Has anyone tried Gretsch USA customs with triple flange hoops... or is that just sacrilege?

I love the Gretsch tone but always wish there was a bit more of it - so in my hunt for a new kit I was thinking about replacing the die-casts to open up the sound (I prefer the triple flange feel and height too). I'm sure some purists would burn me as a heretic, but worth asking!

Re: Has anyone tried Gretsch USA customs with triple flange hoops... or is that just sacrilage?

pbm2112 said:

I love the Gretsch tone but always wish there was a bit more of it - so in my hunt for a new kit I was thinking about replacing the die-casts to open up the sound (I prefer the triple flange feel and height too). I'm sure some purists would burn me as a heretic, but worth asking!

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Something tells me the drums would reject triple-flange hoops. I wouldn't do it, best case, the hoops won't go on, worst case, the drums will spontaneously combust.

Re: Has anyone tried Gretsch USA customs with triple flange hoops... or is that just sacrilage?

I haven't but if you want to, by all means try it - you may love it!.

I wouldn't want mine that way since it's part of the overall makeup of the Gretsch sound in my opinion.

Try the Brooklyns - they have double-flanged hoops.

Re: Has anyone tried Gretsch USA customs with triple flange hoops... or is that just sacrilage?

Does Gretsch make the shells for the USA Customs? I thought they were Keller shells. It seems to me that besides the aesthetic, the sound should be similar to an older DW or any of the other current kit building companies that use Keller shells with triple flange hoops.

I love Gretsch but I'm hard pressed to believe that the silver sealer really does anything.

Is that sacrilege?

Re: Has anyone tried Gretsch USA customs with triple flange hoops... or is that just sacrilage?

Switch em out and see if you like it, if so awesome. The only sacrilege I know of is cleaning vintage jazz cymbals and modifying (ie: drilling) vintage drums. If you can put it back without breaking it no one has any right to argue.

TTNW said:

I love Gretsch but I'm hard pressed to believe that the silver sealer really does anything.

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I'm fairly sure it does something, just not much and not necessarily better. But changing the hardness of the interior should change the sound a bit.

As far as I am concerned the only sacrilege when it comes to percussion would be to not experiment. Putting triple flange hoops on Gretsch drums makes them ring more, and makes them somewhat brighter sounding. Some of the warmth is replaced by a bit more projection. It is sort of like the difference between a thinner single ply head and the fatter tone of a double ply. The triple flange hoop makes it easier (for me anyway) to play rimshots. Diecast hoops make Ludwig drums drier sounding and they lose some of their projection. Personally, I like the sound of Ludwig snares better than Gretsch and I believe a lot of the difference is in the hoops. If you want to experiment in steps, I would suggest you start with a snare drum. I did this years ago and decided after a lot of experimentation that I needed a set of Ludwig and a set of Gretsch for different situations. I play 4 piece sets and have had 12/14/18 (or 12/14/20) and 13/16/22 sets from both companies (as well as Rogers and Slingerland) over the years. For the small sets I personally like Gretsch and for the bigger sets, Ludwig. Your results may vary.