I agree.

Just curious ... these are the import shells, right?

yes they are.

$3,010.00 MSRP. "Your Savings" $1,712.99". Hmpf. Even with the savings, I'd rather plunk a grand down on/towards a vintage kit. (I never liked this series drums.) Where are the badges? Pretty sure these were a failure. That said, good beginner kit, I suppose. Made in the land of rice and tea.

B

While MSRP may have been $3,010.00, the running price on these from the beginning was $1,957.00. I thought it was a clever marketing concept and some outside the box thinking from a design perspective. Having said that I didn't buy one and apparently they are blowing them out now. Of course GC/Musician's Friend does get better rates then pretty much anyone. They are way beyond simple volume pricing.

What is the composition of the Gretsch import shells? What other Gretsch lines use these shells? I am out of the loop on current Gretsch products.

Who made those,..Buick ??

My bad,..that`s a big block !!

Now, now...settle down :)

Yeah, but the 4 piece jazzy bebop kit whatever can be had for a ridiculous $700 or so inlduing shipping. I just bought the motor city blue version. I agree that $1,000 could be better spent on vintage drum, but the deal I got was too hard to pass up. The Renowns do sound reeeallllly good. Plus small bop kits will always been in demand as long as drummers drum and pubs are small.

I'm good.

Guess you got a good deal (?). What's the hardware like, what rims, any real badges? Does that extra glued-on chrome affect shell reso? Will it fall off in a few months? Will it still be pleasing to the eye in a year? My prediction (I never make predictions): Near-future rewrap candidates.

Sorry for my disdain (And, no. Not drinking Merlot.).

Enjoy

B

I think most people would be hard pressed to tell a difference sonically between a Renown kit and a USA Gretsch kit. I've played lots of both and I think the Renowns are awesome drums. If you want the gretsch look and sound but don't want to lug a $3000 kit around to crappy clubs, this is a no-brainer.

And the Chevrons can be removed easily with just a little heat (hair dyer) and a gentle hand - the finish underneath is not bothered. So at worst you remove them and you have a beautifully lacquered maple kit with (OH GOD) no badges.

So let's recap - for $1000 you can buy a brand new Gretsch Renown kit (with a nice throne!) that sounds every bit as good as kits costing twice or three times that much. Sounds like a great deal to me.

People around here are pretty snobby sometimes about Asian-made kits - especially funny when I've seen so many American made kits with bad bearing edges, crooked lugs, etc. - I've seen USA Gretsch kits with drill dings, rough edges and crossthreaded screws holding the lugs on - never seen that on an 'upper-tier' Asian kit. I bet the people who complain the loudest are the ones who couldn't tell the damn difference if they played 2 kits blindfolded.

"beginner's kit"?! - I mean -COME ON. If Gretsch Renowns are nothing more than a beginner's kit, you're ruling out all the top-of-the-line stuff from Mapex, Pearl, Tama, Yamaha, etc. as well. And sorry, but many of the world's best-selling and best sounding albums in all genres have been recorded with drums made in Asia. Get over yourself.