Help with Gretsch snare!!

[Conaliza]

I have a 1960s Gretsch snare, and the quality of the sound is not very good. What I believe is the suspect is the bearing edges on the snare side. The snare has apparently dug a small trench into the edges, so that the snare side head does not make contact with it. please state your opinion.

Thanks

[Rich K.]

Those are called snare beds...the snare was made that way. Gretsch had very deep snare beds. Don't do anything to them. Many people, including myself, aren't that fond of Gretsch snares, some people love them. If you mess with those beds, you'll seriously de-value the drum.

[sabshga]

I find the sound to be very live on these drums. I don't think they are a great candidate for a really dry sounding drum but I love the variety of sounds the drum produces. I tune my way around the snare side and get good relative pitch matches from tension rod to tension rod. Regarding the batter side, sometimes a cut is what you need and I have a drum that I donated to myself as a player's drum. That means the drum has been rewrapped and the batter side bearing edge cut to perfection and the drum is a joy to play. I'm not selling it and I don't care about the collector/purist view on the drum. I have a few others that I would not do the same thing to because I may wish to unload them someday (and they sound pretty good without needing to be altered).
My two cents worth.

Gary
Dix Hills, NY
D' Drummer

[CharlesM]

How are the drumheads fitting?

I had a '50s Gretsch blue sparkle 4" x 14" Progressive Jazz snare for a few years (garage sale find for $25!). The drumheads fit so tight they literally had to be jammed on with some decent force. It was one of the worst sounding snare drums I've ever played. Very boxy with horrible sensitivity. (I wound up trading it to a friend for one of the BEST snares I've ever heard/had, a late-'70s Slingerland Sound King 6.5" x 14" TDR. Amazing sensitivity.)

I had the same experience using another Gretsch RB snare for some rehearsals. Heads fit too tight and the drum was very choked and dead sounding.

Another friend of mine who gigged with an older Gretsch kit for many years reported the same thing about the snare: The heads fit very tight and he could never get the drum sounding quite right.

The drumhead has to "breathe" a bit on the shell in order for the drum to have life and sensitivity, in my opinion. On that Sling drum I mentioned above, you could spin the head on the shell. This is also one of the reasons I think Rogers is held in such high regard: The drumheads seat very well on Rogers drums in general?a bit loose. The shells seem to be a bit undersized. As a result, these drums are very lively and sensitive.

So check the fit of the heads on your drum...that might be the problem. Another could be that the bearing edges are not true anymore, which would need to be evaluated by a repair person.

Hope this helps,
Charles

[Rich K.]

You could try Aquarian American Vintage heads...they're a little oversized for a better fit on Gretsch. Also, I've heard of a trick where you cut the head's ring in a few places to make it fit better and sound livelier.

[sabshga]

RIch,

I had to do that with one drum in particular. The cut did the trick. The drum sounds great. I have a lacquer finished Gretsch RB that is not too tight a fit and it is a wonderful drum. Thats my funk drum. Ghost notes, rim shots, the whole nine yards. Very expressive. I agree with the heads too tight thing and I have seen it on a number of Gretsch drums. I have used the American vintage heads for bass drum resonant but not as a batter on toms or snares. I was told the coating chips off. To date I've always used coated Ambassadors on the snare and coated Emperors on the toms.

Does anyone have experience with these relative to the Remos and how the sound may differ?

Regards,

Gary
Dix Hills, NY

[CharlesM]

Gary,

Could you describe what exactly did you did in cutting the drumhead ring? I think it would help a lot of people who own drums with this situation.

Does this procedure lessen the life of the drumhead at all?

Thanks,
Charles

[sabshga]

I used a coping saw but one of those drill bit spinning blades would work as well. Just cut the metal rim around the head (is it called the glue ring?) in one place (perpendicular to the rim) and don't go into the head itself. I did it on the snare I use the most and I play alot and the head has not been compromised. The tuning is spot on. I don't think anyone would know the difference unless they took the head off. I hit quite hard at times and use large sticks, Regal Tip Alex Van Halen mostly, and this head will have the identical lifespan to one I didn't cut.

One other thing; I've tried to get just a little more room when the fit was not so tight as to require cutting by using sandpaper to file the spot weld on the inside of the rim of the head. The metal is soft and it files easily and sometimes evening out the surface of the weld is all you need to free up the head.

I hope this helps. I got these tips from Matt Sinyard of the Bonzo drum company.

Regards,

Gary
Dix Hills, NY

[sabshga]

Sorry for the lack of clarity. I only cut in one place. That totally does the trick. No need to cut more than that.

[aldrums01]

Thanks Guys,
I've just cut thru my rim of my batter head and re-applied it to my new/old 60's round badge Gretsch snare (off ebay) and that boxy sound has vanished and the sensitivity of the snares has increased dramatically! I thought it was too tight but assumed thats how gretsch's were. It wasn't a bad sound but now it has the right sound! Using it on a gig tonight, can't wait!
Thanks again, Al.

[sabshga]

Aldrums,

I am very glad to hear that. As I mentioned I had the same experience. I hope we don't put Roy Burns out of the oversized drum head busniness.

Related thought to Charles M. I must be nuts. I took your spinning drum head on a Rogers drum comments quite seiriously and went out and bought a 1963 Holiday and a 1980 wood Dynasonic on eBay. I look forward to spinning my heads and hopefully creating some great sounds.

Did you ever notice that most snares sound pretty good when you spend a little time with them? I mean assuming they aren't broken. Even if they don't sound like they are up your alley, you can ususally find the way to tune them and hit them that gives you something cool to say.

Just a guy celebrating life by beating on a drum. One of earth's oldest stories.

Cheers,

Gary
Dix Hills,
NY

[CharlesM]

Gary,

You bought a whole 1963 Holiday kit on Ebay, I assume? What are the specs? I'm sure you'll love it so much your head(s) will spin. :D

You SHOULD find that the heads sit very well and loose on the drums...this was the case with all Rogers drums I've ever played.

As for your comment about snares, I agree that every drum has its own character and potential use. For me, though, the responsiveness and sensitivity of the drum is key. So if a drum feels kind of choked, even if that sound might be cool for something, I tend to get frustrated.

Enjoy those new drums!
Charles

[sabshga]

Actually, my mistake, it was a 1962 and it's just the snare. I have far too many individual drums to ever consider getting another kit again. I love the sound of my Gretsch toms and kicks, so I play around with the snare drums. I bought my 7 year old a set of Blue Vistalites because he saw a rock video and really wanted a set of "see-through blue drums."

[sabshga]

Charles,

This is the 62 Holiday. It is fabulous. First Rogers I ever played. It's top shelf. Looks like a recovery but it's no matter, it matches my recovered Gretsch kit.

Regards,

Gary