Has anyone else (besides the forum member that passed this info on to me) run into problems when changing out an internal mute used on vintage Gretsch drums?
I didn't know about the "crimp" on the dial part and when I bought some replacement mutes on eBay I took the old ones off the drum & put the new (eBay bought) ones back on. I just threaded the dial back into the little barrel-thingie on the internal mute hardware not thinking there was a part of the dial intentionally messed up by Gretsch to prevent you from taking the dial out of this barrel-thingie without using a die tool to rethread the dial. I mean who thinks of these things?
Now I guess, because I did not know about this little crimp/cut thread part, all my internal mutes are likely ruined. I only found this out when my snare drum mute was sticking and I took it apart only to find lots of brass shaving in my snare drum when this barrel-like unit was stripping out. It was broken by the time I took it out (the barrel unit totally stripped of its threads).
It's not that big of a deal.....maybe about $300-$400 to replace all the mutes. But the replacement mutes are likely to be well on their way to be stripped out before I buy them because most people probably don't know about that little fact (the crimp on the dial).
I may just leave the dials on that I have - as ornaments....only replace them if I absolutley have to.
The photos below were graciousley supplied by a forum member & shows the "crimp" and how to properly remove the dial...........
