Super nice Gretsch orphan bop kit with Jasper shells; 8x12, 14x14, 14x18, for a mere $1300. Re-wrapped in Precision's Black Gloss, which is a dead ringer for Gretsch Black Nitron (possibly from the same distributor?). Jack Lawton did the toms in spring of last year, and Willie Martinez at Maxwell's wrapped the bass drum in the summer.
I'm setting the price low because what I really want is for someone to come to my place in NYC and pick it up - I'd really prefer not to ship. I live close to Union Square in Manhattan.
Here are all the details - stop now if you're easily bored and skip right to the pictures:
14x14, Square Badge, circa 1980
I'm dating this drum fairly confidently from the first year that the square badge appeared because the techware GS9020 floor tom mounts are original, but it has an orange and white paper tag inside - Gretsch went over to the grey paper tag pretty early in the techware era. Edges are original: 30 degrees with a slightly rounded back-cut at the last two plies. I'm not sure what the original finish was, because the drum came to me as a bad, bubbled re-wrap. I played it that way for a long time, but when I finally got it stripped, it looked like someone had done a botched stain job and decided to wrap it to cover that. I had Jack Lawton fill in the holes for the tone controls when he wrapped it; there were no extra holes apart from those. Chrome looks pretty good all around except for the bottom die-cast hoop, which is just a little rough. The legs are modern Gretsch replacements - I believe that the originals from the era were actually hollow. Coated Ambassadors top and bottom.
8x12, Drop G Badge, circa 1981
If the Gretsch web site is to be believed, the Drop G badge was only around for one year: 1981. This drum had the original Black Nitron wrap when I got it, but it had already been drilled for two separate tom mounts, neither of which I wanted. The edges are original and identical to the floor tom and the serial numbers are pretty close, which provides further evidence that they were made around the same time. The extra holes for the various tom mounts were corked, and so were the holes for the tone controls. I had a Yamaha mount installed, which for a long time here in NYC was the official unofficial Gretsch tom mounting system. Coated Ambassadors top and bottom.
14x18, Square Badge, 2001
This is a shell I got from the famous Himonwry on eBay, who has a pipeline to older Gretsch factory-second shells. It was originally Ebony Satin (the GSEB on the paper tag) but it wasn't a 90's Broadkaster shell - the badge isn't pewter, and it doesn't have the GB prefix on the paper tag. The reason I know it's from 2001 is that it says "excessive de-lamb, 12/19/01" in pencil on the inside of the shell. But don't get nervous, the excessive delamb turns out to be a small spot on the edge that was re-glued. 17 years later the repair is still sound but there's a little glue splooge inside the drum (see pics) so Gretsch couldn't sell it as new.
I used all the original drillings. Gretsch used gullwing spurs for a minute on gunmetal Broadcasters and also on some mainline kits. They originally used GS9020 brackets to hold the spurs, but I used newer GS9025's instead, which fit the same holes. Real period-correct Gretsch spurs are impossible to find (I tried) but as it turns out, DW is using a nearly identical set on their "Frequent Flier" kit, and Maxwell was able to order them for me.
It's not common knowledge, but the Yamaha tom bracket fits right into the holes for a Gretsch tom bracket. I had to bore out one of the holes just a little, but it was only because Gretsch had drilled it a little cockeyed, something Gretsch is famous for. I got the lugs as a set and the condition is nice. The claws are a mixed bag - I put the rougher ones on the bottom. The maple hoops are from Drum Supply House. Coated Ambassadors front and back with felt strip on batter side.
The pictures below along with a whole bunch more can be found at this link:
PM me here or e-mail for a quicker response. Thanks for looking!
Paul
[email]pcorio@nyc.rr.com[/email]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/3cZqrXB.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/7Cy0DFP.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/m1t9yeC.jpg[/img]
And here's a pic of the factory repair:
[img]https://i.imgur.com/gKMjWCS.jpg[/img]