Best £300 I've ever spent.... Gretsch Catalina Club Rock

Welcome ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls, drummers and lesser spotted nawarhls, to the best £300 I have ever spent.

Whilst trawling through ebay typing in everything from Ludwig to Leedy, I happened to come across an absolutely gorgeous Gretsch Catalina Club Rock in SIlver Sparkle, for the bargain price of £300. I fell in love as soon as I saw it and knew it was meant to be. I have been looking for a new kit for a while now to replace my workhorse cb/peavey hybrid (hence the name) and this fitted the bill perfectly. I was originally planning to save up around £800 and either buy a brand new Club Rock or a Ludwig Epic, so when I saw this beauty for £300, I thought I would save myself a considerable amount of time, effort and money.

That lovely chap selling it even threw in a full set of hardcases AND delivered it over 100 miles to my house. The hardcases alone are pobably worth the £300 The 24x18" hardcase is HUUUUUGE

When I first set this up and played it after several days of completely stripping it down and polishing, I was just blown away by the sound. I am so happy I cannot believe I have got this good a drum kit for this money. It is the perfect sound, set up, look and style for me and I love it very very very muchly. The bassdrum I have got with a felt strip on the bater side, and now I have a wooden beater on it too. If you've heard of a certain Mr J.H. Bonham, that is the sort of earth shaking boom we have going here. This kit just crys out for some fast triplet fills over and over again.

As we all say, the pictures do just not do it justice, as well all know . The sparkle is just so deep and catches the light beautifully.

Enjoy, I certainly am

SPECS

Gretsch Catalina Club Rock in Silver Sparkle

24"x18" Bass Drum (got a couple of small chips out of it, but still structurally and musically sound)
14"x6.5" Snare Drum
13"x9" Tom
16"x16" Floor Tom
18"x16" Floor tom

Various cheap, bog standard Stagg/Gibraltar/Early 70s Premier hardware (which I need to replace, hopefully with Gibraltar Flat Based stands)
Yamaha Flying Dragon Direct Drive (Phenominal, hugely under-rated pedal)

Pulse Percussion 14" Hihats
14" Stagg DH Crash
15" Stagg DH Crash
20" Paiste 101 Ride
18" Paiste PST3 crash/ride
7" Effects cymbal that I made myself out of a cracked crash
2 Stagg Cowbells

Vater Shedder Sticks

Mostly Remo Coated Ambassador (Batter and Reso) or Evans G1(I think, I'm not an Evans man myself, but they came on the kit and sounds okay)

That's quite the beauty there man. That boils down to $481 US for those of us across the pond. Happiness is a 24" kick drum and with no pillow and a felt strip on there, well you've just been given the keys to funky town. Hows that 18" floor tom sound? Des the house rattle a little bit when you dig into it?

Thanks Yeah 24s are where it's at, if you ask me, but then again I have never played a 26". The 18" floor is epic, the Evans head that is on it just makes it rumble, and you get that punched in the stomach feeling whenever you go near it.

Well done - It's great to get a bargain isn't it? The kit looks fantastic. I watch eBay keenly and I think I remember seeing that kit. The great thing about drum kits is that they're hard to pack up and post, so most people selling them say collection only... This of course severely restricts the number of potential buyers, therefore keeping the prices down for anyone willing to travel a long way to pick a kit up. I've seen some incredible kits go for peanuts in the past.

Aha, what part of Wales are you from? Certainly get the "widest thread format" award, lol! Anyhow, what a bargain, & you can see the depth in that finish. Lovely!

@ keep it simple : i'm from rhyl in deepest darkest north wales

Welcome to the Gretsch world. That baby is a thunder maker. Congrats