I will definately be replying here again (see my earlier reply here) after I receive, tune and play my new Gretsch Renown Purewood Mahogany 6pc shell pack I ordered in early May. I was told it would be 3-4 months getting here because there were no more kits available in North America when I ordered it.
I will be paying close attention to my snare for sure!
Interesting comments here regarding Gretsch snare drums.
Cheers,
Kona
Wow! I'm floored. I have a wide variety of snare drums. I believe 5 of them are Gretsch: Two 5x14 RBs, one in duco lacquer, one in green glass wrap, a 6.5x14 from around 1940 with rocket lugs in gold sparkle, a mahogany marching snare 10x14 and a reissue COB 5x15. All of the drums have great character and are very playable. I've got snares from all the vintage American drum companies (and a couple of non US) and I can't find a stinker in the bunch. My list includues:
Slingerland single ply radio king 50s
Ludwig Pioneer, 50s lacquer finish wiith NOB hardware
Ludwig & Ludwig wood from the 30s
Leedy & Ludwig wood from the early 50s
Rogers 1980 Big R wood Dyno
Rogers Holiday
Rogers Power Tone
Noble & Cooley 7x14 single ply
Ayotte 6.5x14 wood hoop
Trick 5x14
Pearl 3.5x14 brass free float
Trixon Telstar (two different head sizes)
Premier 4x13 Birch
Spaun 5x13 vented acrylic
2 Camco 5x14s 1 tuxedo 1 aristocrat
I'm sure I'm forgetting some. But I truly believe that unless a drum is just broken, you can tune it and make some great music with it.
All of these drums sound really good. 42 strand wires are an option, I think a pretty cool one if you like to mix a lot of buzz rolls into your playing and if you want to go for a raunchier, looser back beat sound for a New Orleans vibe. I use lots of different snare wire counts.
I do prefer die cast rims but triple flanged are cool two.
Of course the "Great Gretsch Sound" is marketing, it's not a quote. I think their toms sound fine. I have a 3 ply 13 that is especially tunable but all the rack and floor toms I have sound great, but did need to have their edges cut. I've found the kicks to be quite full sounding. I think heads tend to fit these drums on the tight side, so I would recommend trying them with Aquarian American Vintage heads for a better fit.
I will mention that my first snare drum was a 5x14 RB in BDP. I was a teenager and I had the snare sounds from recorded music in my head and I couldn't figure out why this snare didn't sound that way. I sold it and played a Ludwig 400 for years. As I got older I bought more snares and got better at tuning and got more attuned to having a unique sound and became more flexible in my sound requirements. So now, as I said, a snare would have to be down right defective for me not to be able to get a musical sound out of it.
My 5 cents worth.
Gary
Well said Gary. I agree, you can get a good sound out of most snare drums. It just might not be the sound you are after at that point in time.
Hey Sab....if you ever decide to part with the Rogers big R Dyna,let me know.
PM me what you think is fair value. It's new old stock, as mint as a thing could possibly be. I'm just keeping it for speculation, I don't play it. I'm leaving town today for South Africa, back Sunday AM.
hi there,
i bought a gretsch snare on ebay from the states (i'm in australia). it cost me plenty to win it and then more to ship it here. it's a late 50's-early 60's model,8 lug, 6 ply, no sticker but with the silver interior, faded cold sparkle with die cast hoops and nowhere near pristene condition.... but i knew that from the pictures, what i wanted was the 'great gretsch sound'... well...boy...when i got this thing home i couldn't believe i had spent all this money for such a boxy sounding drum but i didn't believe it was designed to sound this way. the snare beds were huge compared to anything i had seen before but i wasn't about to muck around with the shell as i was sure it had come out of the factory that way. then thanks to this web sight, i discovered that the shells are larger in diameter than normal, i don't know why but they are and that remo batter heads are too tight a fit! and these guys were talking about gently hack-sawing through the aluminium hoop of the batter head without cutting too much of the plastic head itself....in my desperation i attempted this and to my surprise the remo ambassador head could now sit loosely over the shell's bearing edge, and once i re-attached the top hoop and played it i noticed the drum had opened up dramatically......it's a very nice playable snare, and i think, a good example of what these beauties are meant to sound like.
g'dye mate. I wrote the hacksaw note. When you get a chance try an Aquarian American Vintage on the drum. It is the right amount of oversized to fit without the surgery.
I had a Gretsch snare round badge and it also sounded dead. Also tracked with one in the studio and wasn't impressed at all. That was their slogan and not a reality. Randall
Wow! I'm floored. I have a wide variety of snare drums. I believe 5 of them are Gretsch: Two 5x14 RBs, one in duco lacquer, one in green glass wrap, a 6.5x14 from around 1940 with rocket lugs in gold sparkle, a mahogany marching snare 10x14 and a reissue COB 5x15. All of the drums have great character and are very playable. I've got snares from all the vintage American drum companies (and a couple of non US) and I can't find a stinker in the bunch. My list includues:Slingerland single ply radio king 50sLudwig Pioneer, 50s lacquer finish wiith NOB hardwareLudwig & Ludwig wood from the 30sLeedy & Ludwig wood from the early 50sRogers 1980 Big R wood DynoRogers HolidayRogers Power ToneNoble & Cooley 7x14 single plyAyotte 6.5x14 wood hoopTrick 5x14Pearl 3.5x14 brass free floatTrixon Telstar (two different head sizes)Premier 4x13 BirchSpaun 5x13 vented acrylic2 Camco 5x14s 1 tuxedo 1 aristocratI'm sure I'm forgetting some. But I truly believe that unless a drum is just broken, you can tune it and make some great music with it.All of these drums sound really good. 42 strand wires are an option, I think a pretty cool one if you like to mix a lot of buzz rolls into your playing and if you want to go for a raunchier, looser back beat sound for a New Orleans vibe. I use lots of different snare wire counts.I do prefer die cast rims but triple flanged are cool two. Of course the "Great Gretsch Sound" is marketing, it's not a quote. I think their toms sound fine. I have a 3 ply 13 that is especially tunable but all the rack and floor toms I have sound great, but did need to have their edges cut. I've found the kicks to be quite full sounding. I think heads tend to fit these drums on the tight side, so I would recommend trying them with Aquarian American Vintage heads for a better fit.I will mention that my first snare drum was a 5x14 RB in BDP. I was a teenager and I had the snare sounds from recorded music in my head and I couldn't figure out why this snare didn't sound that way. I sold it and played a Ludwig 400 for years. As I got older I bought more snares and got better at tuning and got more attuned to having a unique sound and became more flexible in my sound requirements. So now, as I said, a snare would have to be down right defective for me not to be able to get a musical sound out of it.My 5 cents worth.Gary
Interesting post. Wow - nice drum collection there!!
My name's Gary too by the way (Kona on the forum).
The Gretsch shellpack I ordered last May (see earlier post here) arrived late August. I'm very impressed with my Gretsch Renown Purewood African Mahogany shellpack including the snare! It's a 6pc with Istanbul cymbals (one Zilbell), Valje bongos, Pearl 2000 hat and snare stands, Pearl Ash block (nice!), Pearl tam (mounted above my Valjes) and Gretsch Blackhawk Mighty Mini 10" snare and other various percussion put together in and around a nice Gibraltar dbl bass rack.
Here's the kit so far........
