Hi, I have an old 1960's Sonor Teardrop snare with the old "Made in Western Germany" aluminium badge. I have had it since the early 1980's when I found it in a pile of rubbish at an ancient Edinburgh rehearsal studio. It was in a terrible state and only had the birch shell, the 16 teardrop lugs and the top 8 hole die-cast hoop. This was pre-internet of course but, over the years I slowly got some of the replacement parts it was missing. I ended up stripping the damaged black/gold striped finish and sent the shell to ST Drums in Germany for a Delmar re-wrap in aged/marine pearl, ordered a new Vintage Series throw-off and butt that Sonor now use on their "Vintage Series" snares, an original, internal muffler from Reverb and lastly a bottom snare hoop. Unfortunately on receipt and fitting of this hoop I realised that it"s not matching the top one and more importantly it's a different depth so when fitted with the bottom head if you try and tighten the head it can only get so far down before the hoop touches the top of the lug! So, basically I can't get rid of all the wrinkles in the head that are caused by the shallower snare bed where it meets the snare wires. It's not the worst aesthetic that the two hoops are v slightly different but, the fact that i can't tighten it enough is v frustrating. The bottom hoop has two holes for the chord to go through rather than a wider, rectangular shape for chord or ribbon/strips to go through. Does anyone know if any manufacturers out there do special "old" style snare heads that have a much shallower profile than the modern Remo heads have these days? This could be a way to solve this annoyance? I read somewhere that Sonor shells aren' necessarily the standard/Universal size many other brands adopt. Is this the case, especially with this era drum? Any help/advice will be much appreciated...Thanks, keep on drumming!! Nick
Sonor Teardrop Snare Hoops?
Your problem is not unique, but rather a 'feature' of that vintage line of Sonor snare drums. Frustrating, to say the least. I have in the past done a successful 'work-a-round' by taking a single edge razor blade, completely cutting off the mylar plastic from two old used Remo heads with aluminum mounting hoops, dropping the aluminum hoops over the batter and snare side hoops you intend to tension, and then fasten the chrome counter hoops down over them. This will give you added hoop height. You will have to align the heads, counter hoops, and tension rods precisely prior to tensioning, as the older Sonor production utilized metric measurements whereby their heads were designed to seat into the chrome counter hoop rather than fit snugly on to the shell. Hope this advice helps, and congratulations on restoring one of the most aesthetically beautiful drums ever made!
Can we see it ?
.....76/#XK9207 Phonic Sound Machine D454/D-505 snares !i
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