Well,is it too much?Yes and no.Those are beautiful sounding drums,hard to replace with a modern purchase.The finishes,especially the darker wood colors look really ugly when scratched up.I also think $600 for a snare (metal)and tom brackets is a tad high-probably more like $350.

I adored my 1970 Gretsches.But they were quirky with the ancient hardware loosening up during gigs.The tone was magic-the tone I benchmark all other drums by.

So-beautiful,singing tone.No"hair band" dimensions.But "all the money",no stands or pedals,wrong snare.Not a deal-paying retail,to me.

If you plan to play them then there are two ways to look at this. 600.00 is a chunk of change in any economy. The shells, in my opinion, are an investment as long as you want to play them. The other poster is right in that the dark finishes do look kinda nasty when badly scratched. If it were me I would offer him less because of the condition and the lack of snare or hardware. Not much less though. I used to have a set that was approx 1982 vintage and I am stil kicking myself for ever getting rid of them. They were the best sounding drums I have ever played and like he said, the benchmark that you judge every other drum by. They sounded that good.

I had that kit as my first real pro set. I am also kicking myself for ever selling them. I'd get them and gig them, since they sound so good, and not worry about gigging them, because they are already well USED. Offer 500.

I would say 600.00 is a fair price i would offer 450.00 to 550.00 for the set..How bad in the stain finish? You can always re-do the cherry stain finish yourself..As far as the missing tom mounts you can alway fine them for 25.00 each i also see snare's on C/L down your way from 150.00 to 200.00...The only bad thing's i can say about Gretsch drum's are the muffler's very bad in studio and the ball tom mount's they also used other then that they are great drum's..Mikey

Did you get em? If not, what is your neighbors number? LOL

the finnish ain't too bad, the bass drum mounted tomholder is the single post with two clamps and L-rods (like the sonor designer series) I'm going back today to check it out again, this kit has been on my mind this whole weekend.

and to the earlier question as to if I would play them, I have three kits set up in my family room right now... one is miked for recording and the other two just for fun.

I always justify buying another set by saying I'll sell it but I never do...Keep on Pl

Well, I got it.

without the snare, traded a (crappy) guitar and amp, ended up only about $200 out of pocket.

Here's the before pictures the tom mounts only have one bolt in each so they are sitting on the bassdrum claw hooks and one of the heads is a REMO autograph head that says "to Chris" but I can't make out the name looks like "_____ allen" funny thing is my name is also chris.

I'm in the process of cleaning the shells (liquid gold) and polishing the lugs (with flitz). I'm also wraping the srings in the lug casings with cotton squares to silence them. the tone controls dont seem to make noise, so I decided to put them back on after cleaning, rather than leaving six holes in each shell.

the finnish looking awsome after a little work, just need to get some tom brackets. I'l post AFTER pics soon.

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That's one of my dream setups... Nice score man!

Very nice-and all there but the tom mounts.Why do you suppose that is?They aren't all that rare a part.