Hi everyone,
Today I was walking in to Wal-Mart a.k.a. Guitar Center. My friend who worked there was out in the parking lot unloading an old Gretsch from a woman's SUV. I walked over to see what about. She was selling her husbands old kit yet knew nothing about them, I have no pic.......so here we go.
4pc Green sparkle 14x20, 12x8, 14x14, 5x14
Silver interior looks to be 3ply
Gladstone floor tom leg mounts (not the the diamond plate mount) This leads me to believe they are 50s
Bass drum has tom rail directly on top, instead of off center, there is a device in the bass drum to hold the felt strip on the head and to forgo putting in on the bearing edge. The mother and child signed their names on the inside of the bass drum with green marker when they "changed heads for a gift" and someone named "Bob Williams" signed the inside with pen.......shame it wasn't TONY Williams
Floor tom has round badge with upholstery nail (detailed one with lots of little ridges) one wing nut has been replaced with hex nut.
Snare, bass, and other tom have grommet round badge.
Rack tom has triple flange hoop, others have die cast
I don't remember much about the snare, it all happened so fast... I believe it had the Miro Sensitive stainer like the one in the pics on the guide history... all drums have their mufflers.
Over all they are in great shape, finish seems to have no fading, and only minor imperfections (most notable is the back of the rack tom snare rash). Chrome is good, some minor pitting, mainly just dirty and need to be cleaned. Spurs and FT legs seem to hold tight. No date stamp or sticker could be found on bass drum or snare. other drums had coated heads top and bottom.....sound great..........even just hitting them in a parking lot.
Hardware: snare, cymbal, pedal w/leather strap, cymbal stand , possibly hi hat and some unrecognizable stand and misc. pieces.
Cymbals: 70s-80s 22'' A ride and 14" hats (hats have back stamp) and one "Stanbul" paiste 18" Crash/ride?
We told her to hold off selling them at GC and that she would get more from the street. And I would let her know what I could find out. Can any one ball park a # here? I am guessing $1000-$1500 $2000 at the most, or am I way off? are the different badges an issue or a common thing with Gretsch?
Should I make an offer? I feel good about judging Luds or Slingys but don't know much about Gretsch. Would most people say Gretsch is a higher more sought after drum then Ludwig or Singerland?
She is planning on getting some pics.