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Gretsch Round Badge--stripped naked and ready to play

Posts: 1118 Threads: 30

Here are some pics of my newly-restored Gretsch round badge kit. I bought it as an orphan kit and lovingly futzed with it and somehow managed to get it to its current state. Some of you might remember my pestering about how to strip paint (rack tom) and how to remove the backing of a satin flame wrap (bass drum). Thanks for the help, and after about 18+ hours of stripping, and then restoring/protecting the finish, here she is, ready for a night on the town:

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1970 Ludwig Downbeat
1965 Ludwig Hollywood
1970 Ludwig Jazzette
Posted on 12 years ago
#1
Posts: 1918 Threads: 60

Man, I love the looks of that kit. Very nice job.

What Would You Do
Posted on 12 years ago
#2
Posts: 1142 Threads: 134

Awesome looking kit! The best thing is, you did all of the work and you should be proud. It doesn't matter that it was pieced together. You saved four individual vintage drums from going to the landfill and now have a vintage kit.

The Gibraltar flat based hardware keeps that vintage look.

Thanks for sharing,

Tim

Posted on 12 years ago
#3
Posts: 410 Threads: 32

Great work! The finish looks fantastic. The sound is the thing with a Gretsch Round Badge and you'll definitely have that going on. Congratulations. Great to see.Cool1

60's Gretsch Round Badge 22/13/16
'71 Ludwig B/O Badge 20/12/13/14/16
'72 Ludwig B/O Badge Jazzette 18/12/14
'65 Rogers Holiday 20/12/16
Posted on 12 years ago
#4
Posts: 162 Threads: 25

Beautiful job! I'll bet those drums really "sing" now. The great thing is that you'll never have to deal with tight fitting heads on those old Round Badge shells ever again. What did you use to seal the outer shells, by the way? I'd really love to do the same thing to some old Gretsch shells and apply whatever Yamaha uses for their Vintage finish drums, for example.

Posted on 12 years ago
#5
Posts: 48 Threads: 10

Those are gorgeous!!!!

Posted on 12 years ago
#6
Posts: 9005 Threads: 266

Sweet Caddy! I'm a lover of orphan kits, that's a gem.

I can't help wanting to see it either; painted in Cadillac Green, or wrapped in Tangerine Sparkle. Classic drums. Nice save.

Enjoy,

John

Too many great drums to list here!

http://www.walbergandauge.com/VintageVenue.htm
Posted on 12 years ago
#7
Posts: 1118 Threads: 30

I've been playing around on it a BUNCH for the past couple days. Man, this kit is amazing!

...oh, I forgot to mention the sizes: 12/14/20. I used Howard's Restore-A-Finish on the naked shells, which were *almost* a stark white. The Restore-A-Finish brought color back to the shells and REALLY brought out the grain. I then used Howard's Feed-N-Wax to protect the shells. Each of the shells is really its own shell. The tom was an example of how Gretsch's shells were sometimes "slapped together", the floor tom has excessive quilting all the way around (looks like it's in the rain...), and the bass drum has the most beautiful grain of the three.

1970 Ludwig Downbeat
1965 Ludwig Hollywood
1970 Ludwig Jazzette
Posted on 12 years ago
#8
Posts: 966 Threads: 213

Beautiful. I always like flat base stands with vintage Gretsch drums.

jim

...
'68 Ludwig Ruby Red Strata
'68 Ludwig Mod Orange
'58 Gretsch Starlight Sparkle
'69 Ludwig Clubdate BDP
'60s Ludwig Clubdate Black Lacquer / Nickel
'67 Trixon Speedfire Red
COB Ludwig Supra
Many projects
Bunch o snares
Posted on 12 years ago
#9
Posts: 1 Threads: 0

Awesome! I just joined because I want to get and fix up a vintage kit. I was thinking Ludwig, but I am also thinking about a Gretsch. How did you get all the toms? eBay?

Posted on 12 years ago
#10
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