Sonor Help

[Eric Osler]

I am sorry if this is in the wrong place. I did a few searches and came up empty handed. I purchased a Sonor HLD588 a few weeks ago while in Daytona. By the way, if anyone finds themselves in the Daytona area, Daytona Beach Drum Center is worth a stop and hang. Dan is great people. I am trying to understand what specifically separates a Horst Link HLD588 and a signature HLD588. My snare has a regular Phonic style badge and no batter side muffle...from what I can tell that's the extent of the differences.

I bought it as a project. It's missing all of the parallel strainer bits and the bottom hoop. For now, I'm going to try and fit a universal setup on there and hope one day I can find the original stuff. If not, its still gonna be a screamin snare build, and I'm excited to get it going again. Thanks Dan...if you catch this. See ya in April!

 

[spelman]

Well, the "Horst Link series" is the Signature series. Your drum is a Phonic.

The badge on a Horst Link Signature HLD 588:

 

[jkuhl]

I am sorry if this is in the wrong place. I did a few searches and came up empty handed. I purchased a Sonor HLD588 a few weeks ago while in Daytona. By the way, if anyone finds themselves in the Daytona area, Daytona Beach Drum Center is worth a stop and hang. Dan is great people. I am trying to understand what specifically separates a Horst Link HLD588 and a signature HLD588. My snare has a regular Phonic style badge and no batter side muffle...from what I can tell that's the extent of the differences.

I bought it as a project. It's missing all of the parallel strainer bits and the bottom hoop. For now, I'm going to try and fit a universal setup on there and hope one day I can find the original stuff. If not, its still gonna be a screamin snare build, and I'm excited to get it going again. Thanks Dan...if you catch this. See ya in April!

Dan is the best. I followed him from Dale's and he's still the man when I need something new. Incredibly helpful, fair and knowledgeable.

 

[spelman]

I found some more info on this german forum:

Hilfe ...... Fragen zu einer Sonorsnare !!!! - Drummerforum

Mahlzeit ...... ich brauch mal eure Hilfe !!! Hab´ne neue Sonorsnare erstanden, aber bin mir nicht sicher, was es für ein Modell ist . Sieht eigentlich aus wie die HLD 588, hat aber geflanschte Rims ( keine Die-Cast ) und ´nen Phonic-Badge !!! Wurde da…

www.drummerforum.de

Basically it says that individual Signature shells were equipped with Phonic badges and other hoops if the shell had a small optical flaw somewhere and therefore no longer met the Signature quality criteria 100%

 

[Frank Godiva]

I found some more info on this german forum:

Hilfe ...... Fragen zu einer Sonorsnare !!!! - Drummerforum

Mahlzeit ...... ich brauch mal eure Hilfe !!! Hab´ne neue Sonorsnare erstanden, aber bin mir nicht sicher, was es für ein Modell ist . Sieht eigentlich aus wie die HLD 588, hat aber geflanschte Rims ( keine Die-Cast ) und ´nen Phonic-Badge !!! Wurde da…

www.drummerforum.de

Basically it says that individual Signature shells were equipped with Phonic badges and other hoops if the shell had a small optical flaw somewhere and therefore no longer met the Signature quality criteria 100%

Bingo. Was gonna ask for more pics to be sure, but was also leaning toward B Stock myself. Don’t see many of these outside the EU. Still gonna sound fantastic when your done.

 

[Eric Osler]

Well, the "Horst Link series" is the Signature series. Your drum is a Phonic.

Ok...thats spot on. I assumed the same, but I had not found a website that specifies the difference. I was confused because to my knowledge they have the same model number, just different badges. I had been scratching my head about this for a while.

 

[Eric Osler]

Dan is the best. I followed him from Dale's and he's still the man when I need something new. Incredibly helpful, fair and knowledgeable.

He really is. OT story....I had wanted to go to his shop for a few years. I found out about it on FB because a local event he was pushing had some fliers up. I travel WAY too much and look for neat little shops to check out. I had been by several times but never made it in. When I did, I had to get a student level snare for a friend up close to home so she could start lessons, and Dan let me spy this thing sitting in a bucket of parts. It had haunted my dreams every since. Last time I was heading down, I called him when I was around Nashville and told him I would be needing that shell now. He was like, no way dude....I was just over there the other day moving stuff and thought about how much you were eyeballing this shell and how much I thought you were the one it should go home with. I will not miss out on catching up with Dan any time I am down around Daytona for sure.

 

[Eric Osler]

I found some more info on this german forum:

Hilfe ...... Fragen zu einer Sonorsnare !!!! - Drummerforum

Mahlzeit ...... ich brauch mal eure Hilfe !!! Hab´ne neue Sonorsnare erstanden, aber bin mir nicht sicher, was es für ein Modell ist . Sieht eigentlich aus wie die HLD 588, hat aber geflanschte Rims ( keine Die-Cast ) und ´nen Phonic-Badge !!! Wurde da…

www.drummerforum.de

Basically it says that individual Signature shells were equipped with Phonic badges and other hoops if the shell had a small optical flaw somewhere and therefore no longer met the Signature quality criteria 100%

Bingo. Was gonna ask for more pics to be sure, but was also leaning toward B Stock myself. Don’t see many of these outside the EU. Still gonna sound fantastic when your done.

I had seen a few other similar snares online with the Phonic badge, and yes they were overseas on websites I could not read. Thank you both so very much for your help. I can tell you both now, there are some blemishes in the surface that would 100% fit the B stock profile, and this makes 100% sense why I see the same HLD588 as a signature and as a Phonic. Very confusing if you don't know the B stock link in there. Thanks so much for the info.

I actually was able to find the cast hoop for the batter side in fairly decent shape. I will try to slowly piece it together with all the original bits...but it should be up and running in a week or so.

 

[jkuhl]

He really is. OT story....I had wanted to go to his shop for a few years. I found out about it on FB because a local event he was pushing had some fliers up. I travel WAY too much and look for neat little shops to check out. I had been by several times but never made it in. When I did, I had to get a student level snare for a friend up close to home so she could start lessons, and Dan let me spy this thing sitting in a bucket of parts. It had haunted my dreams every since. Last time I was heading down, I called him when I was around Nashville and told him I would be needing that shell now. He was like, no way dude....I was just over there the other day moving stuff and thought about how much you were eyeballing this shell and how much I thought you were the one it should go home with. I will not miss out on catching up with Dan any time I am down around Daytona for sure.

Sounds like the Dan I know! When he was at Dales and I was choosing between several kit options, he invited me to come to the shop after closing, have a few beers and get deep into the various kits they had at the shop. Thats only one example of the extra service Dan offers. He gets my business whenever possible.

 

[Eric Osler]

I found some more info on this german forum:

Hilfe ...... Fragen zu einer Sonorsnare !!!! - Drummerforum

Mahlzeit ...... ich brauch mal eure Hilfe !!! Hab´ne neue Sonorsnare erstanden, aber bin mir nicht sicher, was es für ein Modell ist . Sieht eigentlich aus wie die HLD 588, hat aber geflanschte Rims ( keine Die-Cast ) und ´nen Phonic-Badge !!! Wurde da…

www.drummerforum.de

Basically it says that individual Signature shells were equipped with Phonic badges and other hoops if the shell had a small optical flaw somewhere and therefore no longer met the Signature quality criteria 100%

Wow! So, I am google translating a lot of posts from this thread. This is a WAY cool read. Its given me another thing to do while working on it. Polish a lug or two, translate a few posts.

 

[Tarkus]

I had seen a few other similar snares online with the Phonic badge, and yes they were overseas on websites I could not read. Thank you both so very much for your help. I can tell you both now, there are some blemishes in the surface that would 100% fit the B stock profile, and this makes 100% sense why I see the same HLD588 as a signature and as a Phonic. Very confusing if you don't know the B stock link in there. Thanks so much for the info.

I actually was able to find the cast hoop for the batter side in fairly decent shape. I will try to slowly piece it together with all the original bits...but it should be up and running in a week or so.

This not completely correct. The Phonic was called 'D528', not 'HLD588'.

At least this is what I read in the follwing (German) discussion, including an 'official mail' from Sonor (in their post #38):

https://www.drummerforum.de/forum/thread/22803-materialfrage-ferromangan/?postID=472719#post472719

Antwortmail von Sonor auf meine Anfrage bzgl. D528 vom 10.10.2007



Es ist korrekt, dass es auch eine Snare mit der Bezeichnung D 528 gab und zwar gibt es dafür folgende Erklärung.
Wie Sie wissen wurde unsere Signature Serie als hochwertige Serie verkauft und die Instrumente daher genauestens kontrolliert und es
durfte auch nicht der kleinste Mängel auftreten. Da es aber immer einige Instrumente gibt, die dieser 100%igen Kontrolle nicht entsprechen, wurde diese gesammelt und als D 528 angeboten und verkauft.

Deepl Translation:

Answer mail from Sonor to my inquiry concerning D528 from 10.10.2007


It is correct that there was also a snare with the designation D 528 and there is the following explanation for this.
As you know, our Signature Series was sold as a high quality series and therefore the instruments were checked very carefully and there could not be
not even the smallest defect was allowed to appear. But since there are always some instruments that do not meet this 100% control, this was collected and offered and sold as D 528.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

And if you like to read/translate some German stuff, here is an 'bonedo' article about metal snares including the D528
https://www.bonedo.de/artikel/vintage-sonor-metallsnares/

It's basically the same which was already said here, but includes pics and sound files.

Anyway, I bet yours will sound fantastic.

 

[Eric Osler]

This not completely correct. The Phonic was called 'D528'.

I actually saw that as well while polishing and Google translating last night. I did find a newer German thread on that same forum that mentions the D528 and a few other snares. I am about half way done with the lugs...so probably a lot more thread hunting and polishing to go. Full disclosure, I was texting Dan last night while I was Google translating that German drum forum thread and polishing the hardware telling him about all the stuff I am finding thanks to all of you. He and I were cracking up...like what kinda nerd am I getting super stoked about all of this?!?

However....all of this explanation makes significantly more sense to me now. The signature was the HLD588, and the Phonic was D528. Same shell, same lugs, from what I have read and gathered the Phonic seems to have been sold with steel hoops rather than die cast, same strainer, and often without the internal damper. It makes sense from a manufacturing standpoint to have a signature model that is the best of the best with absolutely no flaws, no blemishes, no inclusions....and also to have a model that you can sell drums that may slightly fall short of that lofty mark.

The nice part is I agree with all of you, once I am done its gonna sound great. I have a D506 that I recently acquired and let my friend use at his gig the other night. That snare sounded amazing. I am excited to get this D528 up and running. Thank you all so much for your help and diving into the rabbit hole with me!

 

[Frank Godiva]

There is yet another version of this drums that’s more commonly found. The Phonic D508x is the straight 588 seamless spun shell shell with a Type2 throw off and long lugs.

 

[Dan K]

I HIGHLY agree with the positive comments about Dan at the Daytona Beach Drum Center! When I moved to Fl I bought a DW Collectors's kit from him and later on got a 7x14 Noble & Cooley maple snare. As much as I loved my Sonor kit I used to have (STOLEN!) I just love my current kit!

Mine was like this, but with many more drums!

My current kit - without the snare. Pic was taken at Dan's shop.

 

[Frank Godiva]

I HIGHLY agree with the positive comments about Dan at the Daytona Beach Drum Center! When I moved to Fl I bought a DW Collectors's kit from him and later on got a 7x14 Noble & Cooley maple snare. As much as I loved my Sonor kit I used to have (STOLEN!) I just love my current kit!

Mine was like this, but with many more drums!
View attachment 606930

My current kit - without the snare. Pic was taken at Dan's shop.
View attachment 606931

Very nice!

I been posting the EC Teardrop kit pics on the FB page and guys were all commenting on the lack of bottom heads.

Good to see she got around to getting them on