Well... they are Gretsch drums from what appears to be the mid-to-late 60's, judging by the diamond plate tom mounts. However, the badge is from the 70's. I don't recall how long Gretsch stayed with the diamond plate tom mounts. Is there a bass drum? What's the overall condition? Any major knicks, cuts, extra holes, wrap lifting, etc! Vintage Gretsch drums command big $$$ these days. I hope you got a good deal on them!

Nice find! I have yet to pickup a set of drums by just walking into a pawn/resale shop, but I keep trying. :D

Those look pretty nice. Like idrum4fun asked, is there a bass drum?

Are the two mounted toms 12"? If so, you probably have the Rock 'N Roll Kit. If the toms are 12" and 13", then it's the Black Hawk Kit.

http://www.gretschdrums.com/ebooks/1971/index.html

I'm not an expert, by any means, but this is some of the information I have collected based on researching my Gretsch set.

Gretsch changed the badge from round to stop sign in or around 1969, but continued the serial number sequence (according to Rick at the Gretsch Drum Dating Guide). This explains your Stop Sign Badge #1 (SSB#1) and high serial number. I have a SSB #1 set with serial numbers 00481, 00499 and 00553, which dates them to about 1971 when the second sequence of serial numbers started. The SSB serial numbers were ink stamped until around 1973 and then became handwritten at around S/N 22,000. My mounted tom has the diamond mounting plate hole pattern.

There is one thing that is very interesting. The mounted tom on the left has two tone controls with the diamond mounting plate on the right, which means it was the left tom mounted on the bass drum. The mounted tom on the left only has the top tone control and no holes for the bottom tone control with the diamond mounting plate also on the right. I am wondering if the right tom was re-wrapped and added to the set at a later date or someone might have just rotated the badges to make the toms have this orientation. :o

Did you get legs with the 16" floor tom? Did the mounted toms come with the bottom hoops? If not, you can find these pretty easily.

Thanks,

Tim

What are the serial numbers on the other drums? Are they the same style of label?

Rick

Differently 70 Gretsch. what model ? Call or email Gretsch if it has a serial they will tell you year date and time it was made.

[email]customerservice@gretschdrums.com[/email] or [email]info@gretschdrums.com[/email] Fred Gretsch responds pretty quick.