Just received some more info on my drum:"Shells were either bent using either a wet or dry process...the wraps were glued on a fabric glued to the shells. Then burlap was stretched around the shell. The burlap had wood on each end..the two wooden sections were clamped together to uniformly squeeze out air...and set up drying. Later the seam was glued down and clamped"The above seems to be what I see regarding the cloth and burlap.Check it out in the photo.Also - it looks like someone has cut down the wrap....probably to help the head fit better. You can also see what appear to be blade marks to the right of the wrap seam joint. As we know, some of the heads fit tight on old Gretsch shells....and this one does. I noticed that the head fits a little better on this end that it does on the other. But asided from what may be 'after market' chopping and cutting...the wrap appears to be factory.

Hey, I have a 40's Gretsch snare with that shell! It is thick as hell. There's no date stamp I can see, but it has the old style (zephyr lugs? is that what they're called?) The other two (zephyr lug) 40's Gretsch drums I own have the 3-ply shells - much thinner than this beast.Mine is a duco finish, so fitting heads shouldn't be a problem with mine. Edges are in great shape but the finish is flaking off and I'm not sure what to do with it, so it is just sitting. I don't know how to stabilize the remaining paint so it doesn't continue to fall off. I haven't even cleaned it because of damage it would do to the paint. Thus it is yet another one of my many projects waiting for inspiration ...Let me know if you want a picture.