Steve’s notes: This is a rare find. A fully original Grestch 8x12, 14x14, 14x18,
5.5x14 is rare in any color and condition, but especially rare in
burgundy sparkle and in such great shape. This set was a one owner set before spending a couple years with a customer of ours that kept them in great condition. The owner before him purchased them new! Burgundy sparkle was the Art
Blakey color (Mel Lewis too), among others, and it is very rare in these
sizes. The most recent owner is now thinning the herd so we have the set back once again. This configuration has been the “must-have” set for jazz players for decades, and in the Art Blakey/Mel Lewis burgundy sparkle it is rare and SO cool. And, this snare drum does not exhibit the typical “boxy” sound of many of the round badge era snares. This one is a killer as you will hear in the video. As we all know, drum sets should be enjoyed and played. But, in terms of resale value these round badge era bop kits have always been great, which is an extra bonus. I can remember back around 2001 when these were selling for about $5500 (I should have bought every one of them!). Back then, people thought they’d never get any higher in price. (On the flip side, how much does you new car depreciate the minute you take it off the lot?). Anyhow, to me, this is a wonderful combination of a superb musical instrument that looks as great as it sounds and has “staying power” value-wise. Extremely detailed info below for you. Of course, if you want to inspect the set in person that can be arranged by appointment in my IL shop. One more note: The video here is the one I did with this set two years back when we first had it. So, use that for the sound file, but ignore the information about the inlays because the current owner replaced those with correct burgundy sparkle strips takes from a donor tom. Also, there is one BD pedal not two, and no snare stand. Steve This 6 ply set was very well cared for and also includes a cymbal stand, cymbal L arm, high hat stand and bass drum pedal - no snare stand. The original rail consolette is fitted with one of our repro Gretsch long spades. The original diamond plate on the 8x12" has a loose slot, allowing the drum to dip - we will include one of our reproduction diamond plates with this set that will solve this.Photos are very detailed here. All serial
numbers very close as you can see (109202, 109372, 109545, 109841, and
remember, Gretsch never built these in specific serial number order, so
this is a very close grouping. They just grabbed paper tags and glued
them in). The set fits modern heads. Set has hex screws for the lugs. On
the toms and snare drum there is a washer in addition to the lock
washer for each hex screw. On the 14x18 bass drum there is only the lock
washer. This is the way the set was built. The color on the entire set
is quite strong and even across all the drums. Minor light pitting on
hardware consistent with age. The bass drum's internal Pratt muffler has been refelted. (Interior photos show the previously installed leatherette strip.) There is some of the
typical sloppiness in drilling the grommet hole present on the snare and bass
drum - you can see very slight splits where the drill bit came through on the
inside. They should have used a small piece of wood up against the
inside of the shell as they drilled the grommet hole so as to avoid
splintering, but they were focused on throughput in these days. Lastly, the logo on the bass drum resonant head is smudged a bit. As we know, quite often the inlays on RB era bass drum hoops
would fade color faster than the shell wrap, and they would also tend to
curl at the edges. When this kit was first with us, its original inlays had been replaced with modern merlot sparkle inlays - that is no longer the case! The second owner did a great job replacing the bass drum inlays with very nicely matching period correct Gretsch burgundy sparkle from a tom! It looks much better now and is a fantastic match. Hoops have been repainted flat black, and could easily be repainted to gloss without worrying about their originality. This set is located in
our Chicago-land store in Glendale Heights, IL.
NOTE: International shipping is only an estimate. Some countries are more, some less. Contact us with your address for a firm shipping quote. No refunds on any International sales. Thank you!
