Cooperman drums in Vermont

http://www.cooperman.com/

oh, cool! Thanks for the link!Cool1

O-Lugs--I think i have a box in the back of my shop of used old silk snare cord's wire..I will check over the week-end..Mikey

hey, thanks, Mikey!:Santa:

Great article topic! Someone step up to the plate!

I get this question enough that it requires an article. The different types of early wires and where to find them and if there are comperable replacement wires.

1. Silk Wound

2. Gut Wires

3. Metal Wires

4. Other Wires

Someone please............. Or just provide some text detail, photos and I will put it all together for future generations. I have some wires in house where I could take photos and disect the wires for study.

David

Ludwig-dude - Cooperman yes! You nailed it. Old “field drum” stuff. Clapping Happy2

As an aside, the classical guitar strings (nylon and such we use today) were developed as a substitute for the “guitars of old” gut strings that were originally used from the beginning (lutes and the rest).

Awesome! I will contribute some photos. I have some weird old sets of various snare wires.

You have options. The four most common snare types I find on drums from the early 1900s up into the 20s are wire wound silk, gut, braided linen, and coiled wire (this is before welded snappy wire units).

Wire wound silk is just what it sounds like - a thin silk strand wrapped with some type of steel or silver wire. The spacings vary a bit but are loser than any guitar strings I've seen. If you're looking for authentic wire wound silk snares, Adrian Kirchler makes terrific reproductions in both a "European" and an "American" gauge. The American gauge is a great copy of what everyone used ca. 1920 from Ludwig to George Stone.

Gut is also era appropriate. Coopeman had at least three gauges last time I checked in with them. The thinnest is most fitting for trapset size drums. The thicker gauges are best suited for field drum use. The thicker options would be too large to string through a Ludwig Pioneer strainer for example.

The braided linen is illusive stuff. I've only seen it show up on time capsule type finds. It looks a lot like a waxed shoe string to me! The advantage of linen would have been that it did not change tension with fluctuations in temperature or humidity like gut did. The linen snares I've seen have all been of a fairly thick gauge more closely approximating a medium thickness gut. It sounds like wet gut (ie. terrible) anyway! Haven't tried to find a replica of these before.

Coiled wire is just like the snappy wires we're all used to seeing except they aren't welded onto an end piece. Instead, they are strung onto the drum like the other three options. Giant pain to deal with. I have no source for them in lengths long enough to use this way.

Three attached pics: 1) New AK wire wound silk in original end piece. 2) New Cooperman thin gauge gut (the cheap version - they have two options within the thinnest size) and new butt end cut from belt leather. 3) Original braided linen snares and end piece.

Does this help or confuse the matter?!?

-Lee

This is great stuff. Can I re-purpose the information and add to it? with credit of course.

Is there any way of getting larger photos that are focused better? These would be a big help.

David

Awesome! That third photo looks like what I want. The original snares on this particular juvenile snare would have been red -four strands only. Like this:

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16798&d=1274776214