If that was my kit I would clean it up good and put a few coats of wax on the shells. It'll look cool with all the "character flaws". It'll sound & look great and you can brag about the fact that the cool old set only cost $85.

Just get some cheep black spray paint and give it about 20 coats, inside and out.

Did someone hack your account, Jeff! ;) He's kidding, I hope.

$85 for that kit is beyond awesome. Even with the Pearl style mount system.

Here is a link to my twin to your kit.

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=28406

I went the wrap route, even blue glass glitter (which is way thicker than sparkle). Some of the heads do fit a little tight, but I cut back just the overlap section closest to the bearing edges. Evans 360 heads do fit a little better than the Remo Ambassadors I had installed. I used the tape method to attach the wrap, instead of the glue method. I did this to leave open the option of refinishing the shells back to a natural/stained finish in the furture. The wrap is actually protecting the shells.

Do your shells still have the Gretsch labels on the inside? If so and if you don't mind, please post the tag model numbers and serial numbers. There's a member that is tracking badges to serial numbers for research/documentation purposes.

-Tim

"Robbie,

The link in your post doesn't show, but is love to see the kit. Also, can anyone identify which series of drums these are? I can't find an exact match in any catalogue"

If my memory serves me right, in those days, there were no choices other than sizes and finishes - just a single series!

All I ever wanted was a Gretsch kit from Mannys, (just like those played by Art Blakey, Max Roach, Mel Lewis and many of my heroes) and that's what I bought when I finally made it across the Atlantic. Don't remember cheap > decent > top of the range options - just Gretsch .... Over the years I also acquired a couple of Ludwig Super Classic kits, and again, if they offered 'budget' ranges, I wasn't aware of them...

:-)

I'll try the link in quotes, to see if that works .... (May need to copy & paste)

" https://picasaweb.google.com/116410754577390367293/RobbieSKitRestorationProject"]Picasa Web Albums - Robbie Murray - Robbie's Kit:... "

Wow Thornbeck! That really is the sister set!

These tubs don't have any labels inside, but they do have serials carved in the inside of the shells. I can check on those later. Not sure what I'm going to do regarding finish yet....

I'm not to worried about restoring them to their original colour and whatnot, as I don't really collect much drums and have just always wanted a vintage gretsch kit. These will be well used and gigged with trust me.

If I do wrap them its either going to be a green sparkle or a white pearl or something like that. My yammies are natural brown so I don't want like 10 shells lieing around the house all the same colour haha.

The mounting hardware is a bit of a pain...Am i correct in saying that you can only remove it by taking off a head? That seemed to be the only way I was able to take it out...So much for keeping these in cases!

Also...I noticed in the floor tom that the inside layer of wood is starting to come on done towards one one of the lugs...how hard is this to repair? Is it just better to leave as is? The lug seems to be holding it in place along with the glue.

Thanks for all of your input!

Take the memory lock off the tom arm on the inside of the tom, it's not supposed to be there. You can then remove the tom from the arm easily.

One thing to consider when wrapping these and as others have pointed out is the wrap thickness. The pearl wraps are a lot thinner than the thicker sparkles - might be wiser to go with one of those.

I’m with John and a couple of others,...

Leave them like they are or bring them down to the bare wood, stain and lacquer them.

I did my first restoration on a wooden kit earlier this year and with the little experience I have on woodworking, the result was fine.

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=42506&highlight=camco

Of course I am kidding!

Look at Stedi's kit, that says it all.

I have a friend here in LA that loves and has a ton of Gretsch sets,orphans and parts... He is a Gretsch geek! Well he has found a lot of bastardized bass drums like yours. Most with Pearl or Tama huge tome holders...Sad! But for $85.00? You wont pay not even one tom with that...Well, Getting back to my friend: What he does when he finds a bastardized bass drum he removes the badge and instal it on the bottom of the shell, them he removes the spurs mounts and does the same and so on...In other words he "flips over" the whole drum in terms of the position of the original drilled holes and you end up with a drum that looks pretty much flawless from a certain distance. The only holes that show are the ones for the spurs but those are smaller on diameter and a good rewrap or lacquering job should leave them pretty neat. Maybe that's another approach for you to consider if you want to get rid of those ugly Pearl mounts...Hope I was able to explain myself...If not let me know and Ill try again!

No that definitely makes sense. Not sure if it's the route I would take but definite a neat idea. What other approaches have people taken to changing tom mounts? I assume you have to fill those old holes somehow? If you're wrapping can you just wrap over the old holes?

Also, as mentioned earlier, the inside layer of the 16x16 is starting to split a bit. Is this an easy glue and forget job or will it need more major work to avoid further deterioration?