I just picked up this kit locally. It's a 50's Gretsch 13, 16, 22 w/matching 6.5 snare. I'm thinking the snare is the Floor Show model and the kit is the Bop Kit with the optional 22 bass drum instead of 20. Overall, it's in pretty good shape for a kit this old. Finish is good with no real issues, just needs a good cleaning. Gray has turned to the greenish color. The kit mostly needs a cleaning and lube, except for a couple minor issues.
Check the pics & tell me what you know or think.
Here's what I'm finding as I take it apart that you may not see in the pics. The rest is pretty obvious:
- The snare & toms tension rods are all original except for one. The T rods & claws are all original except for 2. All the T rods are bent to some degree, some more than others.
- All the bearing edges are pretty clean. The BD and toms are slightly out of round by about 1/8th to 1/4th of an inch depending on the drum. I haven't tried to tune them up yet to see how bad off they are yet.
- Tom hoops are good but slightly out of round (they're brass, so they can be easily fixed).
- Missing badges on snare & BD.
- Some gnarly corrosion on the snare hoops in one place. Not sure what happened there.
- Missing or unoriginal tension screws on BD leg & cymbal mount. Nothing stripped.
**Couple of things I'll be searching VDF for solutions:
- BD leg & cymbal mount tension screws
- Proper tension rod cleaning & lube methods
- What to do about the ply separation on the snare
Bop iT / Til U Drop iT.