Okay- the same cat selling the bronze/copper Slingy shells is also selling NOS Gretsch 5" x 14" 6 ply maple snare drum shells from the '80s. I bought a silver Sparkle Nitron wrapped one. He had a couple undrilled. Mine was drilled on the inside. It came with a brand new stop sign badge!!!

Okay, I did a crummy job drilling. So I had a brain wave to use a guitar neck on the backside of the drum whilst drilling, which prevented the tear-out. But it was too late. Unfortunately, I got a few wood chips; but this drum will NEVER leave me. I am not looking to re-sell this EVER. This is a "you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers" drum!!!!

Maybe it was pride in my handiwork, but I fell in love with the first stroke of my sticks. I had a few heart-wrenching moments whilst drilling and laying it out. There was a brief moment that I thought it was going into a burn pile!!!! It's NOT PRETTY on the inside of the shell. Old wood is really, really brittle!!!!! I may replace the clear-ish heads with coated ones!!!! Laughing H

The bearing edge was good and the snare beds were already there. They were not cut too deeply. I had to lay it on glass to find which side of the shell had the snare beds. I had feared that I was going to have to cut snare beds, but thank G'd I didn't.

I laid out the holes for my OCDP lug in a slightly offset pattern. I also used a Trick strainer that was being used on my Slingerland parade drum. The Trick strainer, while definitely NOT vintage-looking, is an EXCELLENT strainer. Between the silver Trick strainer and the offset black powder coated OCDP lugs,

I ended up getting a hot rod drum look. Keep in mind I used what I had on hand, and I had ZERO snare lugs. So, I had to use some OCDP lugs I had laying around. Call it Frankensteined- I don't care!!!! I am proud of her.

Let me tell you- I now remember why I lusted after Gretsch snares in the '80s and '90s!!!! I have a nice, crisp, sensitive snare that with a Power Stroke 3 head needed NO ADDITIONAL DAMPING!!!!! Edges and beds were PERFECT!!!!! This shell costs me ALL OF $52 w/SHIPPING!!!!!

The Slingerland Parade drum? It's going to be a mounted tom for my upcoming Slingy kit. It actually was a TERRIBLE snare compared to this one. I don't know why I was hell-bent on playing that drum as a snare... Looking at the snare beds, they are cut REALLY DEEP!!!! That could have accounted for some of the weirdness...

My wife took the camera to Ol' Blighty for the next three weeks, so there are no photos. But keep this topic alive and I will get pics on here somehow, some way.