I just acquired this 1950 Gretsch Bop Kit

Looking forward to seeing some pics, but there's no rush. You gotta' spend a little time with them, letting the reality sink in first - ha ha.

I got curious and clicked on the seller's other items. I see he's got the cocktail drum and a set of old K hi hats up among other things. I'm assuming those hats were the ones in the catalog, ordered with the kit, way back when:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/hunter953/m...me=STRK:MEWNX:IT&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
 
Pics! I cleaned up the BD and the high tom tonight.
 

Attachments

  • 1450168_10200962857665933_727197588_n.jpg
    1450168_10200962857665933_727197588_n.jpg
    96.3 KB · Views: 424
  • 1455101_10200962855025867_1539259748_n.jpg
    1455101_10200962855025867_1539259748_n.jpg
    80 KB · Views: 428
  • 1470302_10200962854025842_136522448_n.jpg
    1470302_10200962854025842_136522448_n.jpg
    71.3 KB · Views: 433
  • 1477757_10200962856065893_1324271510_n.jpg
    1477757_10200962856065893_1324271510_n.jpg
    64.9 KB · Views: 426
Bob, I'm green with envy. Okay, that might be the bad Thai food I just ate. But I am very jealous.

Congrats!
 
That is a super nice classic kit. Wrap is orig?
 
Take a tumms 8mile :)
Yes Watso, the wrap is original.
I just ordered a full set of goatskin heads from Earthtone.
Even the snare bottom head will be from them.
I am keeping the original front bass drum head that you see in the pic.
I am changing all of the other heads on the kit.
I emailed Earthtone and I asked them to contribute info about their heads to this thread.
I am trying their products for the first time.
let the fun begin!
 
Congrats Bob!!! Beautiful find! Looking forward to seeing more pics once you receive it!
 
They look supurb! I love that finish.......and on 50's Gretsch!....that's icing on the cake.

Again.....congratulations!
 
Moar pictures, we want moar pictures. That's a beaut, alright.
 
Thanks guys, more pics will be coming soon. I will start work on the other drums in a few days when I have time.
 
Work progress. The Ludwig Atlas Tom Mounting System arrived. It is awesome! That is the only mod that I am going to make to this kit.
I am waiting for the new heads and the snare wires.
Heads will arrive from Fla on Tues. I should have everything by then to complete the kit.
 

Attachments

  • 1472037_10200973382729053_1169650618_n.jpg
    1472037_10200973382729053_1169650618_n.jpg
    73.3 KB · Views: 362
  • 1470216_10200973382449046_163682011_n.jpg
    1470216_10200973382449046_163682011_n.jpg
    61.9 KB · Views: 362
  • 1454589_10200973382889057_26897114_n.jpg
    1454589_10200973382889057_26897114_n.jpg
    78.3 KB · Views: 360
Last edited:
Congrats Bob, looking real nice. I have a set of drums that came with earthtone heads on them. Loved them, the heads were very warm & focused. Beware letting anyone sit in on your drums with them on. I on 2 separate occasions let 2 respected drummers sit in on mine, both of these drummers split the snare head on the first tune:/
 
They split the snare batter? Wow! I have been beating on these 60+ year old calfskin heads and I can't hurt them. Thats incredible.
 
Thanks Tsar, The original rail was mounted in a place where no matter how I adjusted the tom, it was uncomfortable for me to play. The bracket that mounts the rail to the drum had broken and it had been welded in two places. I didn't trust it. The bass drum tended to seem as if it wanted to tip over when the tom was installed.
The Atlas rail system allows me to position the tom wherever I want and the bass drum is stable. It isn't the slightest bit tippy. The tom also gets more sustain. I can remove the rail along with the L rod mount from the lug mounts on the bass drum as one piece and leave it fully adjusted for the next set up!!!
It is the best rail consolette that I have ever seen! I am totally pleased. I can't say enough good things about it.
The Fifties was all about Art Deco and big chrome bumpers on cars, so the Atlas rail works well on this kit.

The new calfskin heads will be arriving from Earthtone on Tuesday. Thanks Amanda, you are a sweetheart for shipping them so quickly :)

I should have some videos up on YT during the holiday week. I will share them here of course.

The snare wires arrived from Drumfactory today. Thanks DF :) They have German made snare wires that sound just like Puresound for half the price. I used them on my 65 Slingerland snare and I really like them. I bought a 25 strand set for the Round Badge snare. I am going to clean up the snare and floor tom this weekend so all of the drums will be ready for heads on Tues.
 
After experimenting with installing modern heads on the drums with the original Stick Chopper hoops I have decided that they will not be suitable for my playing needs. I have tried several modern heads that I had in my drumhead collection with modern aluminum rims and they simply do not fit well on the drums with the Stick Chopper hoops. Some of the heads simply fell right through the hoops!
The heads that I have ordered from Earthtone have modern aluminum type rims on them.

How to resolve this issue?...

Ducky and I went into our parts storage area and we discovered that we had all of the hoops that we need to complete the project. We have modern replica 2.3mm Slingerland style Stick Saver hoops that will fit perfectly!
In the future, we may order modern Gretsch 3.0mm hoops from a Brooklyn series kit that resemble Stick Choppers, but until then we will make due with what we have when the heads arrive from Earthtone on Tuesday.
Ducky says that we have already spent more than enough $ on this project for the time being. I am inclined to agree with him. We just want to play these fantastic old drums, and we soon will!
 
Last edited:
Yes, it sounds as good as it looks :) I will have vids up next week.
I really like the real skin heads. The front bass drum head is original to the kit.
The snare is awesome!
 

Attachments

  • 1456657_10200999008529682_1848551818_n.jpg
    1456657_10200999008529682_1848551818_n.jpg
    64.2 KB · Views: 281
  • 1474515_10200999012169773_1225567319_n.jpg
    1474515_10200999012169773_1225567319_n.jpg
    63.8 KB · Views: 283
  • 1380086_10200999011809764_1469526465_n.jpg
    1380086_10200999011809764_1469526465_n.jpg
    56.8 KB · Views: 281
  • 1488149_10200999012009769_759799073_n.jpg
    1488149_10200999012009769_759799073_n.jpg
    76.2 KB · Views: 285
bobdadruma said:
After experimenting with installing modern heads on the drums with the original Stick Chopper hoops I have decided that they will not be suitable for my playing needs. I have tried several modern heads that I had in my drumhead collection with modern aluminum rims and they simply do not fit well on the drums with the Stick Chopper hoops. Some of the heads simply fell right through the hoops!
The heads that I have ordered from Earthtone have modern aluminum type rims on them.

How to resolve this issue?...

Ducky and I went into our parts storage area and we discovered that we had all of the hoops that we need to complete the project. We have modern replica 2.3mm Slingerland style Stick Saver hoops that will fit perfectly!
In the future, we may order modern Gretsch 3.0mm hoops from a Brooklyn series kit that resemble Stick Choppers, but until then we will make due with what we have when the heads arrive from Earthtone on Tuesday.
Ducky says that we have already spent more than enough $ on this project for the time being. I am inclined to agree with him. We just want to play these fantastic old drums, and we soon will!
Click to expand...

Bob,Gretsch was notorious for making their shells around that time(Jasper actually) oversized on purpose,so you would have to by their Permatone heads.Remo eventually made heads that would fit the oversized Gretsch shells.Modern heads are smaller,and the counter hoop won't even fit over the shells at all.

The rims were made to fit oversized shells.Hopefully,the earthtone heads will be larger to fit vintage shells.

Is that a Tama/Camco pedal I see there?Great pedals,light and fast.


Steve B
 
tamadrm said:
Bob,Gretsch was notorious for making their shells around that time(Jasper actually) oversized on purpose,so you would have to by their Permatone heads.Remo eventually made heads that would fit the oversized Gretsch shells.Modern heads are smaller,and the counter hoop won't even fit over the shells at all.

The rims were made to fit oversized shells.Hopefully,the earthtone heads will be larger to fit vintage shells.

Is that a Tama/Camco pedal I see there?Great pedals,light and fast.


Steve B
Click to expand...
Yes Steve that is a new reissue Tama/Camco pedal. I love it.
The Earthtone heads fit the shells just fine but they will not work with the original hoops, To be honest, I really don't like the Stick Choppers. They are thin and they bend easy. Not having a flange at the top makes them not as strong as triple flanged hoops. The replica 2.3mm Stick Saver hoops that I installed work fine and they are a lot like the Gretsch die cast hoops, just slightly lower in profile. I think that I will leave it this way. I already had the hoops so now I am putting them to use.
I am very happy with the kit and that's what really counts. The heads are like firm pillows. I get a lot of rebound from them and they sound so warm. The snare head has a beautiful soft crack.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top