Gretsch Gold Series Stave Snares

gmiller598

Senior Member
what does anyone know about them. The local MusicGoRound stores seem to have picked up some inventory of a handful of the Barnwood maple stave drums. I can't find much info about them but considering they got several of these drums I suspect they didn't sell well and this is warehouse clean out or something like that.

Any thoughts? I wouldn't mind picking up a 6.5 wooden snare so I'm curious if these are worth checking out.
 
I recall not liking how they sounded. They have the typical issue that many stave snares have...a very high fundamental pitch and a slightly choked sound due to the thick shell.

They sound a little stifled like they can't breath. Some people like that sound though for the extra focus, clarity and crack you get from a stave shell.

I love how they look, but I've been making a more concerted effort to stop listening with my eyes.

EDIT: Just listened to a few videos of them and they sound a little nicer than I remembered. Still a high fundamental pitch though. $340 + $40 shipping still seems steep to me.

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Steve DiMaggio formerly of Grenbrier Musix was selling these for $250 a pop a few years back .
Gretsch was selling these brand new at the Chicago Vintage drums show for $100 . They were flying off the shelf. Rumour has it Gretsch overestimated the market for these drums and ordered way too many .
 
I don't know much about these stave drums, but I believe their Taiwanese made. I think Gretsch may have ordered a bunch of off the shelf stave shells and branded them in hopes of tapping into that market. Doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them, but it makes me wonder if any R&D was put into developing their sound.

If you find one that's reasonably priced and has a sound you like, then I say they're worth it.
 
My 14 x 6 stave cocobolo, it does sound a tad choked at times, but tuned up high with some gaff = BOOM.
 
I recall not liking how they sounded. They have the typical issue that many stave snares have...a very high fundamental pitch and a slightly choked sound due to the thick shell.

They sound a little stifled like they can't breath. Some people like that sound though for the extra focus, clarity and crack you get from a stave shell.

I love how they look, but I've been making a more concerted effort to stop listening with my eyes.

EDIT: Just listened to a few videos of them and they sound a little nicer than I remembered. Still a high fundamental pitch though. $340 + $40 shipping still seems steep to me.

RxUgtRv.png


THICC
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Yeah. I live in Columbus so I could definitely save on the shipping but both stores here in town seem to have at least 4-5 each in the store. I went and looked at one over the weekend. It might be the sound I'm looking for to add to my snare collection but it does seem higher priced than I'm interested in paying.
 
I picked up one of the oak stave snares that was made in Thailand, I'm sure in the same factory that makes the LP Aspire congas. The first 3 photos are of my snare. The last is a photo of an Aspire conga I found for sale. Notice they both have the same "hand crafted" sticker and that the shipping label on the box of my snare has an LP mailing address.

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Went to MGR in Columbus (Bethel store) looking for cymbals and remembered seeing these snares priced at $299.00 a few months back- but on this day they had been marked down to $199 i asked the sales guy for a drum key and tuned one of the two remaining snares up- I was actually shocked at the tone - I tuned it low and then medium tension and was blown away by what i heard - would love to hear DrumCenter of Portsmouth take this one through its paces.. The sound, to me, was boutique in nature- low tuned it sounded fat with a lot of body, yet sensitive as well Medium tension was exactly the same, but with more cut.
 
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