My Premier Snare

My old church had a Premier snare that I have wanted for years, the snare is in mint condition, except for the snare wires. It is a 1988 Premier Projector Series, birch wood snare. This is one very well made snare, I now own this snare. It is 10 lugs, with highly polished die cast hoops. It has a smooth projection lacquer paint inside, to make it bright in it's projection, but, not to bright, you can make it even warmer by sanding off this paint. It is solid built with reinforcement rings on the inside top and bottom. The drum is a 14 X 6, but the snare wires are 16 and 3 quarters in length, The way that you can adjust this mechanism to lay on the resonant head, with light to heavy pressure is just pure genius. And it sounds fantastic, I have a Evans vented ST dry without the damper ring on top, and a Evans Hazy 300 on the resonant. This snare is so well made, that I will always want to keep it. And has become my main snare. Parts for older Premier drums in the U.S. are hard to find sometimes, I am looking for the snare wires, because some are bent and 2 are missing, but the drum still sounds good. I am in touch with a guy in California who is helping me to locate this part. I am just elated over this drum. And I think it is because of the craftsmanship and the sound. So here are 5 pictures, of the new woman in my life.
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"This snare is so well made, that I will always want to keep it."
Spanky said

Oh my gosh me lad!... That is a 'fine' looking specimen of a woma_- I mean snare. No divorces in the vocabulary here huh Spanky

rac

I've got a Omar Hakim signature snare that I also love as well but is in no comparison to my woman.
Though it is a great sounding snare, I'm looking for a batter head that is durable and dampen some of the volume down without having to kill it so much. Would you have a suggestion Spanky?

Forgot to add that I particularly like the rims. They are flattend going completely around the shell not like the normal rims where they're raised only at the point of the drum keys then pans out. That probably has substantial logic in terms of acoustical projection and probably more so in tuneing stability...Would you think? That may have been an earlier approach to pre-die-cast hoops. I love looking and processing things like this Question is; why would Premier stop manufacturing equipment like this if it was so successfull in that era?

A very interesting piece of equipment ahead of it's time Spankey. Is there a way you could record the sound and send here, on this site for all to appreciate?


I'm talkative cause I'm just now having lunch in my office today.

rac

Well Rac here is what went down over in England in 1987.


Acquisition of Premier

In 1987, Yamaha acquired the Premier Percussion factory in England in an attempt to establish the Yamaha name in the tougher European market. Yamaha placed machinery and trained the Premier craftsmen in the "Yamaha-way" of making drums, resulting in Premier producing a large number of Yamaha drums "made in England". In 1992, Yamaha withdrew and sold their stock shares back to Premier. And Rac, I might try e-rings on mine, for the ring.

Forgot to add that I particularly like the rims. They are flattend going completely around the shell not like the normal rims where they're raised only at the point of the drum keys then pans out. That probably has substantial logic in terms of acoustical projection and probably more so in tuneing stability
Spanky said

I was refering to your Premier snare, regarding it's rims.

And yeah, e-rings ...what company makes them?

Thanks Spanky for that informative history. I did not know that about Yamaha/Premier's business transition(s).

Aloha,

rac

Remo makes their own damper rings as well as Evans, moon gel works good, also or you can cut a ring out of a old skin, about a inch in width, and place it on the snare. Gaffers tap works well, it works better than duct tape because it absorbs more. You also have to tune all the lugs even by tapping a inch and a half away from each lug making sure that you have the same pitch, use a pencil with the eraser end for this, it works the best, and you can here the tones and pitch better. And use 2 tuning keys, at the same time, it works the best doing it that way. Or get the Bob Gatzen drum tuning, sound and design video,it is 95 minutes, and believe me, when you finish with this video, you will know mostly everything there is to know about drum tuning, tones, woods and all the little things you name it, Bob lays it out. on down to how the construction of different snares, toms and so on, affect the tone and pitch, this is a must have video. He also has a simplified version, which I do not have. But you can find them both here. This video will make you a expert.
http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=Bob+Gatzen+drum+tuning+and+sound&btnG=Google+Search


Quote
Forgot to add that I particularly like the rims. They are flattend going completely around the shell not like the normal rims where they're raised only at the point of the drum keys then pans out. That probably has substantial logic in terms of acoustical projection and probably more so in tuneing stability
Spanky said
I know you were, yes those rims are the best rims that I have ever had, and they are solid, they weigh the most on the drum. And if you look inside the drum, you will see that it has one bolt in the lugs, This helps the rims and the heads to conform to the drum better, making for better even tensioning all the way around. Because the lugs can move some for any variations. And the rim shots, which I do a lot of is absolutely fantastic. But Rac we need a little ring, because if you don't, the snare will not cut through the other instruments as good. Sitting over the snare you hear the ring, the most, on the other side 5 feet away the rest of the band playing nobody hears it. As long as it is not to ringy, I must admit though, that I am a fan of the muffled snare drum. I like warm darker sounding snares with a lot of pop or crack, but I like it bright enough for it to be articulate, hearing every ghost note. So it is a fine tuning thing. It takes years to learn how to tune drums the right way, it is a trial and error thing. Sometimes I will still ask people how they tune their drums, so that I can gain all the knowledge that I can, I asked Don that not to long ago, and he said he likes to tune his batter and resonant heads tight. I am the same way, but what I am learning now is that you have to tune the drum according to that drums personality, that even goes for which heads to use, on a particular drum. Sometimes your drums might sound ok to you because you are sitting over top of them, but out front they sound like crap. There are a lot of little things to learn, like if you have a deep snare, have wider snare wire, because the deeper the snare, it takes longer for the resonant head to react because of the distance thereby losing some of the pressure in the process, thereby making the not so wide snare wires less effective. Just little things like that can become big things. That floating bar going through my snare gives it a distinct sound also, what I like about this bar is that it still lets the shell resonate or ring, and that is important. I know one thing, I have really become tired of metal snare drums, I will always keep one, I have 2 left, but I am tired of them, the Sonor snare I have sounds good though, and the 3rd snare the TAMA, I traded to the church for the Premier.
And go here to read and see how different woods affect your drums http://mikedrums.com/tuning/shell.html

I asked Don that not to long ago, and he said he likes to tune his batter and resonant heads tight. I am the same way,
Spanky said

Interesting; Recently I was invited to jam a whole set for a drummer-friend who tunes his kit very tight and high. Personally, i did't like it that much because I think it caused the snare to respond to quickly. In other words, the rebound of the sticks was returning to quick so quick that it made it difficult to exicute fast and even single strokes - simillar to what you would hear Tony Williams do alot. So I had to play like a rock drummer only playing simple single notes. I also found that feel going around the set (from high toms to floor tom). There may be some here thinking that I can't play or you heard the old drummer's phrase; get an operation on my hands. Believe me, it's nothing like that.

Anyway, thank you Spanky for the valuable information on drum tuneing. It sounds like you gain quite a bit from it. I may get it too.

rac

Yeah Rac it is a preference thing, I like my snare tight, I do a lot of double stroke rolls, even press rolling at times, so I need rebound. But some people get use to not having their snare tight and do just as good as somebody on a tight snare. So it is a personal thing.

I've been checking into YouTube on the Onyx drum heads by Evans and I get the impression that it's dealing with the durability issue. It consist of being double-ply with a durable thin black colored front surface - which makes it visually appealing.

But what really held my attention was the sound projection noted on their bass drum heads. The batter head comes as a Kit consisting of a foam circular dampener that simply installs on the outer-edge circumference of the head + a plastic piece that is optional to install at the bass of the batter which controls the 'amount' of vibrational-resonance as the head is attack and + that little white adhesive stick-on that goes center where the beater meets the head (attack) . This round stick-on adds definition as the beater strikes the head. When these additional items are properly attached, the overall sound of the bass drum has a very deep, wide yet define presence which is something I'm looking for.

Bob Gatzen believes that Evans really has the science of drum acoustics down as they confront their durability issues and not having to sacrifice their high sounding quality which they are known for. I think that as Evans continues to pursue this route , they will pioneer themselves evolving into a household name of drum heads as is their long and respected competitor, Remo. So based on that venture of Evans, I see it as a worth while investment.

The Onyx series also is made for the other drums as well but without the added items mentioned for the bass drum. If you've not heard of these you can see them on YouTube. My apology for not having the link posted like you would often kindly do.

rac