The Gretsch Drums Broadkaster Vintage is a USA-produced faithful recreation of their storied three-ply shell drums that feature a reverse roundover bearing edge (on bass and toms) and no built-in reinforcement hoops. The application of advanced drum-making techniques to the 1950's-era three-ply shell has resulted in a modern-day version of a drum that recreates the sonic brilliance and "That Great Gretsch Sound" of the original Broadkasters - a rich, resonant and pure musical tone.
Like its legendary predecessors from the 1950s, the all-new Broadkaster faithfully produces warm, dense and punchy tones. Thanks to the modern manufacturing advances and finishing technology, today's Broadkaster has even greater dynamic response and sonic presence than the originals.
- Today's Broadkaster shells are made one-by-one using maple/poplar/maple wood (all North American) without reinforcement hoops. Each shell includes an interior ply scarf joint that supplies added structural integrity to thin, musical shells. Like all USA-made Gretsch drums, shell interiors are finished with classic Gretsch Silver Sealer.
- The shell is hand-finished with the reverse roundover bearing edge on the bass drums and toms. The inside edge of the shell sits higher and rounds off down and away to the shell's exterior edge. This allows greater surface contact between the bearing edge and drumhead, resulting in added tonal depth and warmth.
- The vintage hardware on this kit features hardware component styles used on 1950s-era Gretsch kits, including drum mufflers, floor tom leg brackets, rail Consolette tom holder, spurs, bass drum T-rods, throw-off, key holder and Fiberskyn bass drum logo heads.
- Toms are outfitted with Gretsch's "302" 3.0mm, double-flanged steel hoops. These hoops are similar to "Stick Chopper" hoops used in the 1950s, but are constructed out of a heavier gauge steel to standup to today's more assertive playing styles. The 302 hoop helps to produce a more open tone than a die-cast hoop and adds ambient overtones to the overall tonal characteristic.
