Also label is orange & white. says Model 42.

They forgot to paint the inside silver.............

seen it once or twice before......custom order?.........Not sure.....

Yes - same as Blair.

Also, it's probably after 61.....Gretsch started to add lables in 62....however - I've heard a few people say they have a drum earlier than 62 with a lable. There are exceptions. Gretsch also switched from 3ply to 6ply around 58. I've read where there are some Gretsch 6ply drums from mid-50. Not easy to peg this stuff down hu.

I have a 3ply kit that was bought new in 1960....one drum is a 6ply. No tags but they do have silver sealer. Stick-chopper rims on the snare, regular die-cast on the toms. Floor tom has Diamond leg-plates (not the Gladstone tube lugs of the 50's). Just saying - that when my drums were bought Gretsch pulled what they had off the shelf at the time....which was three 3ply drums (rack tom/bass & snare) and a 6ply floor tom.

Best guess your drum was a Custom order (no silver sealer) and 1962 or later.

The model number should be 4249, but may be hard to read. I suspect that it is stamped onto the label (rather than handwritten, which became the practice later). Are the screw heads mounting the lug casings and other hardware round? (hex heads replaced the round heads a little later).

I have been working on a project for a few years gathering and cataloging Gretsch serial numbers since labels were introduced. Based upon what I have seen, I would place your drum as manufactured in about 1966 plus or minus a year. I always caution that this is an estimate and based upon the theory that serial numbers can be used as an indicator of age. Not everyone agrees with this theory.

As others have mentioned, there are a few other reports of drums from this era with unpainted interiors. They are definitely the exception. I have recorded reports of drums with very light coats of silver sealer that appear from a distance to be unpainted.

Could you indicate what wrap is on your drum so that I can record that information in my log? Also, is this an orphan or are there other drums with the set? If part of a set, what are there serial numbers, sizes, etc... and do they have painted interiors?

Thanks.

KC, Thanks. The BD is Black Nitron but is a rewrap. probably rewraped at least 25 years ago. I checked the existing holes and it at one time had the rail mount on the left and a cymbal stand mount on the right. also had a muffler at one time. The 8X12 tom is model 4108 and serial is 73782. I added a 14X14 to replace a 16 this year. This is my gigging set and I hardly ever play anything else. The ride tom has silver paint and does both of my floors. I just wonder the age of the bass since no paint. 66 would seem about right except not many clear one that late. Bass drum screws are round headed.

Thanks for your help.

It seems there was a week or two in the mid 60's that Gretsch ran out of silver paint, and you've got one of the drums from that week! I've had a few myself, and the serial numbers have always been in the low 70,000's, like yours. Most, but not all, of these oddities I've seen have been Champagne Sparkle.

-Bill

The model number on the 8x12 should be 4415, but it is possible that the wrong label was used - 4108 is a snare model.

These are serial numbers between about 72000 and about 76000. Not every drum in that range did not have the interior paint, but there are about a dozen reliable reports of unpainted interiors in this serial number range.