Lovely piece.

I must defer to our own Mr. Curotto for the details.

Honestly, it's the first one I've seen...

Cool1

Yeah, I've been collecting since the 80's and have never even heard of this model!

Any and all info greatly appreciated...

Cheers!

I have looked at this drum a few times. You figure with the tube lugs and the strainer (which looks replaced) that it is late 20's or 30's as stated

There is an extra hole on the shell.

That 2 point strainer looks early 30's to me and very much like the Leedy Presto

So, it should have had a 3-point strainer or there is an extra hole.

Unfortunately I do not have any Gretsch stuff that early.

David

I was reading Aldridge's "Guide to Vintage Drums" and it mentions that in the late 20's Gretsch was still largely a distributer to other drum companies.

Would it be possible that the shell was engraved by Gretsch as "Gretsch American" who then distributed it to another company who put their hardware on it and called it something else...?? So maybe there wasn't a drum called a Gretsch American?

I have never had the pleasure of even touching a Gretsch drum... I'm just tossing that idea out from doing this little bit of reading.

Yes, that is correct. You here a lot today about custom drum builders using other manufacturers parts and not really being "Custom Builders".

All of the early builders were doing this exact thing.

Read this section about early Rogers, they were using different parts to build drums in the 30's

David

Yeah, there is a mark on the shell below the third hole that seems to indicate a 3-point strainer at one point. I wish I knew when it was replaced, and why. I'd guess a long time ago - this drum is in really nice shape, and doesn't look like it saw much use over the past several decades. The snare side calfskin head is pristine!

Thank you everyone for your comments. I wish I could find a Gretsch catalogue from the 20's to see what they were up to way back in the day...

I had an 6 i/2 X 14 "Gretsch American" snare. The badge was small and rectangular...

There are few of those around...I've seen them in metal and wood. They often had Slingerland or Liberty 3 pt. throw offs. There was a sea green pearl one that floated around a couple of drum shows and was traded by a couple of collectors. The throw off on your drum is a Premier copy of the the Leedy throw off. You see these on some early Gretsch "rocket lug" drums, and real similar looking early Rogers drums. There's a great article on those Rogers somewhere on this site.

I'd guess the drum would get between $175 and $300 on ebay. Cool drum...