Hey everyone. So I'm the new guy. I just received my inheritance this past weekend and found this forum while researching info on my "new" set.

It's my grandfather's set that he purchased in 1939, an original Gretsch set (still have the original receipt, "outfit no. 8184, $100"). I don't know much about it really. It took me a while to even figure out how some of it was supposed to go together. All of the heads are orginal calf-skin heads...the only one that was broken was the bottom head of the snare. The kick pedal is an original WFL Speed King. The hhat pedal/stand is still surprisingly smooth. The kick is 28x14, toms are 12" and 14" and have "permanent" bottom heads. I don't know what the snare is made of...I'm guessing mahogony. It's darned heavy. There's a stamp on the inside of the snare, 43. Don't know what that means either...guess I'll have to look into that a little.

The cymbals are mostly Zenjian. There are a lot of rumors about this brand and I'm going to have to do a little more research to find what's true and what isn't. They're all paper thin and I'm amazed they're still intact...I can't imagine they'd last more than 2 strikes by today's style of playing.

[img]http://pixpipeline.com/st/61642f5391c5.jpg[/img]

[img]http://pixpipeline.com/st/39cfab0ca9ad.jpg[/img]

[img]http://pixpipeline.com/st/2e3f3b433350.jpg[/img]

[img]http://pixpipeline.com/st/7c1e18deb910.jpg[/img]

[img]http://pixpipeline.com/st/05668a420edb.jpg[/img]

[img]http://pixpipeline.com/st/787a916a0c52.jpg[/img]

I'm really quite pleased with the overall condition. To my knowledge my grandfather just kept it in a closet for all these years.

I guess my next step from here is to find out how I go about getting it professionally appraised for insurance purposes.