Gretsch Drop G Era Name Band 22/13/16 Drum Set Black Nitron SUPER CLEAN

This is a wonderful sounding drum set from a somewhat hard to find era. Drop G bMadge was late 79-early 81. This set has the old school dissapearing spurs rather than the creative research big chunky spurs that they soon came out with. It has the thinner undersized Jasper shells that are considered some of the best sounding drum shells ever made. It also has the modern Tom mount base plate which is a huge upgrade from the 70s style diamond one so even though the mount works fine, it gives you an easy way to upgrade the Tom mounting system to a modern bracket without really changing anything about the originality of the set.

This was a recent restoration of mine. The kit came to me as a concert tom set but the toms were 9x13 and 16x16 (rather than the common 14x16 concert floor) so I figured this was a prime opportunity to use My 20+ years of vintage restoration and custom drum building knowledge to turn the toms into double headed toms—so that’s what I did. The work went as smooth as can be and if I’m being honest my work is as good or better than the factory work they did back then. You’d never know these weren’t factory two headed toms unless you look up the model numbers on the tags and check. I sourced all the correct vintage Gretsch parts to add, and put brand new evans heads on the set. Emad bass head, repro logo on a smooth white reso head, evans reso clear Tom heads and g2 coated batters. I’ve played two shows with the set so they are slightly used but not bad at all.

Floor Tom legs are original, no extra holes. I did have to replace the Tom mount plate on the bass drum with a new one because the original had the adjustment bolt broken off and it was not usable—but luckily the modern Mount is an even swap for what was on there. Even looks exactly the same. I am including that original part in the sale incase you’d like to try to retap it or something and put it back on.

The Tom mount works great. The only thing not original Gretsch is the 8 tension rods on the bottom of the floor Tom. They are new replacements. Everything else is legit.

The chrome through the kit is stunning although ofcourse you can find light pitting and scratching here and there on lugs and hoops if you look close. Overall it’s extremely clean and gleaming. There are few very minor scuffs and scratches on the wrap but they are very hard to notice. The worst is under where the Tom sits. I tried to take pics but even those are hard to see unless the light hits just right. Seams are tight, badges are pristine.

When I sourced bass drum claws for the front of the bass. (They were missing when I got the set), the person I got them from sent me a little mix of the metal hoop type (which this set should have) and the wood hoop type with a little more of a “hook“ on the claw….but I don’t really think it matters. They both function fine. The ends of some of the bass tension rods are scuffed up from storage but overall everything is straight and clean and functions as it should.

If you have any questions let me know!