Not So Modern Drummer Gretsch Refurb Program
Joe Partridge and George Lawrence have been resurrecting used drums together since 1986. Joe is a well respected drum repairman, builder of custom furniture, and sculptor of wood art. He writes the repair and refurbishing column for Not So Modern Drummer magazine. George is the drummer for Poco, owner of George’s Drum Shop in Akron Ohio and publisher of Not So Modern Drummer magazine. They both own Famous Drum Company and build high end instruments for pro drummers.
We take Gretsch Jasper shell drum sets and orphan singles that are worn and in need of repair and turn them into pretty working drums that you'll be all too happy to enjoy playing again once you put down partybets and pick up your sticks. Lots of these old Gretsch drums had lots of extra holes because owners and drum shops would take off the crummy Gretsch mounts and add whatever hardware was best that year. To bring them up to Gretsch factory specs, we plug the holes, recut the bearing edges to the original shape, paint the insides, recover with new wrap, replace missing lugs and hoops with good used or new parts, and add modern spurs to the bass drums.
Our goal is not to recreate collector quality drum sets or to meet the original specs of mounting hardware. Our goal is to provide drummers with nice new looking Gretsch kits to play at a price far less than a new Gretsch kit. We are going for authenticity only in the Jasper shell/Gretsch lugs/Gretsch hoops. The hardware options are up to you. The price stated is for the basic drums with tom bracket, spurs and floor tom legs.
Each set’s description will note whether all the drums came from one original set or was assembled from orphans of the same badge era.
Stock sets are in burgundy sparkle, green sparkle and silver sparkle wrap. We do not paint Gretsch refurbs at this time. Coming soon though.
Stock features:
- Mounted toms: RIMS mount holder with Gretsch techware bracket on mounted toms, no muffler (they rattle, remember?).
- Bass drums: modern fold out spurs. If T handle rods were missing we use square head tension rods. No bass drum tom mount installed. No Pratt muffler installed.
- Floor toms: brackets and legs appropriate for their era . No muffler on floor toms either.
- Heads: Remo ambassadors coated top and clear bottom unless otherwise specified. Gretsch logo Remo heads available (not cheap).
- Holes:All holes for mufflers, old spurs, bass mounts, tom mounts, etc. are filled with wood and painted and wrapped over.
- We are a Gretsch dealer and all current parts are available to us.
- Gretsch and Maxwell clip mount and techware (1/2”) tom mount brackets
- Diamond floor tom brackets and cymbal arm brackets
- All models of Gretsch spurs though we recommend none but the current fold down ratchet style.
- Steve Maxwell and Gretsch rail mounts for bass drum. Gretsch and other brands of modern mounts for bass drum. We recommend the DW or Universal Percussion slide track mount since it does not invade the drum.
- T handle bass drum tension rods.
- Pratt bass drum mufflers, tom mufflers
- Other makes and models of drum heads
If you want other hardware and color options we can take care of it and start with a set of raw shells. We can also add your existing hardware or help complete your partial Gretsch project set.
