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Gretsch Shells / Hello! Last viewed: 12 hours ago

Posts: 3 Threads: 2

Hey there!

I'm new to the site and to vintage drums in general, but was recently able to pick up some Gretsch shells on craigslist that I am looking forward to trying to restore. The shells are in decent condition, though the bass was unfortunately drilled for a tom mount some time ago.

Sizes are kinda weird (as far as I can tell this is a pretty mismatched group of shells):

Bass: 20 x 14

Floor: 15 x 12 (this seems like pretty shallow floor. could it possibly be a large rack tom?)

Snare: 14 X 10 (this almost looks like a tom with a snare bed cut in)

No rack tom, but hopefully at some point I'll be able to pick up another shell.

The wood looks pretty good, so I have decided to strip the glue off and sand 'em down. (I'm also a college student and this is a much more economically viable option).

I read a thread a couple days ago that recommended Citristrip for this. Is there any risk of damage to the wood with Citristrip? Do I just apply it, leave it on for an hour then wipe it off?

After stripping and sanding I'd like to start on hardware. Like I said, I'm new to this scene, so I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on where I should be looking.

I was told they were round badge era when I picked them up, but I'm not sure how strongly to trust that. There aren't any badges or tags left, though there do seem to be faint outlines of a round badge on both the floor tom and bass.

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Posted on 15 years ago
#1
Posts: 224 Threads: 7

The 20" shell looks like it had a Ludwig-type tom mount in it - that could be original (late 60's for two wing toms) if there are no extra holes elsewhere for a rail mount.

The 15" shell probably used to be a marching tom (or marching snare if there are extra holes and a bearing edge).

The 14" shell used to be a marching snare.

They do look to be RB era. The cost of the parts to make these playable is going to kill you unless you have already lucked into them.

Posted on 15 years ago
#2
Posts: 712 Threads: 24

They do look like Gretsch and my take, like 4MoreYearsOhNo, is that the 14" and 15" were marching snares.

Buying Gretsch hardware and restoring them will not likely be economical. Others would cringe at this but what I'd do is find some crapper drums that I'd steal the hardware, rims lugs etc off of and put together some drums that way. It wouldn't take much to make concert toms out of the snares. The idea is that it's not worth restoring them correctly and at least you'd get to hear them.

I use a 12x15 Ludwig marching snare as my smaller floor tom and it works fine.

Posted on 15 years ago
#3
Posts: 189 Threads: 35

citristrip works, but it's not as simple as wiping off. I had to brush on, sit for a couple hours then scrape off. I did this twice on my BD. It worked, but it was work, for sure. My 13" was a 3 ply with hide glue. Citri didn't work at all, but warm water did. Still took lot's of scraping...

it's a job, for sure.

-64 Ludwig Black Oyster Classic kit 22,13,16
-65 Leedy BDP 22,13,16
-65 Ludwig WMP Clubdate 20,12,14
-66 Ludwig Red sparkle Downbeat
-60's Gretsch RB Green Glass 22,13,16
Lots of cymbals, snares and orphans, old and newish
Posted on 15 years ago
#4
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