A few months ago I picked up a '59 Ludwig transition badge Pioneer snare, in decent shape except for the P-83 strainer, which had the arm snapped in half. How do you snap the arm off? I didn't think much about it then, but I know now.

It had the old style P-83 on it, like one shown on the Jazz Festival here, with the little triangle of metal that sticks out on the left of the strainer when it's in the up position. I wanted to get an exact replacement to keep the drum "original", so I focused on finding this exact strainer.

I looked around the usual places and couldn't find a replacement at the time, so I posted a note here, and the ever-helpful MIKEY777 came to the rescue. Because I didn't really need a whole new strainer, just the lever arm, he sold me just the arm at a reasonable price (thanks again Mikey.) I put the strainer back together, everything was perfect - the arm even matched the rest of the strainer as far as aging, etc.

In the meantime, I had a friend who is a luthier and is a genius at matching finishes on old guitars do a little bit of touch-up to the chipping duco paint on the Pioneer shell.

I just got the shell back, and finally put everything back together last night. And guess what? The lever arm on the strainer doesn't clear the top hoop when you attempt to put the snare in the up position.

And now I know how the arm must have gotten broken in the first place. The old-style P-83 with the little triangle of metal on the left only comes with a flat lever arm - not a problem for taller or marching snares - and this snare must have originally had the newer style P-83 with the slightly bent/offset lever arm so it would clear the top hoop. Most of the pictures I've seen of Pioneers from this era have the arm with the offset, but in my attempt to keep this drum "original", I overlooked the reason why. So it appears that someone put this old-style "flat arm" strainer on, and when the lever arm wouldn't clear the hoop, they tried bending it so it would, and ended up snapping it off.

Now the question:

The pic of the Jazz Festival linked above does show the old style flat-arm strainer, and a Jazz Festival is the same size and shape as my Pioneer. So how did this work? The only thing I can figure is that there would have to be a washer or spacer between the shell and the strainer to push the entire strainer out far enough so that the arm clears the top hoop. Can anyone confirm this, or post a close up picture of their Jazz Festival or Pioneer with this "flat arm" type of strainer that shows the way it's mounted?

If anyone is interested or needs clarification of what I'm talking about, let me know and I can post pics.

Thanks.

Scott