You'll want to look for black/gold Chicago or Niles badges. They transitioned away from the rail around 67-68. The 50s and early 60s up to about 62-63ish had a mahogany ply on the inside, after that they switched to maple. The mahogany is a little warmer mellower sound. Both sound excellent, its a personal preference thing.

You really can't go wrong with any model snare from the ear. The Radio King is obviously the most sought after snare as it is 1-ply maple, the 3point strainers are much better than the clam shells. They were much more common in the 50s and very early 60s. In the early 60s they made an artist model with a 1-ply shell as well, very nice drum, just make sure the zoomatic strainer works. Around 63-64 they switched to a 3ply shell. The hollywood ace is also a 3 ply shell, 8lugs, it has a rapid strainer which is very simple and usually works great. The deluxe student models are 6lugs with the rapid. The most common snare to come with a kit would have been the Gene Krupa sound king which is chrome over brass with a zoomatic strainer, excellent drums and very affordable.

I had this mid 60's kit up for sale here for months, you should had bought it. The kit had the black/gold Niles badges, rail mount, 3ply shells and the chocolate interiors. I had it listed for $500 plus shipping, I sold it on ebay for $761, oh well.

Thanks guys, really helpful. I saw your kit up, but was saving for a gretsch at that time Aug Sept time. I just got my money back up to where I can start looking again. Was there a option for the set o matic in the early 60s, or once it switched thats what you got, before wasrail only? Thanks

I believe that the set-o-matic was strictly late 60's and on. Before that you could have a rail or a double tom bass drum post like my daughter's kit has. It's basically a post with two clips like you'd see on the rail. I also believe you can retrofit the set-o-matic to the earlier sets.

Steve