Here's a few more pics...

Ok, I'll try my novice(me) simplistic approach...could the strings be flexing and continuing to bounce?

PS: Glad you're out of bed..

They literally bounce in the center of the head. I can flip the snare over and watch them. I've never had that happen to any snare I've owned in my 45 plus years of bangin'. It blew my mind. I'm showing my ignorance, but I honestly don't know what to do. If I tighten the snares, it still does it. If I run the strings/tape over or under the cute little bar on the butt side, it still does it. I've tried even tension and tight on the ends - nojoy. I've tried Luddy snares, Starclassic snares, 40 strands, basic 20 strands, etc. I can't get it to stop the bounce. It's just too weird.

...still in my PJ's.

For a linear oscillator with a resonance frequency Ω, the intensity of oscillations I when the system is driven with a driving frequency ω is given by:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mclp9QmCGs[/ame]

The intensity is defined as the square of the amplitude of the oscillations. This is a Lorentzian function, and this response is found in many physical situations involving resonant systems. Γ is a parameter dependent on the damping of the oscillator, and is known as the linewidth of the resonance. Heavily damped oscillators tend to have broad linewidths, and respond to a wider range of driving frequencies around the resonance frequency. The linewidth is inversely proportional to the Q factor, which is a measure of the sharpness of the resonance.

...but by adjusting the tension of the head, I change the frequency of the oscillations thereby modifying the parameters I is dependent upon. It does not seem to make a difference. I plotted wave propagations in the service and also used to live in Neah Bay and am very familiar with this bridge. So, this wasn't lost on me. But it doesn't seem to shed light on the bouncy bouncy head thingy. ......help.....

...by the way Jim, that was totally cool.

That's like the beds on my Ludwig Downbeat snare drum. -reeeeeeeaaaallly W - I - D - E. And, coincidentally, it doesn't have very much sensitivity. What I did was momentarily replace the snare wire set with a set for a 13" drum -Yamaha steel wires 20-strand, I think. It worked better.

What happens is that that bearing edge is causing the snare side head to form a slightly indented area in the center when it's brought up to tension and the center portion of the snare wires are not connecting with that portion of the head. That's why wedging the ends didn't work.

My "player's" suggestion is to try a minimal wire (16-20 strand) set for a 13" drum and use real snare cord to attach the set to the thowoff and butt.

I wonder if the reverb is being transmitted through the shell to the strainer to the wires and the shell is continuing to quiver... seems impossible but the only thing you haven't changed is the shell and strainer.

I suppose unwrapped shell would me more likely to do that then a wrapped shell.

Maybe rig some temporary isolation between the shell and the strainer just to see what happens??

I pulled out all the stops. I got downright Einsteinian with this enigma.

I located a marble and a flat surface. Hey, don't laugh. Ever try to locate a marble at night when your kid is 18 years old??? Not so easy.

I placed the snare on a relatively flat and true surface and did a marble test. I placed the marble in several spots on the drumhead and noted the path of travel. I specifically paid attention to see how it behaved in the center of the head.

Each and every time it was let loose, it rolled unerringly towards the snare bed center. It never wavered from this path. At no time did it behave erratically in the center of the head. It rolled smooth. I even rotated the snare on the flat surface just in case it was not as flat as I assumed. The results were consistent.

Conclusion:

I'm stumped.

Well...case solved.

I got reeeeeeeealy frustrated and sat and stared this thing down. Jim's words kept playing in my mind. I hadn't done anything with the shell. So, I popped the heads off and ground out a new snare bed. I measured it out and dremmeled a nice smooth reasonably sized bed. Cleaned up the snare and popped the heads and the Starclassic snare back on. Presto Zingo! We got a nice, round, warm, and CRISP snare. Oh man...it plays really nice, now. Hard to believe that this thing has been this 'off' for this long and no one noticed it. I played it for one day and it drove me insane. Well, there you go. Proof positive that drum sound is very subjective.

Now, I can go to bed and dream my little dreamies.

Thanks for talking me through this, guys. I sincerely appreciate it.