Extremely high demand, extremely low supply.

Wow! I wonder if the high bidder followed through? So was is a 3-ply or a 6-ply shell? If you look at picture #9 and zoom in by the claw, I think I see 6 layers.

- Tim

Hoarding vs Sound?

How does a Gretsch 18" Sound vs all the rest?

Sorry- Im a Drum Engineer- (reason I ask)

As an engineer I doubt if you'd hear much difference. The price paid for this bass was preposterous, & shows how far Gretsch has entered the rarefied realms of mythology, fetishism & irrationality. Gretsch is just another drum brand, no better, no worse than any other.

No, it doesn`t sound like a Phonic 18" at all !!

The classic modern jazz drumkit of the 60s played by two of jazz drumming's profound innovators (as well as many other Blue Note drummers) Elvin Jones and Tony Williams, was the small wood Gretsch kit...8x12,14x14,14x18,5.5x14

Now you had two classic jazz set ups. The big WMP Slingerland Krupa/Rich set up with the big toms(13,16) and bass drum(24 or 26)of the 40s and the small Gretsch Elvin/Tony set up with small toms (12,14) and bass drum (18) of the 60s. So the list of modern jazz drummers that used the Gretsch 18" bass drum along with Turkish Ks, reads like the who's who of jazz drumming. mlvibes was right on. The sudden demand on what was a special order size BD, forced Gretsch to add the 14x18 to the catalog sometime in the early sixties.

Here is a little folklore concerning the classic small jazz kit with the 18" BD. It was the choice of all the drummers in NYC because it was the only 4 piece kit that would fit in the trunk. Sorry, I think I'm rambling now...what was the question??

In the trunk of a cab that is !!

Exactly. It's just a very specific sound, that many, many people happen to want. Imagine if vintage Ludwig Supraphonics were so rare that they only showed up for sale about once every 3 or 4 years, yet just as many people wanted them as they do now. The price would be driven through the roof. And any other drum, though it would work and sound just as good, would not sound the same.

Back in the early '90s, my drum teacher had 2 kits set up for lessons, both RB kits with 14x18" bass drums. I knew right away that that was the sound I wanted. To me, it was the sound of drums that I not only heard in my head, but also on most of my favorite records.

I bought a RB kit with a 14x20 bass drum, and try as I might, I could not for the life of me get it to sound like my teacher's 14x18. I decided to look for a 14x18 RB, but figured out pretty quickly that they were impossible to find. I called Ned at Vintage Drum Center, Cherie Willoughby, Blair, and Amanda's Texas Underground, and none of them had anything on the horizon, nor had they had anything for years. Mind you this was long before ebay was around, or even the internet.

Over the years I tried 18" bass drums of several other makes - Ludwig, Rogers, Slingerland, etc. Though they were beautiful, great sounding drums, none of them had that sound of a Gretsch RB 14x18, that I heard in my head. Even the 14x20 RB came closer than the other brand 14x18s.

It wasn't until many years later that I was able to find a real RB kit with a 14x18 on ebay. It was a wonderful feeling, and I haven't played with any thing else since. If I had the choice between my bass drum sounding like God's heartbeat, and a 14x18 RB, I'd pick the Gretsch every time!

The problem is, so many other drummers around the world have gone through the same thing, and want that same sound. But for some reason, Gretsch barely made any 14x18s in the '60s. That's driven up the price, which has in turn made the 18-12-14 kits collectable, which has of course made high end collectors drive up the prices even more.

Thanks,

Bill

Great post, Bill! Cool Dude