I've finally taken some good pics of my beloved Gretsch drums. It's a transition kit -- they're three-ply with silver sealer, no tags, Gladstone floor tom legs, stick-chopper rims on the toms, and die-cast rims on the snare. I figure that places them around the late 1950s.

I've told their story elsewhere on the forum, but I figure I'll repeat it here with the good pics. Stop me if you've heard this one before...

My parents found an ad for "Gaetsch drums" in the local buy-and-sell paper when I was 16, and cut out the ad for me. Bless their hearts, they knew I'd been dreaming of having a Gretsch kit for years, and they recognized the name in the paper.

The seller was only asking about $600, so I figured they would be a beat-up, road-worn, sad kit from the 80s. Not the vintage kit I was dreaming of, but they'd be better than my Tama Swingstars. I went to check them out, and was thrilled and amazed to discover this vintage midnight blue pearl kit in stunning condition. They'd been sitting in a basement unused for a decade or two, and they looked like it.

I had to sell my Tamas to raise the cash for the drums. It took a couple of weeks, and miraculously, the Gretsch kit was still there when I finally had the money. Fearful of dawdling any further, I convinced my dad to drive me out to pick them up on Christmas Eve, in the middle of the worst Canadian blizzard I've ever seen. It took us half an hour to drive the half-mile to the seller's house. It was worth it.

When I got the drums home, I finally took a look at the cymbals he threw in, and discovered that the ride was a 20" Istanbul K. (He also threw in a Tama King Beat snare, the original hi-hat pedal and Floating Action bass pedal, a vintage leather stick bag, a bunch of great 1970s A's, a pair of trashy K hats, and--the piece de resistance--the original leopard print drum throne!) For this and other reasons, this might just have been my best Christmas ever.