Magnetic will stick, slightly, to the chrome on the brass shell. Compare magnet with sticking on rim or lug. Take off a lug and scratch the shell in the screw hole and see if it shows brass.

Next time have something shipped USPS. No brokerage fees, but still any duty needs to be paid. Also have them make customs form USED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, NO COMMERCIAL VALUE.

Hey DD

Do you still have the link to the auction in your won file on eBay?

It may be that PayPal protection can help you.

If the item is not as described, it may be worth a try.

Posting the link for us may help us help you as well?

Hope this works out for you.

Kev

I beg to differ, but......chrome is non-magnetic, much like brass, bronze and aluminum. Magnets only stick to ferrous metals such as steel and cast iron. If the magnet sticks to the shell, then it is a steel shell snare drum.

BTW, "chrome" is a generic term for the final finish plating process. Also if anyone ever tries to sell you on "triple chrome plating"....no such thing. Yes chrome plating is a three step process, but it is not plated with chrome three times. Process is as such: copper plating base, nickle plating to get thee deep silver color (also nickle plates to copper easily and stays there very well), and finally the chromium plating for the shine. All three metals are non-magnetic as well, hence my original statement that chrome (meaning the finished total plating process) is non-magnetic.

Got a link to the auction or pictures of the drum? Quite a few Slingerland metal snares can be identified by various visual cues -- badge type, strainer type, lines in the shell, etc.

It looks like you got an awesome snare for a fairly decent price. I've been wanting one of these myself.

However, the auction clearly stated that all parts work properly and that includes the throw, IMO.

The shell is brass as you wanted so you should have no reason to send it back. Sometime shipping coats make returns unreasonable. This seems to be one of those cases.

As an eBay seller I hate to suggest this but I would ask for a partial refund to compensate for the broken throw.

A lot of dishonest people ask for partial refunds as a regular part of buying on eBay so I have kind of a bad taste for partial refunds but, I think in this case you have a reasonable basis to ask for enough to replace or repair the throw. The seller has a high feedback and is probably willing to listen to a fair negotiation.

Can't hurt to ask.

Ebay eBay eBay...... sometimes you get the elevator. Sometimes you get the shaft. Just the way it is.

KapperDog has given you some good advice I also sell on feebay, I know the seller and have bought from him before he's a good guy, email him and explain the problem see if he can swap out a better working zoomie, also your rims sticksavers should be brass try the magnetic test on them?

Haven't contacted the seller just yet as I wanted to investigate the Zoomatic issue more closely. When I removed the strainer, I noticed that the shell has a pretty severe dent behind/underneath where the strainer was. Took some pics but the wife took off with the camera, will post this evening. I understand that these dents aren't uncommon due to overtightening of the snares. I'm not mechanically minded in the least but I wonder if this dent will affect the ability of the Zoomatic to work properly and maybe more importantly, is this dent going to negatively affect the sound of the snare in any way? Should I cut my losses and return the drum?

Was the box visible with any damage as if it was dropped? when it arrived to you? zoomies don't like righty tighty they will break, it's a great strainer design, but that is one of it's flaws though!

There are two different things we could be talking about:

(1) The snare beds are crimped and many people mistakenly think that's a big ol' dent in the shell.

(2) Sometimes metal shells do get dented, especially under pieces of hardware that stick out and can get banged (strainers, lugs, etc.). The Zoomatic is particularly prone to this since the shaft of the adjustment knob can concentrate stress on a very small area of the shell.

If you really do have a dent, it's usually no big deal. With the right tools (which can be pretty easy to improvise), removing the dent is a piece of cake. I've got a piece of wooden 14" shell scrap that I use as a mandrel since it's got the same curve that the shell's supposed to have. Remove hardware from the shell, place the shell on a workbench or hard surface with the dent facing down, place the shell scrap on the dent from the inside, and gently hammer the inside of the scrap to tap the dent back into shape.

Sounds like the shell nut could be stripped. It's the threaded nut attached to the shell that the Zoomatic's adjustment shaft screws into. You can get a replacement from jp2creations.com for $25. (Go to jp2creations.com, select Parts in the left column, click Slingerland Zoomatic Strainer, and you'll see the shell nut at the top.)

If the shell was banged really hard on the strainer, or if someone overtightened the strainer, that could explain both a dented shell and stripped shell nut.