I recently bought a set of wires off of eBay that had the name "Gretsch" printed on it. They were utter 100% garbage and I don't think the Gretsch company had anything to do with them. Shame!

I emailed Gretsch and asked them if they still make the Responso snares they used in the 50's and 60's and they said they now sell ones made in China that suck (not exactly their words!).

I always thought, and still do, that the Gretsch Responso snares were in a different league than anything else. It irks me that I might end up using Puresound on my Gretsch snare. I always thought the other brands like Ludwig were cheap stamped out crap, because it was/is. A guy brought back my Gretsch snare and he had taken off the Responso snares (said they were bent which I don't recall they were) and put on Pearl snares. Those Pearl snare wires were in the trash can in about 3 seconds.

Any foreign drum stuff that comes within a 3 mile radius of my house goes straight to the garbage!

Yes, I understand. I believe Canopus is actually a Chinese company. Please let me know if I am wrong. It is hard to believe anyting of quality could come out of China, let alone a musical instrument. Then again, people will laugh at that though in a hundred years... if things keep going the way they are probablly much sooner.

You also forgot about Grover snare wires, they are actually guitar strings, fit onto a special made jig, they are very high quality, and are American, but most of my snares have puresound snare wires,Clapping Happy2

Canopus is a Japanese company that makes VERY high quality stuff. Many rave about their snare wires. But they cost as much or more than Puresounds.