Gretsch Serial numbers were basically meaningless and offer no help in dating. The square badge was used from early 80s up until present day, the new USA Custom drums still use this badge. Anything made prior to the late 90s early 2000s will be Jasper shells. Nice looking kit by the way.

I was watching that kit. Nice.

Badge timeline from the Gretsch site.

http://www.gretschdrums.com/?fa=historybadges

I have a non-jasper shell Gretsch kit, 2007. The square badge says "since 1883" (my badge is under the Centennial badge). The serial number on my drum starts with the date. I believe the jasper shelled drums with the square badge say "USA". Gretsch has a new badge, SS with a drop G. it's on this page,

http://www.gretschdrums.com/?fa=usacustom

Just to add a little more confusion to the badges, I recently bought a USA custom snare with the square badge that says USA on each side of the grommet, it was built in '05 and was not a Jasper shell. They have reissued a lot of the badges, like Super B said, I believe the USA Customs are comming with a Drop G SS badge now. I noticed that the serial number on my snare started with 05, so it appears that the serials on the newer drums actually mean something, though I'm not sure when they started with the new serials.

I was wondering how that worked. A drum company would not throw out an old badge! Maybe, to avoid confusion (jasper vs not a jasper shell), Gretsch, later, went to the 10th badge (square, "since 1883").

Yeah the badge these drums have still show up on newer drums, so that's not really any help. Though Gretsch did say that I have Jasper shells as they didn't go out of business until 2002 or so..so even if the cs rep is wrong and it is somewhere in the late 90's, the set for sure has them.

I verified with the seller and he says the guy he bought them from which was the second owner, said early 80's. Also he says the shells are a little thinner than they are now, and apparently that was the case in the 80's.

The end of the Jasper era is tough to determine really, even well after Jasper shut its doors, Gretsch had a massive supply of shells in the warehouse. They have even released some snares in the last few years made from old stock Jasper shells. I've heard anywhere from late 90s to 2002ish. The new shells are supposedly made to the exact same specs. I couldn't tell a difference with my '05 USA Custom.

I agree with deadhead. I use a late 70's rack tom with my 2007 kit and they blend perfectly. It's not the maker of the shell, it's the process/bearing edge/sliver sealer/drum builders/ and some of the same machines since the 50's. (there's a nice mini movie on how they make the USA drums at the Gretsch site) It doesn't matter if Mr. Compactness' drums are jasper or not (I can't tell the difference in sound), but, that auction claimed that the kit was from the 80's. That auction was listed a couple of times, I was watching it, because, it would have been a nice fit with my current Gretsch rosewood collection. I just didn't have the funds. Regardless, Mr. Compactness' new drums will sound great and the price is 1/2 off of a new kit. Gretsch drums also sound better as they get older.

Mr. Compactness,

What do the inside tom stickers look like?

I'm checking to see if 80's Gretsch mounting hardware looks like the one on your bassdrum.

Here's a link to an 1983 catalog.

http://gretschdrums.com/ebooks/catalog_2/index.html#/5/

After diner I'll look around for the hardware.

The mounting hardware all looks correct to me for 80s era, what stumped me was the natural BD hoops, I was thinking they were in the same lacquer as the set durring this time, but I could be wrong.