Be forewarned, the Gretsch Catalina kits are import luan shelled drums. These are basically the same shells found on all the old stencil kits. Rounded over bearing edges and everything.

Oh... and yeah, they sound great, don't they?!?!

I have a Catalina Club Mod kit with the crazy 20" X 22" kick.

heh heh... another luan convert!!!

Actually, according to the Gretsch website, they are inner plies of Phillipine mahogany (yes, aka luan) and outer plies of basswood with 30 degree bearing edges, just like the USA custom drums, NOT rounded over bearing edges as you state. And I'm sure the quality of construction is FAR SUPERIOR to the old japanese stencil sets of yore......and yes I know they are imports not drums actually made by Gretsch.

They are the 30 degree bearing edge. I've owned a couple...along with some Catalina Birch and Blackhawks. They are fantastic little gigging kits, hence the success. Yes, they do sound pretty darn good for such a cheapo little kit. Glad you were able to check them out. I saw those red sparkle kits. Nice drums. There are not many wraps in this series that I like. That one is my top end fave. Well...I also like the silver a bit, too. Man...if they ever get wise and do a gold sparkle...oh sweet sweet boom baby...

A hint...work the insides with either hardwax oil or Jaye's suggestion of ... dang! What the heck was that stuff??? TUNG oil. That's it. Tung oil. My memory.......

Hey... my bad. 30 degrees they are, according to the website. I've seen them up close and personal and they sure look rounded over to me.

Anyhow, the point I guess I was trying to make, while poking a sharp stick into LD's ribs with all due respect, was that luan drums CAN sound nice. Basswood on the outter plies, IMHO wouldn't affect the sound as much as the inner luan plies do. And how thick is this basswood ply to begin with, compared to the luan?

Where did you find that info BTW? I looked on the Gretsch site quickly but all they mention is mahogany shells.

I'll have to pull one of mine apart and examine the edge more closely. Maybe I'll snap some closeups of the plies and we can have a look at the thickness.

As for the construction of the shells compared to older imports... well modern manufacturing procedures have certainly improved things here. Or at least they should have. My no-name import drums are a fine example of just how far we've come. Maybe modern luan shells are better... maybe not.

Bottom line though... don't dismiss any drum until you've heard or played them - luan or otherwise.

I believe the basswood ply is only for the "natural" looking kit. The wrap kits are all luan.

I'm almost positive that both the inner ply and outer ply is basswood now. What about good old galvanized fence paint....er....Gretsch silver sealer on the insides? Wouldn't this accomplish the same thing as waxoil or tung oil? Plus it would give you that honest to goodness genuine Gretsch look too!

See... now your trying to convince yourself that the inner ply must be basswood, because luan could never sound that good. ;)

I can say for sure that the inner plies on my kit are luan/mahogany. Basswood has a tighter grain pattern and is lighter in color. The insides of my Gretsch's look very similar to the insides of my 70's stencil kit (made by Pearl).

It's that lose, darker grain which runs up and down, not side to side.

Truth be told, the inner ply of my no-name kit looks more like basswood or poplar than

luan so who knows what they are made of.

The silver paint should accomplish the same thing as sealing with tung oil or wax I imagine.

Nope. That silver fence paint is lacking. The hardwax oil literally makes the luan harder and denser. It impregnates (tee hee) the wood and gets deep deep deep into the fibers. Check it out online. It's used to coat floors in very very high traffic and industrial areas...and yet safe enough for the kiddies.

I'll do some research on the latest offerings from Gretsch in reference to the basswood enigma.

Ok, I checked into the basswood thing....its the outer ply on the natural and walnut finish kits. Inner ply is luan........even still I never said that ALL luan sounds like crap, just the junk stencil kits from the 60's and 70's. If the japanese took the same kind of time back then that the chinese do now to these kits to make the bearing edges and snare beds decent and the hardware in general as strong and decent quality as it is now, this conversation wouldn't have gone down like this.

I still state that out of the box these drums sound great. NO stencil kit from the 60's sounded great out of the box. You had to mess with them to get them to sound good and you still do (better heads, woodworking to the shells to make sure the edges were good, etc).....these new Gretsch Catalina series, you don't have to do anything to them but tune them and set them up out of the box.