Gretsch Catalina Club snare buzz problem solved

[Dan Roscher]

About a year ago I got a terrific deal on a Gretsch Catalina Club Jazz kit. The only problem was, the snare buzzed badly no matter how I tuned it.

I finally discovered that the Catalina Club snare has NO SNARE BED! None whatsoever. And by the way, the easiest way to determine what kind of snare bed your drum has (or if it even has one) is to take off the heads, lay the snare flat on a table bottom-side down, turn off the room lights and shine a flashlight into it. The light will come out through the snare beds.

Anyway, I very carefully hand-sanded a snare bed into the drum, about 1/16" deep and maybe 4" wide on each side, tapering off on each end. The problem was not only solved, but this snare doesn't buzz now even with the wires loose.

I imagine anyone with a Catalina Club snare drum has this same problem, which is why I'm posting this.

[Bart Elliott]

Thanks for sharing, Dan.

A snare drum doesn't HAVE to have a snare bed, technically, but most wooden shell drums have one, even if very slight.

Great to hear that you found a solution that solved the problem you were having.

FYI ... if you still have issues dialing in the snare buzz issue, slightly detuning the tension rods on both sides of the snare bed might help. This means you are loosening four tension rods on the snare side (resonant) head; leave the batter side as you have it.

And for anyone else that might be reading this ... snare wires play a big role in snare buzz issues. The quality of the wires, how they lay on the drumhead, the position of the wires in relation to the drumhead, the number of wires, whether the snare wires extend beyond the diameter of the drum, etc. Also the tuning relationship between the snare and batter heads can also be an issue.

I think the higher the quality and workmanship of the drum, the less some of these issues will arise.