I recently bought a 1980 Gretsch set from someone off of craigslist. He told me 1980 was a transition year and they used various badges that year.

The bass and floor tom have square badges. The 8x12 has a stop sign badge similar to the one I recall from a drum I once bought in1975 direct from Gretsch. The 9x13 has a stop sign badge with the drop G.

I also noticed that the 9x13 and the 16x16 have silver sealer that goes over the bearing edges but the 9x13 does not.

The 9x13 also has something else that is strange: The tone controls are in a strange location. they really should have been one space over to the right. As it is right now, they're somewhat between the 2 ride toms. I'm thinking they put it there because the seam of the wrap is where the tone controls should have been. I think they goofed up on where they placed the seam, and once they did that, they had no choice but to move the tone controls one space over. Does that make sense?

So I'm asking the experts if this all makes sense.

1) Was 1980 really a transition year?

2) Did they put the sealer over the edges some years, but other years not?

3) Does my theory about the tone controls make sense? (at first I toyed with the idea that the 9x13 came from a different set and was supposed to be hanging from the other direction. After trying to set it up as a single tom on the bass, that made no sense at all)

As for the tone, everything sounds great. All the drums sound like they belong together. I paid just $1,000 for all 4 drums and they sound great!

I look forward to your expert opinions!