Nice find, sweet cool snare !! --- If i'm not mistaken it's from the end 70's - mid 80's.

Can you tell us more details about that german wires maker ?

George.

this is the site: http://www.stdrums.de/shop/index.php?cat=c107_Special-wires-Special-wires.html

they got tons of what seem pretty decent parts. hope to be of some help.

Neo

I have two King Beat snares. Both of my drums are identical to the drum in the Tama 1978 catalog. My drums however have higher serial numbers than yours (95525, 98744) and I was told that the older of mine was made in 1975. Your drum have a far more complicated throw off mechanism and lower serial number than any of mine has, so this would indicate that your drum was made pre 1975.

I attach a a picture from the 1978 Tama catalog.

/Johan M

Hello,

your snare drum is one of the first 'King Beat' snare drums from Tama. It still has the absolutely same and genuine 'STAR' (= Pre-Tama) parallel strainer system (but now with the graven 'Tama' logo), which was also part of the 'King Beat' snare drums from STAR until 1973, when they switched their name to Tama.

Conc. the bent snare tension tuning knob:

if you have a stable bench vice and you are skilled and gentle, you can fix it in the bench vice with the thread-side (attention: protect the thread with thick cardboard, when putting it under pressure) and then beat the knob with a hammer until it's equal again.

I have those snare wires from ST drums at one of my (two) King Beat snare drums: it's size is not 100 % correct for the King Beat, but if you rasp the hole a little wider (can easily be done as the metal is not that hard), it should work. But: unless the remaining snares at your drum are rustling too much, I would not recommend replacing them.

Polishing the chrome will let is shine brightly again!

And I would replace the nuts at the end of the two bars with cap nuts (like it was the same in original).

Ralf

NB: oh, and the lever is bent (can also be adjusted in a bench vice).

Thanks Fortissimo and Ralf for the info and advice.

I'll do my best to fix the knob and lever, I thought it was a bit odd but now you confirmed it's also bent. I'll try matching it with one in a picture. I'll also replace the nuts to cap nuts as well, keeping it a bit original would be nice indeed.

As for the snare wires, I haven't had the opportunity to really test the snare, since I live in an apartment. Neighbors won't be fond of the loud noises, lol.

Neo

where are you all finding wires these days?

You could replace the missing strands of wire to the original set. Secure the original wires on a bench by using something like painter's tape across each of the end pieces. Use a nice temperature controlled soldering iron 700-750 F, flow the solder and add snipped strands from a sacrificial standard wire set.

Read Post #3....

Stdrums.de

Super Service!

Jon

I remember there is an old thread on how to repair old snare wires by soldering new strands....Hmmmm

Found it :)

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=6252&highlight=soldering+wires

Not as easy as buying new ones but propably quite satisfying if you succeed.

/Johan M