On drums...

The little lady and I took a trip to visit her sister in the Capital this weekend and had a fabulous time!

On Saturday afternoon we found a "hole-in-the-wall" in the Adams Morgan area that featured a great jazz quintet.

I didn't get a chance to speak with the drummer unfortunately but I did get a good amount of time staring at and listening to his Gretsch USA Custom kit... Boy oh boy, did it sound and look phenomenal!

I know Greg just scooped up Sully's kit and Goki has a Gretsch set as well...do any other members have Gretsch kits? If so, let me hear what you think about them!

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Justin

Designer Maple Light (Bubinga) 8,10,12,14,16, 22 kick
Force Custom (Bee-Bop Jazz) 12,14, 18 kick
Remo Roto Tom (Chrome) 14, 16
Snare HLD 588 Signature

Tim has a set, and Jeff (hasn't been here in a while) had a kit in larger sizes.

I've only been horsing around with mine for a few days, but what do you want to know? Other than that they do sound great! ?

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Gregory

Mine are from '61, bought new from my high school guitarists dad. I got them from him after pestering him for 4 years to sell them to me. I had no idea that it was one of the rarer finishes, but I just new these particular ones sounded better than any other Gretsch kit I had heard. It also came with a couple of turkish K's which broke a few years later. They sounded shitty though so I didn't feel too bad. Just making all the other ones more rare.

They sound great. the toms are are 13 rack and 14 floor, which was how Jacks ordered them for bop guys, so they could crank the 13 up and it still had a lot of body and then have the 14 on the floor. Its a pretty cool sound. The original set had a 20 and I found a matching 22 a few years ago.(I just missed a matching 16, it went for 900 bucks, yikes) The 20 is great for small gigs and the 22 kills in the studio and for bigger rock gigs. I used to gig them pretty constantly around town. They record really well and are nice and thumpy. They are a completely different breed of drum than a Sonor kit. They don't have the full tone and deep sonic punch of a designer, just their own thing. Mine are also really old so I doubt they sound like the newer US maples(they changed the shell anyway so they wouldn't).

My advice is try to get an orphan set together or buy one that is a little beat on, but get one with Jasper shells(they used them till 2007 or so when Jasper went belly up)
Sometimes you can get a round badge rewrap that the collectors wont touch for short money, those are worth hunting for.
Let me know if you have any more questions, happy to help.

Hey Tim,

I don't know if the same is true for you, but or the most part, I play cymbals these days that I would have scoffed at forty years ago. Woudn't you like a second chance to hear them today to see if you still feel the same?

...of course, if you still had them, they would not be as rare as if you didn't.

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Cliff

River City Trio

What if we did all have the same opinions?

Yeah cliff those K's had nothing on my red Paiste Colorsounds. Those were some awesome Rock cymbals.
I maintain that these particular K's did sound pretty bad, but I do agree with you about the change in my sonic pallette as I have gotten older.

You mean... I have to find something else... that's better? Does this ever end? But I was happy with mine until now.

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Gregory

I have the overseas Gretsch model - the Catalina...

I toyed with the idea of swapping those for the new SONOR bop kit (1007 series I think), but the floor tom on the Gretsch sounds way better than the SONOR 1007, and the bass drum is 14' deep, instead of the 16" SONOR...
Plus (I don't know why), the Catalina has a vertical grain inside...
And last - the store that sells (Taiwan) Gretsch sets here brought a Catalina Club set (yellow sparkle which doesn't look good), and my resale is down the toilet... But, I must admit that I've inspected the latest Catalina series and they're cheaper made (badges, shell, hardware)...

The Catalina Club are great - but I'm sure they develop hardware failures - a part of one of the bass drum legs came out, and I'm extra careful when it comes to handling drums. It went out because of the vibration (and because it was not welded to the leg - just assembled)...

The USA made Gretsch sets - well those I'm sure sound nothing like mine, and are worth every cent...

Tim's advice is great - a re-wrapped Jasper shelled round badge Gretsch will serve You great for years to come...

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Goki - short from Goran

Let the good drums roll!!!

I was just interested in overall opinions.

How are the shells (veneer, construction)? Typical kit pricing? Hardware design (i.e. I've heard complaints about Sonor's ball joint-style tom arms before)?

Thanks, guys!!!

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Justin

Designer Maple Light (Bubinga) 8,10,12,14,16, 22 kick
Force Custom (Bee-Bop Jazz) 12,14, 18 kick
Remo Roto Tom (Chrome) 14, 16
Snare HLD 588 Signature

I don't think there's much wrong with Sonor's ball joints, per se. Rather, you'll hear complaints about them from folks who are used to the Link era fittings, that while admittedly less flexible, once you've got them set up and locked in, stay forever. None of us are entirely sure what we gained, if you'll permit me, by getting balls. Gretsch uses a ball as well, but I don't like the looks of the Rims mounting, so, as you can see, the rack is mounted on a snare stand.

Where Designer hardware is over the top, both in size and in concept, Gretsch hardware is kind of odd; it doesn't really make sense to look at, though it seems to work well enough.

Pricing new? I guess sort of similar. Used, Cliff just bought two more drums than I did for roughly equivalent money, and got two more inches in his bass drum to boot. You can do way better than that along the lines that Tim suggests, but an round badge Gretsch bop kit will kill you in any shape or form.

I know nothing about construction of shells. That all comes out in the sound, and you've heard both, so there you are. Both are professional equipment.

Sonor used to be a family owned business. Now it is basically a money pump. Gretsch still seems to function with a sense of family identity. I don't think you can go wrong with a US built Gretsch.

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Gregory