I purchased a white marine pearl round-badge Gretsch kit about 10 years ago and I've recently decided to get serious about my drumset playing. Problem is, I've been out-of-state at school for the last 5 years and the kit has been sitting in my bedroom...Now that I know what it should sound like, I'm realizing it sounds terrible. I found this out when I decided to change the heads. I had pinstripes on, but I was changing to G1's. I'm having a hard time getting the heads on and off the shells and the drums sound thumpy and dead. Is this a common problem for Gretsch, and is there something I can do about it?
If there's no fix I may just sell the kit to a collector. I have all the original hardware, my kit looks like it had a 12" added to it, but it still has the original cymbal mount. My snare has the micro-sensitive throw and is an 8-lug model. Problem with the snare is the throw arm is broken off. Research has shown me that this is pretty typical since there are so many places you can find replicas.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated!
AJ