Gretsch sound...!!!

In terms of the Gretsch sound whats the big difference of the new gretsch drums and the "older" gretsch drums?

Older Gretsch shells are made up of Maple/Gum plies, these shells were made by a company called Jasper which is no longer in business. Keller is now making these 'type' of shells for Gretsch, how close are they ? Who knows, that sound is a combination of the shell and diecast hoops. Oh and bad bearing edges. LOL

I personally have heard mixed reviews of the. My suggestion is try them for yourself and see if you like them.

I have a Gretsch from the 80's. I recently played a show in Nashville and had to rent a kit. It was one of the Newer Renown Series. They sounded pretty good but definitely missing something though. Keller shells are great. I liked them better in the early DW stuff than DW's own shells. It's just personal taste I guess. I'll try and play the older Gretsch for ever if possible.
Peace, Sammy J

The real story is that Jasper only started making shells for Gretsch in the ealy 70's. Before that they had another source unknown to me. The "Older Gretsch" most people refer to are the round badge from the 50's and 60's. Many companies in those days were actually using mahogany shells. Those old classic recordings of Gretsch may have been partially mahogany shells. I've heard that Art Blakey, Max Roach, and Elvin all had Mahogany shelled kits in the 40's and 50's. Maple wasn't regarded as the choice wood until the 70's. Even today most drum companies offer mahogany shells as well as other woods. As far as Keller making shells for Gretsch these are still made from the same molds that Jasper was using. Anyone who knows shells will tell you that Keller makes an excellent product. DW used Keller for many years before making their own shells as do most boutique companies today. Frankly, Jasper shells were notoriuos for being shipped out of round and with ply separation due to bad sealing of the shell plies. Most complaints about the shells are from the Jasper years. I believe that Keller will have much better quality control and the shells will stay in round better and not separate nearly as much as Jaspers did. Fred Gretsch has made it clear to Keller and Kaman that the shell construction and sonics cannot change due to a new shell supplier. The Renowns are also US Maple that is shell formed in Taiwan. They do not have gum wood inner plys as do the US shells but do have the same specs otherwise. I heard artist after artist, including Vinnie, say that the Renown series sound great. I own one and think it is the best value for the money period.

I own Renown kits that are incredible! Thank you Drumaddict for bringing the truth to this Gretsch debate on old vs. new. I think that it is very important to be accurate when it comes to this sort of thing. Ignorance,far too often,is bliss(the norm!) Every company has something good to offer.

I own a Renown kit too. Great sounding drums! I get nothing but compliments on my sound (now,if they would only give my drumming the nod).
CB

Does anyone know when Jasper stopped with the supplying of the shells to Gretsch? Year, and serialnr.

I'm a bit suspiciously about some Gretsch USA Custom I have on loan now - the 12x8 tom sounds much better. That tom was a special order when the man buyed them. I've tried to compare the other toms with the 12 but can't see any difference. It also has a different color - much more like the dark walnut high gloss on Gretsch's website. The other toms are also in dark walnut high gloss.

The 10x8 serialnr is about 51000, and the 12x8 about 54000.

Is there place i can find out how old these drums are? Maybe yoy guys which own a Gretsch Custom can check their drums serialnr?

Sorry for the bad english.

CB,your groove was killin' 10 years ago...I can only imagine how it is today!

Sash,
You're far to kind! By the way, I still suck. You on the other hand are a great player. How did the gig at the Greek go? I'm sure you killed it.
Peace,
CB

CB your groove still kills. The bruises the next day after a gig prove it.

\m/
Douglee