I've got a Yamaha steel snare that came with the first kit I got back when I was 12. It's an SD-765MA. It has black plastic brackets on either side that allow the snare wires to extend past the edge of the shell. At some point I must have swapped out the original wires for some that fit a normal 14" snare and I would like to go back to something that is correct for the drum.
I've searched the web and found a few discussions about this issue. This type of snare setup was used for several years on Yamaha's intermediate to expert level snares (including the Recording Custom series.) It seems several people have chosen to use wires made for the old style Pearl Free Floater snares. I've seen a couple pictures of this setup and it appears that the wires are so long that the end caps for the wires end up slightly on top of the black plastic brackets. This seems like it would prevent optimal snare response. Unfortunately, I no longer have the original wires to take measurements from so I've measured the drum and guessed at the optimal length for the wires. I've included pics of those measurements.
I'd imagine my drum isn't that well known but since the Recording Custom snares from the 80's use the same setup I was hoping someone may have one in original condition and could give me the actual measurement of the wires. Or, better yet, someone may have a source for correct replacement snares for this setup.
Thanks.