It's been about 8 months now since my idea of putting together an orphan 3ply Gretsch kit started.
It began with the eBay purchase of an original 9x13 3ply Cadillac Green Gretsch tom complete with all the gold hardware. I was happy to just have that drum at that time. Then I thought it would be nice to have the rest of the kit.....ya right haha. I looked at a 6.5x14 Cadi Green snare at Steve Maxwell's site.....way too many $1,000's of dollars for me. I made an offer but was about 3.5K out.
I decided to put together an orphan kit.
I already had the 9x13 and I had a 3ply 1953 Gretsch floor tom.
I found a very nice 1951 3ply Gretsch 22" bass drum.
A few weeks ago found exactly the 6.5x14 3ply Gretsch snare shell on eBay 1950 shell for $84 - pretty well unbelievable for me considering I had given up and had Will Tillman (drum builder from Pennsylvania) build me a shell.
I took the shells to the painter yesterday - should have them back in about a week. I tried in vain to get the original Cadillac Green paint code so I just had a local paint supplier mix me up a can close to the original drum I had. He did a pretty good job. My painter will supply the primer and clear coat = giving the shells a similar finish to what my original Cadi Green tom has.
Here's some before photos - showing how the shells arrived in my possession:
Photo 1) 16" 1953 3ply Gretsch tom in Dupont Color (Duco) Black and Gold - it arrived with no tacked bottom head. I put lugs on the reso head and drilled it for a mute.
2) 22" 1951 3ply Gretsch bass drum. It was originally a wrapped drum (see wrap removal damage in photo 4 = shows Bondo covering section of ply that was torn away durring wrap removal years ago. The paint job on this drum was very good but the vintage value was gone when the wrap was removed and the inside damaged so I did not feel bad removing this paint.
3) This is the 6.5x14 1950 (stamped inside shell) Gretsch 3ply snare shell as it arrived. The paint job looked and felt like thick tar.....it was actually thick uneven black lacquer. I do not know how someone could do this to such a nice shell.
5) The Cadillac Green 3ply mid-50's (54-57?) 9x13 Gretsch tom than I bought on eBay about 8 months ago. The hardware had 'rattle can' gold spray paint on all the hardware - as you see here. I noticed (as others commented on the Forum at the time it was being bid on) that the gold looked like it was 'right out of a rattle can' but I took a chance on it. I took it to a j e w e ler (sensored) as soon as it arrived and he confirmed that there was gold plating under the gold spray paint.
I will post photos when the shells get back from the painter.
I also have some photos of how I repaired the inside of the bass drum shell if anyone is interested.