What Would You Do?

jginalbany

Senior Member
After a long search, I found a set of Gretsch New Classics in the sizes I wanted and an amazing finish on the GC website for $1850 including tax and shipping. Sizes are 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 22.

Look at that finish!
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Look at that packaging!!!!
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Look at my bass drum!!!!!
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If you were me, would you return them or try to get some money back and use it to get the finish repaired (or purchase alcohol to soothe the pain of seeing such a beautiful finished defiled)? I don't know if I'm being greedy, but I think I would only be willing to keep them if they reduce the price to $1000. Any thoughts? Thanks.
 
I'd call the seller and see how they're going to make this right for you. The bottom line is that they screwed up and they need to fix it for you somehow.

Then break out the booze.
 
If you love them and they sound how you like.. and they give you some money.. screw it.. turn the drum so no one sees it and play.. Personally having 1 good scratch makes me stop worrying about when i will scratch them :)

I'm assuming thats just a surface scratch and didnt crack any wood though..
 
Contact GC, get some sort of partial refund from them and start playing those babies. The scratch makes for a story.
 
GC is a major corporation. I would try and get restitution. Contact them today if you haven't already.
 
My initial reaction was that $1850 was a lot of money for a NC, and then I saw that you basically have a shell bank, which is entirely reasonable.

IFF (if and only if) there is a single scratch, and the drums are in good shape, I would simply contact them and see if they will take a couple bucks off. I'd then repair the scratch so that it was invisible. I'd take the extra cash I received, and stock my beer fridge.

Looking at the pic... If I had to repair that, I'd mask, the area, and use a fine plastic polish like Novus. Once polished, I'd use a decent wax to backfill.
 
I haven't opened the 2nd box yet and am hopeful that it's just this one scratch.

As far as the scratch itself...it goes through the lacquer and paint, so unfortunately I can't buff it out.
 
Thanks for the feedback. How much do you think is reasonable to ask for as a refund?

The cost of having it professionally repaired. I would think at least $300.00 assuming it's just the one scratch. Which means ask for $400.00 or higher. Or ask them to send out a new drum while you keep the scratched one until the new one arrives. Then send back the scratched one in the packaging that the new one came in, with return shipping prepaid by them. Get mad if you have to, no company likes an irate customer. Start off nicely, and if they try to wiggle out, turn up the heat. This is the time and place to get pissed off, if they aren't accommodating at first.
 
Oh man do I hate GC and all their affiliates. I've ordered 5 guitars from them and they all came packaged like that. 2 had broken necks, 2 had miscellaneous parts missing (tuners, knobs, etc...). Only one arrived in one piece and its because it was in a hard case that took the brunt of it.

I just don't get how they make money like that; they offered me discounts but in the end they all went back.

They probably wont ship you a replacement till they get that one back. They will offer you a refund, don't take the first offer and definitely speak to a supervisor.
 
Is the scratch on the bottom, side, or top of the kick?
 
The scratch is on top at approx. 10 o'clock.

I just got off the phone with the GC store and they offered me 10% off ($160). I didn't even bother arguing and will probably just return it.
 
...If you were me, would you return them or try to get some money back and use it to get the finish repaired ...


I'm not you. How bad do you want them?
If I couldn't live with them the way they are, I'd return them.

I wouldn't bother with trying to get money off to have them repaired.
You might be able to get them very close to how they were,
but you'll always know they've been repaired.

I think it's highly unlikely you'd get them to come down to anywhere near $1K, but if you think you might want to keep them, I'd try to get something off the price.

I've ordered a few things off GC's used site recently with no problems.
 
The scratch is on top at approx. 10 o'clock.

I just got off the phone with the GC store and they offered me 10% off ($160). I didn't even bother arguing and will probably just return it.

I wrote while you were posting this. 10% off is about what I would have expected.

I'd return them unless they were exactly what I was looking for,
couldn't get them new anymore, and there were little to no chance of another
showing up anytime soon.
 
GRETSCH OSB (Ocean Sparkle Burst) a discontinued finish.

These burst finishes are matched as a set, so say if you ordered another drum from GRETSCH special order, the burst pattern won't match your kit. I have this finish and have ordered toms from GRETSCH in the past. Unless they have a picture of your kit no way they can match the finish, and yes its a lacquer not a wrap, a human sprays it on.

Take your chances with a replacement, the new drum (if they even have one) probably 'will not' match the rest of the kit, the different sparkle burst pattern ascetics will be noticeable if you have any sort of an eye for detail, and we're not talking about one tom or FT, this is the bass drum. The scratch repaired will IMO look way better. You may get lucky with the match, and I doubt GC has another OSB NC bass drum laying around, they'd go to GRETSCH and they 'might' have a NOS OSB NC BD in that size, it would take 3 months min if they even agreed/had to build a new one. I'd say the odds are against you, these hand sprayed sparkle burst patterns are one of a kind works of art, impossible to come close to matching blind.
 
Can you take a couple well-lit close ups of the spot in this pic?

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Post so we know what kind of ordeal it's going to be.
 
I finished unpacking the kit and found that, because the drums were nested for transport, but not well wrapped, the 12" tom gouged the inside of the 16" tom. Worse, something hit the bass drum so hard that it bent one of the tension rods, gouged the bass claw and lug, and snapped the hoop. Unfortunately, I think I need to walk away from this kit.

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Whoever packed the kit up at Guitar Center should have used much sturdier boxes to pack up those drums. When FedEx or UPS are transporting packages the bigger boxes go on the bottom of the stack and the smaller boxes go on top, if those would have been high quality/sturdy boxes you wouldn't have any issues.

Contact FedEx or UPS Customer Service and let them know they'll want the tracking number and pictures of the packages, if Guitar Center got insurance on the shipment then you'll have to file an insurance claim.

Guitar Center probably won't be able to do a whole lot besides having you return the drums and refunding your money.

In the future if you get a shipment with torn up boxes like that refuse the delivery!
 
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