Gretsch Quality and Advice after getting a "Dud"

vyacheslav said:
Hey Rick! Is that Rogers Memriloc Hardware? Was that a factory option? Love the Blue Jays long sleeve. Totally 80's!
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It is in fact Rogers Memrikoc hardware . Many dealers back when I bought this kit would buy shell packs with no Tom mounts and let the buyer choose what they wanted installed . At this period in time the Rogers Memriloc was the sturdiest and most innovative hardware made . We never imagined the effect on resonance those large holes would make back then .😀😀
 
RickP said:
My only quality issue with Gretsch goes back to my first Gretsch kit . Purchased new as an 18/12/14 with matching wood snare . Over the years I added to it eventually becoming 4 rack Tom, 2 floors and two bass drums and the matching snare . Everything but the snare was excellent . I was a young man when I purchased it (17) and it was my first pro level kit . I was pretty naive about snare beds and bearing edges in those days . So the fact that the snare never sounded right to me and no matter what I did with it tuning it just never sounded crisp . It just sounded boxy at different pitches 😀. Now the snare side head on that drum was opaque white Permatone and I never removed it . So now that I added that background .
Years later after I sold the kit to a local drum shop , I was at another shop and struck up a conversation with another drummer . Turns out he purchased said snare from the drum shop and he discovered that Gretsch never cut any edges or snare beds on the resonant side of the snare !! No wonder the drum sounded like crap !
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I bought a 1966 Ludwig Jazz fest snare locally on CL along with the matching Super Classic set. I got an amazing deal, but they were filthy and I wasn't sure how'd they would clean up. The guy said he never played the snare much as it never sounded good. I soon discovered that no bearing edges of any kind were put on it, top or bottom, and certainly no snare bed. I sent the drum off to Precision to have period-correct snare edges and bed put on it. Sounded great when I got it all together! Both drums must've been the last out on a Friday!
 
I've owned so many Gretsch kits. For a long time I was a Gretsch guy. But at this point I suspect I won't own another Gretsch kit in my lifetime. There are too many other products that sound as good or better and that don't have the endless QC issues.

I'm so sorry, OP, that you had this experience. It's too common among folks who order Gretsch kits.
 
a USA Custom buyer is not looking for a generic Taiwan sound. Plus he can find that in YamaTamaPearlMapex .
the Choice of a USACustom involves the sound on a million records from ElvinMotown some Santana 70s rock.

So if "QC" is your only I'm so afraid of USA quality objective you have MapexTamaRenowns Yamas etc to choose from. What is the reason you want Gretsch? QC or the familiar legendary sound. Btw re the QC I have on near 60 and 20 year old USA sets and snares QC is perfect.

If one want's this "safe" QC stick with the import along with MapexTama mid line Yama Pearl etc..

what next a knock on legendary new Legacy Maple and new Legacy Mahogany Ludwigs too
Well then stick with something "perceived" safe so you can sleep better at night.
Check out Dixon.
 
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reminds me of that guy who walked up to the stage at Carnegie Hall looked up and asked Lionel Hampton "what is this thing called jazz" and Lionel responded "If you don't know what it is don't mess with it"
Fats Waller orig

I just don't know the logic why one would pick an import Gretsch over a comparable Mapex or Tama kit.
Is it because of the "look" of the Legend?" doesn't work with me. There's massive sound distinction I proved to myself the day Renowns first hit the stores. There was an 120th anniv USA set right next to the then brand new Renown. The Renown had that straight line sine wave sound- like a Tama set. The USA set had all kinds of twang character dips in it's mixed sound wave..
the long discontinued tube lug New Classic import I could maybe see as they may have had some shell distinctiveness
 
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If I wanted high end Gretsch wouldn't even enter the equation. Their spotty QC and ridiculous wait times rule them out for me.
 
Send the whole thing back, I say. Life is too short to regret a drumset that the maker messed up. Is that an option?
 
jda said:
here find the dummY


he's in there somewhere
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Hey, it’s my video!

I am really sorry to hear this but you might wanna speak to their representative and explain them the problem with high quality photos.

I respect Gretsch as an American heritage brand and they might want to know this problem to improve their quality control. ( i am not American but i respect its heritage)

Talk to Paul Copper and i think he would gladly help you to solve this problem.

Cheers from Indonesia!

-BahasaDrum
 
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jazztubs said:
Hello, all,
I want to tap into everyone's expertise and get your thoughts on how to handle this situation...

Background:
  • Less than a year ago, purchased a big set of Gretsch USA Custom in sparkle wrap (8 drums: 3 different sized bd's, 2 toms, 2 floor toms, 1 sd)
  • Noticed that some of the sparkles (it's a merlot wrap), are neither the merlot sparkle color or silver sparkle, but rather they are missing both the sparkle color and the silver (so it's a speck of white) ...this I did not see as a huge deal, but it is a bit of a quality issue coming from Gretsch.
  • Changed my resonant head on bass drum: found the silver sealer was not consistent, and someone at the factory had used a paintbrush to streak over something to cover it up.
    • Further inspection revealed a crack in the first two or three plies of bass drum. This was no doubt a defect, and Quality Control let it slip through
  • Upon further examination, found 2 bass drum hoops on my kit that have warped considerably over the past ten months--these drums have never left the house!
  • The dealer said he will get a new BD ordered from Gretsch.

What are your thoughts on this? I feel like the kit is devalued now that one drum will have a serial number that is not "born together"--which I purposefully wanted when I ordered this "dream kit" for myself. Also, I'm now noticing all of these other issues--the wrap should have been inspected, and hoops should not warp in 10 months, especially USA custom.

Yes, they sound great. However, for what I paid for these tubs, I feel like Gretsch failed. I purchased a new kit only to NOT have to deal with this stuff. I now understand why my Canopus drums are so perfect...

Thoughts on how to handle this? Is it worth escalating or just get the hoops/bass drum replaced and don't sweat the serial number and wrap? I'm not sure how meticulous Gretsch is or should be and what I should be expecting, but my wallet certainly says "expect more...you emptied me!" :)

-Jazztubs
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I don't know how much you paid for this but if you paid premium Over $3000, then you have every right to inspect and take the drums apart BEFORE leaving the store. any issues found will be on the store because... they never yet left the store. Any employee that gives you a hard time or tells you that you can't do this just lost a good sale.

A lot of people are embarrassed to be demanding when the spend premium. Nobody said you have to yell and be an obnoxious Karen, but what I did say is that you have to exercise your rights without feeling guilty.
Trust me I bought a $60 and 75K vehicles last year, I was very demanding because I was spending a huge (to me) amount of $$.
So everything had to be perfect before I left the dealership, and I rush them (usually they try to keep you there for hours (to get you tired and so that you don't pay attention to a lot of details, basically you just want to get it over with and make mistakes), I had them do the whole deal (from me walking in to me driving off with the new vehicle) in one hour. I told them I had no desire (or time) to spend at the dealer and if they couldn't do it in one hr max, I was going to leave and find someone who could. yes that might have made me seem like a huge Karen but it was my right and why should I play by their rules if I am paying?

Back to you, you paid premium, you should expect premium, DO NOT put up with any quality issues, send the drums back and get replacements or your money back.
 
MattRitter said:
I don't generally talk about this. First of all, I don't like to feel that I'm spreading negativity. Secondly, it's a legitimately upsetting story.

But since you directly asked...

Around 2001, I saved up a bunch of money and spent it on a Gretsch USA Custom kit. It included 3 toms, a snare drum, and 2 bass drums. It was MASSIVELY expensive. Each bass drum alone cost the same as some full kits. All totaled, this drumset was literally many thousands of dollars. I also had to wait about 9 months to receive it.

To make a long story short, the drumset was a piece of garbage. The badges were loose and rattling around, many of the tension rods were bent like bananas, there were constant unexplained buzz noises, the snare throw off didn't actually function...etc. etc. etc.

The last straw was when the snare drum suddenly had a handful of screws bouncing around inside of it! Upon trying to put the screws back in place, I found that they were all stripped. At that moment, I decided to just get rid of the entire rig and take a big loss.

So...that's my Gretsch story. It was literally the worst purchase of my entire life.

Since then, I've mostly been using Tama gear, and have found it to be of exceptional quality. I've had a Starclassic, which was outstanding...probably the best quality drumset that I've ever encountered. I've also had a low priced Superstar Classic, which was about 1/7 the price of the Gretsch but far superior in build.

As everyone likes to say in these types of scenarios..."your mileage may vary." But that's my story. Do with it as you like.
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I saw a documentary on the Tama factory in Japan... Even the entry level Tamas are made with love (the guys working there really have pride in their work, so you will not see them taking shortcuts).
Of course the top of the line drums are going to be better (but not by much just more expensive materials).
A lot of quality issues boil down to shitty employers and shitty employees.
Screws loose inside the snare.. stripped and just left there. I for example could care less about the Navy (that I have been in for 22 years, to me is just a job) but I do care about my presentation how I am perceived by myself, so if my work is crap, then I am crap, therefore I always try to do a good job no matter if it's going to be reviewed or not because I don't care what others think, I care about how I would feel knowing I can do excellent but doing bare minimum. (Yes there have been people that have told me I get paid the same no matter what, I told them I sleep better at night knowing I did my best).

Sharing a bad experience is only spreading negativity if you do it in an unfair way to try to damage the companies reputation, without admitting that it might have been an isolated incident that didn't reflect on the company in general, but it doesn't seem like that is the case.. but, If you share it to help others at least make an informed decision when shopping for that brand...
Alesis is a good example of that, lots of quality issues with their flagship kits.. They seem to be getting better now but hey if you were going to spend $3000 only for your kit to break within the first month of use...
 
jda said:
a USA Custom buyer is not looking for a generic Taiwan sound. Plus he can find that in YamaTamaPearlMapex .
the Choice of a USACustom involves the sound on a million records from ElvinMotown some Santana 70s rock.
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Your point is valid, but I assure you that there is nothing generic sounding about the Renowns that Gretsch builds overseas. They definitely have the Gretsch sound. The older (pre 2016) Renowns sound an awful lot like USA Customs and the RN2s (2016 and later) sound like modern day Brooklyns.

Love them or hate them, there's nothing generic sounding about Renowns. That's probably why most people love them.
 
For every story of an issue with a particular drum set there are thousands of satisfied buyers . Unfortunately the unsatisfied buyers voice seems to be louder and get more readership than the satisfied buyers . I am no apologist for Gretsch though I do own two USA accustom kits that are absolutely perfect . There are duds getting out the door from every manufacturer , it is how they respond (if given the chance ) that they can really shine and keep a client long term .
Personally I would approach my dealer to ask Gretsch to make this right before I would start broadcasting to the world of my dissatisfaction . If the company could not “make things right “ then the gloves are off for me.
 
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