Gretsch Catalina Maple vs. Gretsch Renown-Differences?

vyacheslav

Senior Member
Greetings,

From Gretsch's website, both of the series are 7 ply maple shells. For the Renowns, it says "Gretsch Formula 7 ply Maple".

I know the Renowns have the silver sealer on the interior and they have 302 hoops, whereas the Catalina Maple has natural interiors and 2.3 hoops.

Are those the only differences (besides available finishes)? Is it the same shell/lugs/fittings?

If everything else is the same, that's a pretty big price difference for just Silver Sealer and 302 hoops.

Just wondering. I am not super familiar with Gretsch's offerings.

Thanks for the help!

V
 
Forgive me for not being up on Gretsch, but 302s are diecast, right? That’s a big price differential between them and 2.3s.
 
Renown's are USA made and Catalina maples are mass produced in Taiwan. Plus I have a set of catalina maples. And trust me,get a set of renown's if you don't feel like tuning all the stinking time.😡 I'm sure the Vaneer is much better quality in the renown's too. Someone did suggest going to drum factory outlet and getting some 3.2 mm hoops for the top heads and that would make the Catalina's sound a little better. But I think the Catalina's are just mass produced and not a lot of quality built in the drums itself which does keep the price down but it also gives way to unwanted nuances as well.
 
Renown are imports- not assembled in SC factory. Akincer, may mean the (renown maple is NA sourced.)
Want to see a Catalina and Renown mix?
Catalina lugs look smaller whereas Renown lug take the shape of USA (Brooklyn, BK, Custom)

Here's the WEIRD Set on Reverb (also has it on ebay)
Has Catalina Looking lug, no silver inside; yet Renown badge and he calls them Renown.

Can't figure these out -- unless someone switched all badges-->

that teeny truncated lug is Catalina not Renown ? +/-

Is it the same ...lugs
no Cats lug are a smaller shape design mini- lug casing.
Renown are the USA size and shape lug

the price difference between the two series seems justified to me)
Renown (early had die cast) have the 302 hoop Cats have standard trip flange hoops.
The lug is different.. Renown just a heavier duty drum to me +/-
 
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If Renowns weighed a ton I'd go to something from Yamaha or Tama.
the recent Catalina lug I have trouble getting used to +/-

I actually "accepted" liked, the very first center mount lug 16" and 18" kits, Catalina Club year 2003,
They looked/like the old 60s RB Playboy series.
Remember those..
032012-Gretsch-Catalina-Club-2.jpg

Those were the first Catalina 2003.
 
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Are those the only differences (besides available finishes)? Is it the same shell/lugs/fittings?

Both made by contractors in Asia.. . Difference in the shell is the Renown is PARTIALLY north american maple and the rest is asian maple like the Catalina. . Lugs are totally different as are the bass spurs and bass hoop claws . 22 kick they remove lugs on the Catalina.
 
Both made by contractors in Asia.. . Difference in the shell is the Renown is PARTIALLY north american maple and the rest is asian maple like the Catalina. . Lugs are totally different as are the bass spurs and bass hoop claws . 22 kick they remove lugs on the Catalina.
And I believe the floor tom legs and mounts are different, also. So ..... basically ..... everything is different, with the exception of maybe the tom holder and mount.
 
So what's everyone think of- what this- set is on ebay/reverb)

Lo0ks like a badge switch or mix out)
someone go thru the trouble of putting Renown badges on a catalina? lol..


Color doesn't match between bass and toms too well (lol
 
I had a renown maple first gen. I think the build was pretty great and it was easy to tune. As someone mentioned, it weighs a ton.

Unfortunately I had to sell this kit.
 

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Gretsch USA Customs with Die cast hoops aren't heavy; must a been the all maple 7 ply with die casts being the heavy Renowns.
I figure if I'm going to look at MIT drums I'll look at Mapex Tama and Yama..
Not convinced of the MIT Gretsch

When they- Renown- first came out there was one Configuration- an 18/12/14 usually in a Red- and the day -my local shop got them in (my local I happened to be there) was a 120th USA Custom Champange same size set right next to it.

All I had to do was hand Slap the 14x14 floor tom of each.
The Renown had a very clear- straight line no wave- sound. Generic but clear.

A slap on the USA Custom produced all kind of twang and 'waves' - character.
But that was ok..
 
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There are a LOT of differences between the Renown and Catalina Maple series.

The original Renowns were marketed as having 100% North American maple shells, plus die cast hoops, silver sealer, square badges and RIMS-style tom mounts. When the RN-1 came out (around 2012 I think), they initially marketed the shells as being a mix of North American maple plus a slightly softer Asian maple. RN-1 kept the die cast hoops, but switched to a round badge and the updated GTS tom mounts. A few years later, the current RN-2 debuted, and the biggest change was the switch to 302 ("stick chopper") hoops. However the marketing no longer specified the source of the maple, now describing them as "Gretsch formula maple shells", whatever that means. There were a few other changes to the RN-2, including gas cap-style bass drum mount and revised bearing edges. Regardless of which version of Renown you're talking about, they're all made in Taiwan to the same level of quality as the USA-made lines, and even use the same die cast lugs as the ones made in the USA.

The Catalina Maple line is made in China at a much lower quality level. They don't specify the specific maple species, but I strongly suspect that it's a much lower quality of maple. The lugs are smaller and stamped instead of die cast, and made of much cheaper metal that tends to fail. I've seen MANY broken lugs on Catalina drums; they tend to break where the posts that mount them to the shells meet the main body of the lug. Catalina also uses 2.5mm triple flanged hoops (which are fine) and a much cheaper and less effective tom mounting system.

If you compare any version of the Renown side-by-side with a Catalina Maple, the differences are easily apparent. The Renowns look and feel like professional quality drums, while the Catalinas feel like cheap mass-produced knock-offs. Ultimately, that's where the price differential comes in.
 
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So what's everyone think of- what this- set is on ebay/reverb)

Lo0ks like a badge switch or mix out)
someone go thru the trouble of putting Renown badges on a catalina? lol..


Color doesn't match between bass and toms too well (lol
Yup. That's a Catalina kit. 100% positive of that. You can even see that the grommet isn't correct. If you look closely, you can see where the original grommet left an outline on the Renown badge.

1664304572451.png
 
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So what's everyone think of- what this- set is on ebay/reverb)
Lo0ks like a badge switch or mix out)
someone go thru the trouble of putting Renown badges on a catalina? lol..
Color doesn't match between bass and toms too well (lol
Yup. That's a Catalina kit. 100% positive of that. You can even see that the grommet isn't correct. If you look closely, you can see where the original grommet left an outline on the Renown badge.
And wouldn't Renown shells have silver sealer inside ????
 
And wouldn't Renown shells have silver sealer inside ????
I only pointed out the grommets (I thought the rest were obvious), but there are a ton of giveaways that this is a Catalina kit in disguise.
  1. Smaller Catalina lugs
  2. Plastic lug holders that elevate the bass drum lugs (they do this instead of putting larger lugs on the bass drum to avoid tuning rod splay)
  3. Triple-flange hoops instead of die cast or 302 hoops
  4. No silver sealer inside the shells
  5. The cheaper tom mounts that go over two tension rods, instead of RIMS-style or new GTM suspension mounts
  6. Different floor tom leg brackets (I've never seen those on a Renown)
  7. The grommet thing I pointed out already
 
and a nice low mileage near new Renown for those that wanna see one ; _ >
to contrast ~
 
Yup. That's a Catalina kit. 100% positive of that. You can even see that the grommet isn't correct. If you look closely, you can see where the original grommet left an outline on the Renown badge.

View attachment 124774
I took a pic of one of my Renown badges last night to show what the correct grommet looks like for the square badge version of Renown. As you can see, it’s much darker and has a thicker flange.

0DACF78F-DCDA-4180-8693-0C754BA778AA.jpeg
 
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