James Taylor

rpeluso, it was Merle's praise of Iris in an interview that lead me to her. Thank you Merle!

Early 60's Gretsch? Are they in the oh-so-collectible Cadillac Green finish?! Early 60's, so the drums are adorned with the "round" Gretsch badge? The round badge Gretsch were made with either a 3-ply shell, or a 6-ply. The 3-ply were made for the calfskin heads of the time, before plastic ones were widely available. Those shells are notorious for being hard to fit plastic heads on. By the time Gretsch switched to 6-ply shells, plastic heads were common, and the shells were made slightly smaller in diameter to fit them.

Both my Gretsch sets have "stop sign" badges (first version, more rectangular than square), from the late-60's/early 70's (with 6-ply shells). One set has lacquered Brazilian walnut-veneered shells, the other shells wrapped in Black Diamond Pearl (from whence the bdp in my Audiogon handle comes from. The 24 is for my preferred bass drum size.). Great drums, played by many Jazz drummers in the 50's and 60's. Tony Williams played a bright yellow set of Gretsch up until he died. Gretsch was about the only U.S. drum company to survive the Japanese take-over of the drum business in the 70's and 80's.