Hi Jaye,
Great question on the classic strainer. When restoring the WFL with "Classic Strainer" I didn't feel like shelling out rhe $$ for a pure sound vintage clone which I believe are 1 inch longer to accomodate the length needed to screw directly to the strainer.
Initially, I connected a typical Taiwanese 20 strand snare that has the slots for the mylar straps by putting the screw through the slot in the snare directly to the Classic strainer, then string to the butt. The problem was that on the butt end of the snare there was 2" of wasted snare head due to the disproportionate length of the snare used to reach and attach to Classic. The sound was also terrible, way to wet and there was a lot of buzzz no matter how I adjusted the snare tension. So I thought and thought.....
What if I used mylar and the same snare wire?? So, I doubled over the mylar back over itself so there was a 4X thickness on the Classic strainer side of the snare wire. I drilled a hole directly in the middle of the doubled mylar to allow for the one Classic strainer screw to pass through, set it up that way and it works beautifully! The snare wire is equidistant now from both sides of the bottom rim and the gorgeous old Classic is doing a fine job of tensioning to any tone I want, high dry, fat & wet... I attached a pic so you can see. the other benefit now is the snare beds on this old shell actually have a bearing on the sound and the buzz has been eliminated too. A happy drum now :) The Classic really is a wonderful strainer when attached this way and much easier to adjust than any p-83 or later Ludwig version because of the large (more ergonomic) nickel tensioning wheel.
Kelly