MF Stupid Deal of the Day - Gretsch Renown

Not a bad deal there. Unfortunately it doesn't come with a snare, but most people who are buying a kit of this caliber probably have a couple snares already in their arsenal.

I just don't understand the deep bass drum with the fast toms on this kit. I have 18x22 bass drums and they sound great, but when they shorten the depth of the toms, I feel the bass drum should be shortened proportionally. Maybe offer a 16" depth bass drum with these toms.
 
Tommy_D said:
I just don't understand the deep bass drum with the fast toms on this kit. I have 18x22 bass drums and they sound great, but when they shorten the depth of the toms, I feel the bass drum should be shortened proportionally. Maybe offer a 16" depth bass drum with these toms.
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I'd recommend giving one a whirl for a week and seeing if it changes your opinion. I realize you play a fixed-Catalina, and can only comment that there was a thunderous difference between the Renown and stock-Catalina toms that I tried out.

On a DIY note, the BD lug screws are about 1.5" apart, and one could make the BD a 22x16.5 with relatively little effort and zero cosmetic blemishes.
 
I really like my 18x22 Catalina bass drum, don't get me wrong, but its not the punchiest of drums out there without help from muffled heads and a pillow. I figure with the shorter depth toms, Gretsch was looking to get a bit more punch and response on this kit. A shorter bass drum will give that as well without sacrificing on low end tone.

This is just an opinion of course.

Edit: You can't really cut down that BD shell (in any significance) without creating other issues unless you cut beyond where the lugs are. So depending on where they fall relative to bearing edge, you may only end up with a 13 or 14" depth bass drum. Or, just just take off a half inch on either side and make it 17" in depth. That hopefully wont create issues with tension rods bottoming out, or binding issues if there is rod splay inherent in the original setup.
 
Tommy_D said:
Edit: You can't really cut down that BD shell (in any significance) without creating other issues unless you cut beyond where the lugs are.
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My intuition tells me that you would simply move the batter side lugs inward by one-hole (reuse one of the existing holes), drilling a new hole 1.5" toward the center of the drum. After you cut 1.5" off the drum and put an edge on it, the old lug hole would fall under the aluminum hoop of the BD batter head. You can use Ikea hardwood dowels to fill the holes, and a touch of nail polish to hide the blemishes. This would bring the depth to 16.5"

You couldn't do this on the reso side, as you'd have to move the BD spurs.
 
Tommy_D said:
I just don't understand the deep bass drum with the fast toms on this kit. I have 18x22 bass drums and they sound great, but when they shorten the depth of the toms, I feel the bass drum should be shortened proportionally. Maybe offer a 16" depth bass drum with these toms.
Click to expand...

Well, they aren't maple but the Yamaha Live Custom line has standard depth toms with an 18" deep bass drum as the standard shell pack. They go great together IMO.
 
Weird...when I click on the link it shows me a laser for stage lighting.
 
I think some of these sales are intended to keep a person glued to their computer.
I've seen some that only last a few hours. Like GD said though, I think this one just plain sold out and they switched to something else.
 
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