White Oyster Amati - Page 3 - Vintage Drum Forum

From Gilnar

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So, at last I got the snare into playable condition. As you can see from photos below, strainer mechanism is elegant, but kinda primitive. Lever is at one point and finer tightening is on the other, so both points are moving. Add that to the fact that you have to TIE the snare cord there and you got extremly inpractical and difficult to use system, but after some problems I managed to get it working. Original strainer was very buzzy and clumsy, now I'm using some cheap Sonor strainer that is a leftover from my Force 2007 kit and it sounds considerably better, altough it still has some annoying buzz. I hope to fix that by re-cutting the snare beds wich are unbelievably shoddy. Also, as you might see on the second pic, that hexagonal screw has the hole for the cord drilled in such way that it goes kinda askew through it, thus diverting the strainer. I'm not sure about what I'm going to do with that - I might turn the screw so that the hole is exactly facing the shell and then pull both ends of the cord through and tie them. Well, I'll see about that tomorrow, now my neighbours would go crazy if I started hitting the snare.[IMG]http://img1.rajce.idnes.cz/d0103/4/4412/4412091_b50cfdc073137e0ecf7ef5c6a45e4991/images/IMG_3770.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://img1.rajce.idnes.cz/d0103/4/4412/4412091_b50cfdc073137e0ecf7ef5c6a45e4991/images/IMG_3769.jpg[/IMG]I now have modern heads on most of the kit and it sounds quite well, altough it's nothing amazing. I think it could be compared it to MIJ kits from the same era. The 12" mounted tom was quite a disappointment - it has very uneven and rough edges. I'm unsure about what to do with it. Whole kit is in original condtition, so I don't want to re-cut the edges, altough they're not perfect (I guess they're suppoed to be full roundover, but they are something else... not really sure what).In spite of this, I'm very happy about the kit and hopefully, I'll soon be able to post some crappy camera-made soundfile.Stay groovy!Gilnar

There was a lot of influence between companies in Europe, just as there was in N.A. That very same snare strainer design shows up on Sonor,Tromsa,and Tacton and when properly aligned and lubricated it is quite practical and functional.There are few parts to wear or break and it stays set during repeated on off cycles. If that was a Sonor throwoff, being pictured, no one would bat an eye. I think you will be surprised, at how those drums will sound , when they are fully restored, properly headed and tuned. As for them , being similar to MIJ kits from the same era---I don't think so. Yes, the threads may be slack and/or cut into inferior metal(Amati, wouldn't be the only drummaker to fall prey to that-----the technique , I believe was invented in Japan) but Amati took the care to use European Beech as a shell material(the shell material responsible for ALL the finest European drums), whereas MIJ kits used the cheapest, soft, crappy pulpwood , that they could score from The Philipines. Amati chrome is plated and polished with care and skill, MIJ chrome was crap, often plated straight onto steel and polished by blindfolk. Amati, used the now much copied tried and true 3D Euro style tomarm, when MIJ were using inferior copies of cumbersome American style rail mounts(and they always stripped and fell apart). Yes it is true that the Eastern Bloc had it's problems but the designers had the intent to produce the best possible but the system often didn't allow this. However, they were clever and built surprisingly fine stuff under sometimes severe restraints for the identified Eastern Bloc market.The drums have a measure of old world craftsmanship. As a comparison the Japanese were just trying to fill the postwar void in an economically booming America for cheap department store grade goods.