parallel - Lock down the retaining screws. Once you reassemble the drum, the snares should be sitting evenly on top of the head with good contact overall.

Adjust the tension wheels on the screw post so that they are approximately on the same spot on both screw-posts. Tension them evenly; one turn on each side until you achieve the snare tension you like.

Take your time. It's not as 'hard' or frustrating as people make it sound. You just have to understand the hardware, and know what it is you want out of the drum sound-wise.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your drum. Super sensitives are some of the best sounding snares out there.

John

Ah, the plate. :D I was only loosening the two retaining screws for the strainer and not the plate.

I'll give this a try. I'm sure this will allow me to position the strainer more towards the top of the drum and allow the snare wires to sit flush against the resonant head. Thanks so much.

- Tim

Tim - I made an illustration for you...

John

PS - Another thing to check for parallel alignment is the track/flat metal fork, that the snares ride on. Look at them from the front. Both tracks should be straight/parallel to the strainer itself. Bent tracks can account for maladjustment of the snares as well as overall strainer alignment. Check both! John

Here are some shots of the 'track' I'm talking about. It's number 1 part in the illustration. The slide that holds the snares should travel smoothly along the track. Check both alignments, the strainer and the track, one of those will fix your problem.

I use pliers to twist/coax the tines of the track into parallel alignment. Do not use a hammer or try to pound them. Pliers with some good pressure will allow you to move them slightly back into proper position.

Best of luck...

John

Here is an update from my latest attempt to get rid of the buzzing snare wires.

First, I want to thank John for the time and detail he put into replying to my post. This is a great help to everyone that has a finicky Super Sensitive.

Unfortunately, even after making all of the adjustments, there is still that annoying resonant wire buzz, because the wires are not sitting flush on the resonant head. When the strainer is engaged, there is about a 1/16" gap on one side of the drum. If I lift up on the strainer, the wires do sit better, but when I let go the gap and buzz comes back. I know that during a performance the audience will never hear this buzz, but it shouldn't be there in the first place and the wires should fit flush across the entire head.

Here is a final list of everything I've tried:

- two sets of wires

- adjusted strainers per John's instructions

- tried many different tensions on each side for the strainers

- adjusted the throw-off levers on each side

- flipped strainers to the opposite sides of the shell

I discovered when I flipped the strainers, the issue followed one strainer. I am guessing the drum was dropped at some point and bent/loosened some part of that mechanism. This was probably the side that was missing the strainer guard too. I also notice the plastic cams are loose and very flexible. Do these parts wear out and need replacing? I know they are sold as a replacement part from Ludwig.

Overall, I think I've identified that something is wrong with one of the strainers. Since they don't cost much, I think I'll replace the plastic cams next. It wouldn't hurt either. In the end, I might just need to replace the entire strainer.

I'll update this post with the final solution, if I ever discover it.

- Tim

Tim,

Send me the drum. I'll fix it for you free of any charge. You just handle the shipping. I have any parts that may be needed on hand.

Your call. I'll be happy to get it up and running for you. PM me, let me know. I'm in 19607 if you want to calculate shipping. I figure about $15 each way.

John

PS - Thank you, TommyP for pinning this thread. Saves me from retyping all the info each time this question comes up. J

Purdie provided excellent help. Here's a link to the page where some of those pictures where obtained. This article really helped me to fix my SS. I now have a perfectly working SS mechanism and love the drum!

http://slinkzdrums.awardspace.co.uk/sshelp.html