Well, I have thought about it, while trying to fall asleep yesterday.

I realized the crack is not a crack. It is just the seam, and the patch behind it is just the "official" way of keeping that seam together. The wrap just separated a little at its seam, and that together is what appeared to me to be a massive crack :P. How foolish was I.

I am still very curious to get any more info about this snare. It seems such a simple construction! It almost makes me think it was a children's (toy) drum. But on the other hand, I think it's not.

I mean, I know it's only a 6-lugger, so nothing high-end, but still... Perhaps it's the sturdy hardware that makes me think it's not a children's drum. And perhaps the wrap adds to that just a little.

I've seen a few Trowa related posts around here, but the drums I saw in those look nothing like mine, or I must have missed something. But I know there are some people here who have at least some knowledge of Trowa. Please help me out if you can :D.

Thanks.

I'll see if I can find a metric head that might fit on this. I'm just too curious about how it sounds. And some wires; that might be tricky too :P.

Back to cleaning...

Wow,great find MrTurd.We have discussed here Trowa snares from 60's and 70's but yours looks older!Maybe 50's or beginning of 60's.You are wright,there is no crack in the shell,this is common reinforcement plate.You can find some more useful information in Calfskin(Phil) replays on many threads here on Trowa and Tacton snare drums made in former East Germany.

You can see on this photo that the plate is common in the place of plies joined

________

Brunette Doggystyle

Thanks for the reply! I am cleaning up the metal parts now, and it looks like it's just steel, but I'll ask my brother in the afternoon. You can see it a little bit on the picture with the strainer caps (pic 24). I cleaned the right one a little bit.

Could it be from the time of the war or just after the war? I just thought perhaps it's from that time, because perhaps they didn't have much material back then to use on drums?

Perhaps the wrap can indicate a lower time limit? I don't know when they started using this popular wrap.

I am also still very surprised that there is no internal muffler (and never has been, for as far as I can see). Do you have an idea why that is?

And the rods are massive! My Premier key for slotted rods is way too small, it won't fit over these things. I love them. (They look nice after cleaning ^^)

Annoying how most Trowa searches on Google come up with Anime stuff :P...

And I have read some of Calfskins posts on Trowa/Tacton drums. Perhaps I'll kindly drop him a PM later.

Just realized: Strainer: Lever up = wires are off, Lever down = wires are on! Really cool imo...

Hello MrTurd!

It's a good snare - after restoration you'll enjoy its sound.

It has a beech shell with re-rings from the factory - it's not a repairing result.

You're right - this Trowa snare 14" is from 50's era.

I have a partly full analogical snare, but my model is a bit younger than yours - the next after yours: already with short teardrop lugs and deep flanged hoops.

My strainer's mechanic is fully identical to yours - leveral type.

My wrap is "Kristall M Schwarz-silber".

Drumheads are the same - natural skin.

But I've very surprised that muffler is absent in yours snare - I never meet Trowa snares without it.

Luck restoration. :)

George.

Photo from 'travel.webshots'; ladrummerie and ukranian drum site.

Very nice!

I am glad to know that it is from the 50's, and that it is beech. But are the outer plies also beech? I always thought beech was light (in color).

There really are no holes where a muffler could have been. There are no extra holes anywhere.

Do you know if the hardware on these drums is steel, or stainless steel, or something else? It doesn't look like chrome to me. It looks like steel I think (after it's cleaned, hehehe. Now it looks like brass from a distance, because it's dirty), but I don't know much about metals.

I think I will buy metric heads at stdrums.de (don't know where else), if they have the correct size. I am afraid to tension the original heads. They were not tensioned when I got the snare, and I don't want to damage them. But I'm very curious to how it sounds.

Thanks

Mr T:

Very nice shell you have there...very different from almost any snare I have seen. That snare throwoff is WAY cool.

A couple of things tho:

1) You really need to redo the bearing edges if you want that snare to sound anywhere near decent. If you dont, the top head will not sit flush on the shell, will be impossible to tune, and the sound will "shift" every so often while youre playing it. Flush bearing edges for the top side is an absolute must.

2) That hardware is so unique that you might consider getting it chromed. especially those rims with the "porthole" rod holes.

If you clean the WMP wrap and put on the chromed hardware, I think it would look beautifull!!

Good luck, and a great find for you!!

Doing stuff (not by myself of course) to the edge scares me :P. But I must say it has occured to me. The edges are very rough (not sanded). And the shell is not perfectly flat. But I'm not sure yet I want to touch the shell like that.

As far as cleaning goes, it is dirty. Still, the wrap is very yellowed, so that won't get much better. The hardware, however, looks like steel to me (when cleaned), and it already shines a bit, even though it's not as shiny as chrome of course. So I'm not i'll get it chromed. It'll take me more time to clean, but I'l post a pic when I'm done, and see if you still think it needs being chromed or not.

I may want to keep it as authentic as possible, so I'm not sure yet about redoing edges and chroming stuff.

Don't afraid, MrTurd - all will be OK.

If it needed you can to request a new original heads from revived now a legendary ''Altenburger Fabrik".:)

Yeah, it's fully correct.

All the metal parts were glossy extra thick Ni-coated. Even my more later version snare hardware have the same coating.

Sure your success.

George.

Reminds me a little of a Trowa I saw on German eBay recently (see attached).

IIR, Trowa originally made budget cymbals and were an offshoot of Sonor. They switched to producing drums when they got 'taken over' by the East German Government. So, this is probably a 50s drum...possibly early 60s.