New Gretsch 3 ply Broadkaster line

Resonant friendly? To me that means off the bass and either hanging off a cymbal stand (which I don't like) or on it's own stand.

Give that bass shell a chance and remove the mounts and the drum!

Did you hear what Peter Erskine had to say about things mounted on the bass drum? He said he likes how the whole kit resonates when everything is connected, and part of me agrees with him. That's how everybody played their kits back then. Resonance Isolation wasn't even an idea yet, and drummers made their kits ring really good with calf heads!

I'm not so sure the resonance isolationists got it completely right. On the one hand we have drums that sing. On the other hand, we now carry more weight in chromed hardware around. I just listen to my favorite music from those eras, and look at what they played, and deem that as all you'd ever need. Of course, certain improvements worked, like better spurs (which you're not getting on these "new" Gretsch drums), and floating rubber floor tom feet, but that's about it, eh?
 
Les - Poplar is a different wood species. American Gumwood is Liquidambar styraciflua. Poplar is Populus species lighter in colour than American Gumwood. Poplar is fast growning with a straight grain - often used for inner ply - it's also cheaper than Birch.


You're getting too technical for industrial scale drum building. Poplar is often called gum wood, 'poplar' just sounds more elevated.

Would you rather have drums made with poplar, or gum wood? Gum (as a description) sounds cheap, and gummy.

KELLER, JASPER a major builder for example is not going to source 2 different species of filler wood, the cheap stuff. LUDWIG as an example chose to use the name poplar, sounds classier, its just a gum wood tho.
 
Part of the reason though is that an 18" bd with any type of tom holder and/or cymbal mounts looks too bulky......that's just my preferrence.

Looks too bulky? Have you not seen that bulky snare stand under your tom? That's what I call bulky.
 
Of course, certain improvements worked, like better spurs (which you're not getting on these "new" Gretsch drums)

You can order them with modern spurs, or vintage (useless) spurs (if you only plan to look at them, and not play them).
 
It would be very difficult for most of us to tell the difference in most drum wood. If you were to take Maple or Birch....for example....and build two drums identical....same plys, same size, same bearing edges and all the same hardware and finish and tuning...I would bet that noneof us would not be able to tell the difference in a blind test....
Most of the sound comes from the hardware, edges n' heads and tuning and shell thickness. The amount of hardware and the finish affects the drum also of course.
You're partially correct in the context of my remark. Telling the difference between poplar & gum as a filler ply is almost impossible. The filler in this case is used to lower the fundamental & take a small degree of brightness out of the resolved sound. It is slight, but it is there, & no doubt Gretsch did this with a vintage vibe in mind.

Your observation about what shapes a drum sound is also partially correct. Wood species has less affect on sound than many mass market manufacturers would have you believe, but it is there for sure. The less plies in the shell, & the less hardware mass attached to it, the bigger difference the wood species will make. That means you'll hear bigger species differences in a 3 ply than you will a 6 ply of the same thickness, so long as it isn't subdued by heavy shell hardware. The difference with solid shells under the same circumstances is much bigger again. If you then use wood species that are much further apart sonically (for example ovangkol & walnut), the difference is difficult to ignore, & almost anyone could tell them apart.
 
Were the Gretsch round badge kits made in 3ply? I would have thought that you'd need Re-rings for a 3ply shell at that time.

Anyone have any word on pricing for these guys? I can imagine they won't be cheap.
 
Were the Gretsch round badge kits made in 3ply? I would have thought that you'd need Re-rings for a 3ply shell at that time.

Anyone have any word on pricing for these guys? I can imagine they won't be cheap.
There's no real reason for a significant premium attached to 3 ply. Sure, there's tooling differences, & ply matching takes a little longer, but nothing compared to the huge upscale in labour time attached to solid shells.
 
You're not understanding what I mean by bulky....maybe I should have said...the bass drum looks....and maybe is....top heavy when you have a large piece of hardware and a top on top of it. The other reason I didn't do it is because I like naked bass drums....again....just my preferrence.

Looks too bulky? Have you not seen that bulky snare stand under your tom? That's what I call bulky.
 
Maybe we should all be using scientific names when we talk about types of wood. That would certainly clear this up. Liguidambar styraciflua (American Sweet Gumwood)....doesn't sound too bad....and use Populus for Poplar.

As an aside....and coming from a scientific background....using local names for spieces of anything - plant or animal....has always caused confusion. When you use scientific names there is no confusion.

I will add...I like the sound of "Gum" wood. I had an American Sweet Gumwood tree in the front yard of the home we sold last year. I grew that tree from a whip - it was gorgeous...nicely figured bark and beautiful spice scented maple-like leaves. I also think of my late 50's 3ply Gretsch drums when I hear Gumwood....It's all good to me.

In fact right now I'm having Morris Lang (LangPercussion) look for some Gumwood for a 3ply shell for a drum he's building me - Maple/Gum/Maple or should I say Acer saccharum/L. styraciflua/A. saccharum

Gary


Poplar is often called gum wood, 'poplar' just sounds more elevated.

Would you rather have drums made with poplar, or gum wood? Gum (as a description) sounds cheap, and gummy.

KELLER, JASPER a major builder for example is not going to source 2 different species of filler wood, the cheap stuff. LUDWIG as an example chose to use the name poplar, sounds classier, its just a gum wood tho.
 
I've never owned or played any Gretsch drums. What are the sound characteristics of the Broadkaster series?
 
Were the Gretsch round badge kits made in 3ply? I would have thought that you'd need Re-rings for a 3ply shell at that time.

Anyone have any word on pricing for these guys? I can imagine they won't be cheap.

The original three plies did not have rings. No silver sealer like the new ones, either.
With a satin finish, they are close to Customs, perhaps a bit less. The wraps with vintage hardware are more $'s.
MAP for a 12,16,22 in satin with modern hardware is 2400, vintage hardware is 3000.
Wrapped with modern is 2600, vintage 3200.
 
Were the Gretsch round badge kits made in 3ply? I would have thought that you'd need Re-rings for a 3ply shell at that time.

Anyone have any word on pricing for these guys? I can imagine they won't be cheap.
3-ply shells were used in the 1950s. The 6-ply shells came in around the late-1950s and stuck around through the 1960s. Both featured round badges.
 
...fwiw...in the 90s, sonor featured poplar-wood ply drums (force 1000 + 2000, both made in germany) as its lower-line drums...the poplar shells had a bright, clear tone with a (jazzy?) higher pitch than, say, sonor's all birch (force 3000) or all maple (hilite + force maple) offerings...

...perhaps this is the basis for the recent (re)releases of hybrid maple-poplar ply drums targeted to the jazz drumming community by gretsch (brooklyn + broadkaster) and canopus (neo-vintage 1)....
 
They sound fantastic, just gone through all the demos online.
Loving the look/vibe of the vintage option - but man, that rack tom just bounces like crazy.

Even in this video - he's not really playing that hard…the rack tom is swinging as much as he is :p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxrjIufp5bk

go to about 1 minute in…

Neal
 
man, that rack tom just bounces like crazy.
On my vintage Slingerland kit I installed a dw rail consolette mount on the bass drum and I combined it with a New Ludwig Atlas mount on the tom. On my 50's Gretsch 3 ply I installed an Atlas Arch mounting system to hold the tom. I just couldn't stand the classic mounts. If any of you order this kit I would highly recommend a modern tom mounting system. Old world charm is nice but it wears off after a while.
 
Got my kit!! WOW! Incredible sounding drums! Gretsch out did themselves!
14x24 9x13 16x16 6.5x14[/ATTACH]
 

Attachments

  • broadkaster1.jpg
    broadkaster1.jpg
    603.3 KB · Views: 5,079
the poplar shells had a bright, clear tone with a (jazzy?) higher pitch than, say, sonor's all birch (force 3000) or all maple (hilite + force maple) offerings...

I have an all poplar PDP 16" legged floor tom. I concur with the above, it is a higher timbre than any other wood I've played. So when Andy says Ludwig uses it to lower the fundamental, that doesn't add up to me. It seems like a cost cutting measure that again, happily works for Ludwig.

When I first got my PDP, at first I was like, whatever, the drum cost $89.00 shipped. I bought it to re wrap it. But the sound wasn't cutting it, so I had no choice but to f with it. I removed and chucked all the rubber lug and leg bracket gaskets. I brush lacquered the insides with a few coats. It improved the tone a lot, but still I was like meh...So I tried putting the Pearl isolation feets on the leg. The feet definitely improved the low end tone to an acceptable level it seemed. But still, it's like the opposite of walnut. There's a higher register thing going on even at lower tunings. For smaller toms it might be better suited, it does ring nicely.
 
Back
Top