Wow!! I have basically the same drum as yours with the same shell, color, 6 lugs and rims but a different throw off. Mine is a knockoff of a Slingerland 3 point strainer. Mine has the badge and says "Masterwork Supreme Quality" and it's pretty grimy with no heads or snares and it's missing the muffler, 6 rods and a couple screws but it's structurally sound. Someone left it in my driveway with a bunch of other orphan MIJ drums. To answer your question about the cutouts on the bearing edge, those cutouts are referred to as the "snare bed". Most snares have this. It's a dip in the edges so the snares will have better contact with the head. It would've been made this way. Your rims are actually die-cast rims. I was surprised when I saw this on an old MIJ drum.

'Snare bed'. Rare to find on cheaper MIJ snares. I'd guess that someone probably tried to cut them out later, (especially on a 6 lug snare) unless they look original. Snare beds help snare wires make better contact with reso head. Do a search here on the forum for more info. Lugs look like a Crown snare I have.

Indeed those would be snare beds. That is a really attractive drum and the wrap and hardware look to be in good shape. While MIJ drums are generally considered entry level drums, that is still a nice find; especially with die cast hoops.

As to the bottom head, you won't be happy with the sound of a used batter head in that location. The end result will be an extremely "boxy" sounding snare drum. Snare side heads are quite thin and are necessarily so. This drastically improves the vibration of the snares themselves and increases the response of the drum. Most folks agree that the snare head (the bottom head) should be tuned fairly tight to seriously tight. I have always tightened my snare side heads to one step below them screaming for a lawsuit. Bob Gatzen's very informative YouTube video series on drum tuning shows him tuning a snare side head to the pitch of "A". Interestingly enough, I went back and started checking all my "seriously tight" snare heads and they were all tuned to either an A-flat, an A or a B-flat.

I believe you mentioned ordering a snare side head. That is a good thing. You are also correct on having to tune the four lugs around the snare bed tighter. That is not at all uncommon. Good luck to you!

Cool! Thank's guys; I did not know about snare beds cut in wooden snares. I have/play with my kit an 80s 14x6.5 Pearl steel shell. I also switch up from time to time to my Ludwig acro. black galaxy. The kit I own/play is a vtg. Hoshino Professional with maple shells. I also have the original 10 lug steel snare that came with the kit. None of the metal/steel snares that I have, have a snare bed in the bering edge. So I was pretty perplexed about it. Here is a few photos of my kit I took awhile back. It has changed/grew quite a bit Eye Ball since the photos were taken. It's to the point now that I been working all summer on a spare room in the house that it's going to live in LoLoLoLo I have been looking for a nice vtg wooden snare for awhile. It don't match the set, But I don't care. If the kit looks a bit funny? that's because I'm a lefty. Ill take and post more photos of my kit when it moves into it's new room. Thank's again!! Scott[IMG]http://[IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc37/toysornot/red%20pearl%20snare/th_110-261970sHOSHINOPROFESSIONALMAPLEDRUMSETLEFTHANDSET-UP.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc37/toysornot/red%20pearl%20snare/th_110-251970sHOSHINOPROFESSIONALMAPLEDRUMSETLEFTHANDSET-UP.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc37/toysornot/red%20pearl%20snare/th_110-241970sHOSHINOPROFESSIONALMAPLEDRUMSETLEFTHANDSET-UP.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc37/toysornot/red%20pearl%20snare/th_110-231970sHOSHINOPROFESSIONALMAPLEDRUMSETLEFTHANDSET-UP.jpg[/IMG][/IMG]