What can you guys tell me about this Lyra snare? We've already got a few pretty nice snares kicking around the studio, but this one is sitting in the vault and I'm thinking about putting into playable condition. It's certainly funky.
[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh41/speakerjones/Dirt%20Floor%20Studio/DirtFloor062.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh41/speakerjones/Dirt%20Floor%20Studio/DirtFloor060.jpg[/IMG]
Hi there,
This forum has a fantastic 'self-made feature' as well: push the 'Search' button (on the top, the third one from the left side) and put 'Lyra' in ... singer
Ralf
NB: conclusion of the search results: Lyra = another brand, made by STAR.
But your's is a little bit mixed with a Ludwig strainer and min. one Ludwig lug.
It would be perfect to put it back to it's genuine status again ...
Ralf is right on the money! On the badge, if "World's Supreme Quality, Made in Japan" appears, it's a Star. Restore it. Get the right strainer and it's a keeper!
Brian
Yes both if you are right,snare made by Star sometime in the late 60's -[68-70]- The right strainer would be a 3 hole strainer Star used two patterns on mounting these strainers one was top hole small. middle hole big. bottom hole small in a line.The other pattern was again 3 hole the two top holes are small, the middle hole big this pattern was a shape of a "V"...If you need the right parts to put this drum back together i have them....Mikey
Thanks all! Ralf, I did try the search function first, but after delving into the most promising looking posts, I still came up knowing nothing about this specific snare. Just the few posts here have been very helpful though. I'm off to learn more about the Star company, and see what I can see
You may already know this but Lyra is one of the stencil brands of MIJ knock-offs. These were sold as entry level kits by music distributors and showed up in Sears, JC Penney, Montgomery Ward, etc. catalogs. They are cheaply made usually using vertical grain Luan for she'll construction. Of course your snare is a copy of a Slingerland snare.
At the time, they were just considered cheap drums. There are a lot of guys here that like them for various reasons. In some cases it is because these were their first kits. For some it is because they are available cheaply and also have some very unique wraps which make them prime targets for building up some restoration chops.
A lot of guys here have had great success with cleaning up the bearing edges (which may have been poorly done in the first place) and also sealing the interiors. There are lots of threads on this. It seems that the rather porus and stringy Luan has a tendency to harden as it dries out over time making these drums far more musical than they were originally.
I know of one well known drummer that keeps a pair of these drums in his snare drum arsenal. He pulls them out on live shows on small settings as, in his words, the softer wood makes for a much more quiet snare drum. All of that to say, for the little investment you would have in restoring the snare, you should. If you are using it as a studio snare, be careful of what strainer you use. Make sure you have something reliable. Going original is cool but not if it fails halfway through a tracking session. Reliability is far more important in that scenario IMO.
