How about a Gretsch Catalina thread. . . .

[rolandk]

Wouldn't surprise me if more than one brand of drums were made at the same factory.

[cgarges]

It's mostly a personal matter from a few years ago, but I can say that at one time, I worked for the dealer who moved the most Ayotte kits in the US and EVERY order that came through that store had some kind of problem with it. Those were some great-sounding and well-thought out designs, but the follow-through was total crap in the mid-nineties. All sorts of issues from plies separating to hoops cracking to throw-offs breaking to the company not getting custom finishes right time after time. One custom kit was refused FOUR TIMES!

If they're simply made by the same company who supplies shells or does assembly for Taye, that's one thing, but if Ray's getting any of my money off of the deal, I'm gonna have to think twice about it.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Professor]

I understand how that goes. When I was installing home theater, our shop was the biggest dealer in the world for a particular brand of high-end wire. (Nothing you guys would use in pro-audio.) We all really liked the wire, and made a lot of money off of it, but whenever the owner of the company would come around he was such a dirtbag it drove us nuts. Last straw came when he insulted one of the sales guy's kids. We collectively shifted our sales efforts to Audio Quest cables at that point.
Sometimes it's personal things, sometimes business things, and either way these grudges happen and they certainly can stick.

-Jeremy

[cgarges]

GRETSCH CATALINA ENTHUSIASTS:

Grestch is changing up the Catalina line. Apparently, the shells for those drums were made in the same overseas factory as the Taye drums, but the factory is now working some sort of exclusive agreement with Taye, so Gretsch has had to find another supplier for the Catalina shells.

As a result, Gretsch is introducing some really interesting new series this year: the Catalina Ash and the Catalina Maple. The down side is that all the Catalina drums are now available in limited sizes and finishes. For instance THERE ARE NO 20" CATALINA BASS DRUMS ANY MORE. The Catalina Club Series will still be available, with some big improvements: the same small, separate Grestch lugs on the rest of the Catalina kits (not the center-mounted, single-lug design) and they're improving the RIMS-type design to grip a couple of lug screws and not almost completely surround the shell. These kits will only be available in silver sparkle and white pearl. I believe the only sizes available will be 18,12, and 14, plus the snare. It doesn't look like the prices are changing by much.

Between Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon, I talked to over a hundred Grestch dealers in the US. There are two stores with Catalina Birch kits with 20" bass drums in Carribean Blue in stock. One of them is coming to me on Tuesday. These are the only solid-finish CA-S605 kits I found out of more than 100 retailers. There are a few of the Chestnut Fade kits out there and one Vintage Burst kit. Kaman (Gretsch's distributor) also has one Chestnut fade kit with a 20" bass drum. I couldn't find any of those kits in Red or Deep Walnut. One retailer did find out that Gretsch has one 20" Catalina Birch bass drum at the factory in Deep Walnut and was willing to swap some components on another kit for me to put together the kit I wanted. I'm not entirely sure what else Gretsch has left at the factory, but I do know that their inventory is low.

Once I for sure have the kit I ordered in hand, I'll be happy to let anyone else who's interested know exactly where those other kits are.

Just thought I'd give a head's-up to anyone who was thinking about getting one these kits. Most of the retailers I talked to had no idea that these drums were being discontinued.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Professor]

Wow! There's an old joke about guitarists spending $20 in gas to save $5 on a guitar, but calling 100 stores is some pretty intense shit there, Chris.
But I'm quite glad to know you found your way to a nice drum set.

That 20" birch kick in dark walnut might be a better choice for me to round out the studio kit than dropping the cash for a 20" maple Renown, so I'd like to know more about that one if it's not something you'll be chasing down. Then I'd be more inclined to pursue the 8" tom and a 6.5x14 bronze snare as well.

Oh, why is buying gear so much fun?!?

-Jeremy

[cgarges]

Well, you should see some of the places I was willing to drive to pick it up on Saturday!

When I'm on a mission...

In fact, my girlfriend had my whole phone call thing memorized. It was funny the number of dealers who tried to sell me something I didn't want or convince me of something. It's like, "Dude, you're the 79th store I've called. There's a reason for that."

Anyway, yeah, I'll drop you a line about the Deep Walnut kit. The dealer was really nice to me. In fact, I'll probably call him to say "no thanks," but let him know I may have a potential sale for him anyway. He'll probably appreciate that.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Professor]

I hope you have free long-distance on weekends.

-J

[Meriphew]

The new MF catalog has the Catalina Birch standard 5 piece shell pack for $549 (red cherry, vintage burst, carib. blue, dark walnut). Shells are 6 ply.

[onetakeproductions]

i am a drummer and producer/engineer. i own the birch catalinas i paid about a grand. my sizes are 8,10,12,14, toms 14 sn and 22 kick.
i think they sound great for the price. with these drums its all about the heads you use. i have experimented with many heads and the drums really do take some better than others. so far i have like the new evans ec2 clear heads for rock (punchy)
and i have used the remo smooth white emporers for a nice round warm tone. always used a emad bass drum head set for a meaty cannon. they sound great for recording, and i have some basic ass mics, 57's, d112, 4033 oh, and some retarded cad mics for toms...lol and mixed right they slam.!!! the snare does suck i use a maple custom or a dw for that, the snare is very bland. all drums have iso mounts and the hardware seems so far to be stong. so i hope that helps ya out!

rick"loaf" batyr
onetake productions

[cgarges]

The new MF catalog has the Catalina Birch standard 5 piece shell pack for $549 (red cherry, vintage burst, carib. blue, dark walnut). Shells are 6 ply.

Interesting they don't offer the Chestnut Fade finish. There seems to be an abundance of those kits around.

Grestch doesn't make the 20" Catalina Birch bass drums any more.
www.gretschdrums.com
Check out the 2005 catalog, even. And none of the new 2006 Catalina lines have 20" bass drums. The information about the change in manufacturing came from a dealer, as did the information that Gretsch's stock is very limited. More than one dealer knew that much of the line was being discontinued. If you just looked at the 2006 stuff on the website, it gives the impression that a lot is changing, but it does just say "New For 2006." So, I guess the 2005 stuff might still be around, but I've gotten the impression from more than one dealer that this is not the case. It seems silly to me for them to offer both versions of the Catalina Club Jazz kit.

As for the ply configurations, there's always been changing information about that and the bearing edge cut. I think initially, they were 6-ply drums with a 30 degree bearing edge and are now 8-ply with a 45 degree edge. I could be wrong about that, but I do know for a fact that I have a 7x8 Catalina Birch tom in my possesion that is 8-ply with what appears to be a 45 dgree edge. This particular drum also has stock clear Gretsch single-ply heads, but I know of some of those kits that sold with coated Evans G1s on them.

Again, nice work, Gretsch.

In any case, good luck finding a 20" Catalina Birch bass drum. I know of three of them for sale that aren't Chestnut Fade. There may be more of them, but I can tell you at least 97 stores where they AREN'T.

It's funny how fucked that company has become in the last fifteen years when in like a fifty year-period, they really only made one set of changes to the drums they built.

All I know is, if I can eventually get them to build me a 14x18 bass drum in that Carribean Blue finish, I'll be ecstatic. I'd be surprised, though.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[honkyjonk]

Does anybody know if they made a set with 30 degree edges, but seperate lugs for both heads?

I'm kind of interested in an 18/14/12 set. I already have a 70's gretsch 20X18 kick that I can swap in and out.

[Dave-H]

I think only US made lines have the 30* edges. A BIG part of thet sound is the diecast hoops on the "REAL" US made drums.

Dave H.

[cgarges]

I think only US made lines have the 30* edges. A BIG part of thet sound is the diecast hoops on the "REAL" US made drums.

Dave H.

A big part of the Gretsch sound that everyone really goes apeshit for is the tom edges cut from the outside in and not having any way for the air to escape. That's got more to do with why the pre-70s drums sound like they do than any silver paint, shell material, or die-cast hoops.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Dave-H]

While I will agree that the silver trunk paint on the inside made very little if no difference in the sound of Gretsch drums, the die cast hoops make a VERY BIG difference in the sound of them. Both Gretsch & Fibes bought shells fromJasper wood products. & the mak up of both brands shells were very similar. Both contained Maple & Poplar wood. The lugs aon both brands of drums were similar weight but Fibes uses regular steel hoops. The Fibes are much more lively sounding where the Gretsch are more focused & tonal due to the dampening of the resonance by the die cast hoops. Also due to the diecast hoops Gretsch uses less lugs per drum because of the stifness of the die cast hoops & this also changes the sound due to there being less mass attached directly to the shell. There are a bunch of factors that creat that Gretsch sound.
Slingerland didn't start putting air holes in their toms till the early 60's

Dave Huffman

[cgarges]

Slingerland didn't start putting air holes in their toms till the early 60's

Yeah, but Slingerland had a COMPLETELY different bearing edge going on, which I think rounded out the "choked" sound in the attack. Slingerland also had fairly heavy rims in the "Stick Savers." I don't think Slingerland and Grestch sound very much alike at all.

I've never actually seena wood Fibes kit pre-1990s. I thought they just made acrylic drums back then. Huh. Did they sound any good? The more recent ones sound really nice to me.

I'm not getting these drums expecting to get the sound of a high-end maple Gretsch kit. I've already got plenty of drums filling that void. I just want something inexpensive and flexible that I can beat up a little bit.

I managed to get an 8" tom separate from the rest of the kit (which should be here Monday) and played it on my gig tonight. Man, it really does sound great. Even with the crappy Gretsch heads. Pretty much exactly what I was looking for. I can't wait to get the rest of the drums.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC