Hey Dave.

Cool you found this site and forum! I did all of the photography for Puresound on his vintage wires and drums. The drum in that photo for the Zoomatic is mine and I was able to install them and get the experience on how to do it.

The main thing when installing the wires is placing the untabbed strainer side end close to the bearing edge. Once you do that then the tabbed end falls where it falls. It will overhang the bearing edge on the butt side.

Then with the but plate and screws off of the butt side hold the strap directly over the bar on the extended butt. Make that bend over the bar.

Then while still holding that you will need to push the metal tab up to the point where the butt side plate sits. Once you do that then remount the bar and screws over the metal tab.

Mark the metal tab so it clears about 1".

Take the wires off cut it with a hack saw while keeping the bends in place and then file the sharp ends down. You will see in the photo how they are rounded.

The reason the tab is longer then needed is because there are a variety of drums and depths and it covers situations when strainers are mounted higher.

Then put it all back together!!!

When you release the strainer the wires will bow and that is how they are supposed to work with the metal tab. They do not drop like other wires.

I hope that helps a little.

David

I think the whole set-up for the zoomatic snares is another wonderfully goofy, typically slingerland concept. THe snares are extended on the throw-off side, but not on the butt side!?!? If I was using replacement snares, I'd just use normal ones with string on both sides, and skip the whole metal strip dealio...

That being said, I think these snares sound better with the original Slingerland snares, than they do with the Puresounds...

Hmm, While I haven't sampled these particular Puresounds on any of my Slingy Snares (5x14 Krupa Sound King, 6-1/2x14 Spitfire, 5x14 TDR), I did once buy a set for a mint '60 COB Supra I once owned (#1614), and in truth personally preferred the original '60's Wires better than the Puresounds. I noticed a much darker tone with the Puresopunds on this particular drum, it killed the wonderful 'Morello-like" tone, and crack, and they came of 10 minutes later.

I didn't dump those #1614's though, and hung onto them. Later acquiring a mint '75 Supra 6-1/2"x14" LM-402, thought I'd give them a whirl on this Drum, as something seemed missing, and there was a very nice improvement over the stock Wires. And there they have stayed ever since, as the Drum I finally felt sounded the way it was supposed to sound, deep, wet, and lucious (Ala John Bonham). I did note a difference in build between the stock Luddy '60's Wire versus the Luddy '70's Wires, and perhaps this was one of the reasons? ('70's wires looked to be of much cheaper build quality)

Also again with a mint, once owned '70's Big R Dyna, the Dyna re-issue Puresounds were an improvement over some "morphodite" wires the previous owner rigged on the Drum, until I was able to acquire and sample a set of NOS Dyna Wires I picked up. Again, in this case, the stock NOS Dyna Wires sounded better than the Dyna Puresounds IMO.

I reckon everybody's mileage will vary, with personal tastes, and the particular snare drum. Mark

I have a early 60's Krupa with the Zoomatic Strainer. Here are my conclusions.

The Zoomatic Strainer system that Slingerland used was and is flawed. Both the PSZ-1420 and the original snares have the metal strip rivoted on one side of the snares and that side connects to the butt side of the drum. The stiffness of that metal transfers the shock from your playing to the snares when the strainer is off causing the snares to rattle or vibrate no matter what adjustments are made to the zoomatic strainer. This can be quite annoying.

When I was young and we had these drums in concert band I used to think that Slingerland Snare Drums sucked because of this. I think we used J & J white bandage tape directly on the snares to absorb the vibration.

To remedy this now I put plain Puresound Blasters on with the plastic strip on on one side and of course cord on the other. Now, no rattles. The flexibility of the plastic and cord does the trick in absorbing the vibration. Additionally, I hear no degredation in the actual wetness or dryness if you prefer when comparing the vintage, the PSZ-1420's or the Blasters.

Try this yourself and I think you'll see what I mean.

Thanks for the comments. I took the webmaster's advice and got a more favorable result, though I'm still a bit mystified as to why Sling. engineered the Zoomatic wires the way they did.

I like the Zoomatic strainer itself. This particular one has gotten me through well over a hundred gigs, and it's never let me down.

However, you are absolutely right about the sympathetic vibrations caused by the metal strip. I'll probably end up going with regular wires eventually, but I had to give the vintage style a try.

--Dave A.