My '81 Gretsch USA Custom kit

Adam8

Senior Member
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Re: My '81 Gretsch USA Custom kit and snares

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I'm new at this so I don't know how to list the description under the pics, but I'll figure it out.
 
Until I can figure out how to post pics vertically with the description underneath, I'll just post the descriptions. I'm not very computer savvy as you can probably tell. Any help would be appreciated. The finish on the kit is Vintage Walnut and the sizes are 8x8, 8x10, 12x14, 14x16, 16x20, and 5.5x14. The snares in order are: 5.5x14 USA Custom Solid Maple, 6.5x14 Yamaha Seamless Brass, 6.5x14 Pearl Bronze Sensitone, 5.5x14 '78 Premier 33 Birch, and 6.5x14 USA Custom Millenium Maple
 
Beautiful drums. Those are some nice vintage shells, they must sound great!
I'm particularly fond of the Premier snare, too.
 
Nice, nice, nice!

I bet those shells are producing some creamy tones about now!
Beautiful!
 
Ahh, that's a nice, interesting und fairly uncommon kit! Gretsch is Gretsch, and there is no need to add anything. What I find really nice are the small toms: I love small toms, and as far as I can remember 8" toms were not common at all at the beginning of the '80!

A question: I guess originally the toms did not have any RIMS-like suspension system: did you notice a relevant sound difference between the original mounting system and the new one?
 
They sounded noticably better (more open and resonant) after adding the RIMS mounts. The shells still have the holes where they used to be mounted, but I haven't tried to fill them or anything. I just think of them as extra air hole vents.
 
These are my 79-81 USA customs ( they didn't have any other kind at the time )
Yes they sound Great
 

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very nice kits gents. Would love to have one of those for sure. But for now I'll suffer with my 2007 Renowns.
 
They were just being introduced to the market. I got mine a couple of years ago.
Do they make a difference?
Hard to tell, they sounded great before and they sound great now! ((( THUNDER )))
 
I love your kit! It looks like you have the Gibralter RIMS style mounts. I had those on a Keller kit I biult and they're basically the same as RIMS. The ones on my USA are from late 80's or early 90's. What are your sizes? Is it Dark Walnut?
 
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Im gonna post some pics of my '08 USA Walnut kit as soon as I get some kick drum heads on it. The sizes are 8x12, 16x18, 16x24
 
Yes it is dark walnut, had to wait 6 months for them
the sizes are
14x20 bass
8x8
8x10
10x12
11x13 (not pictured)
16x16
16x18
various snares
 
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