Without pictures, it's very difficult to really see what's going on. I've had many Slingerland snares, and clones, using the Zoomatic. Each has worked flawlessly and provided excellent range to go from a loose "fat back" sound to a tighter "choked" sound. The Zoomatic needs to be in good physical condition and you need to know where to set the initial adjustment. The attached picture is a Buddy Rich 4x14 custom built snare drum. Due to the way the Zoomatic is installed, it needs more attention to initial setup. I'm able to get many snare wire tensions even with the limited range of the Zoomatic on this drum. Just my :2Cents:

-Mark

Once again, of course it is no problem to turn the wires either loose and wet or tight and dry. The only issue is the fact, that the snares can't be turned off completely when put to higher tensions. You would hear the disengaged wires rattle against the bottom head when hitting the drum. Everything else works fine :-)

I'd really love to see your drum and try to figure out why this is happening. I've never had this issue, so it would be educational to figure this one out!

-Mark

I'm with you on this one. Can you tell us your method for an "initial adjustment".

Let me try to take a couple of pics to show how I set my GK up. Maybe it is indeed a matter of initial adjustment, whatever that means.

I am happy to announce that my woes have been resolved and my Sound King is functioning as it should.

I want to thank slingerfan and idrum4fun for taking time to post on this thread and to call me and talk through my issues. People like these two are the reason a forum like this is effective and fun!

Ok, so.... my solution was so simple I wanted to kick myself once I figured it out. Throughout my conversations on the phone with the two guys mentioned above I got to thinking about what all I had changed from original setup and sitting there staring and playing with the Zoomatic it hit me. I had done the "spring fix" even though I did not need it. Needless to say I disassembled and removed the spring. I could tell right away it was going to work. Well, after many hours of messing around I finally got the Zoomatic working.

All I can say is, "If it ain't broke, don't 'fix' it!"

Now my Sound King plays like a champ both with the snares engaged and disengaged!

It was a pleasure speaking with you about this issue and drums in general!

In all honesty, I'm a bit confused as to why just removing the spring would fix the problem. But, if it fixed the issue, who am I to argue! Glad you are happy with the Sound King snare drum. I've had quite a few of them and they have all been excellent!

-Mark

I think the constant pressure of the spring pushing the Zoomatic away from the drum was my issue. Once I took the spring out it allowed the body of the Zoomatic to stay a little bit loose when disengaged and let the weight of the snares pull it closer to the shell. This extra movement gives the snares just the right amount of separation from the resonant head.

My final setup ended up being grosgrain ribbon and a set of Tama Starclassic 20 strand carbon steel wires. I did learn from Mark that the Canopus Vintage series are very close to the original Slingerland wires and I do plan to get a set now that I have the drum the way I like it.

I couldn't really tell if there is something wrong with my snare wire adjustment . I did it the same way as I did with each of my other snare drums, where it works . Loosen the knob quite a bit, attach the wires evenly in "On"-Position, then turn the knob untill I get a decent snare response. That's all.

Sorry, I tried to post some pics, but couldn't manage to transfer the pics from my mobile to my computer. I will try again next weekend.

Great thread !! Reads like if the original has been used may need a low tension spring. In good shape just a clean up?

Attached not very good photo's of the two I have. Missing knob was on the drum other a eBay replacement. Only reason for post is so thread has photo's of a Zoomatic Strainer.

Creighton