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I own both brands, and others, too, and I think that DW has something that Gretsch is missing: a real living dyed-in-the-wool drum guru, fully aware of the past and, at the same time, constantly probing to the future. His name is John Good. He tells me, and it makes me proud (sound like a kid!), that I received the first ever DW X-shell (one drum: an 18" (x 14") bass drum). It's a monster, so plentiful in bottom end that you can crank the tension rods way up to the point other drums thin-out; the DW hangs in there full of tone, rich in highs and lows. And when you tension it down, which is Billy Ward's specialty, it comes into its element. I own a set of Gretsch 125-year Cadillac green bop drums. They're great and everything they're set out to be, if you don't mind the modern, center mount tom holder (and if you're brave enough to trash the tom suspension cradle, which to my ears sets up ridiculous stray overtones, and plain old screw the tom holder bracket into the shell, end of story). I think that DW is much more particular about quality control, consistency drum to drum and line to line, and devotion to fine detail. To whit: someone I talked to at Gretsch, who'd been involved with the company since shells were 3-ply, wasn't aware that all those early drums (and thru the sixties) featured evil, self-tapping screws holding chromed tension casings to shells.

It's really an instance of different strokes. But as I learned from another Guru, Hagi (now retired, still a good pal, from Yamaha), drums, if made properly, age well and improve; long story. Both Gretsch and DW are made well but I think DW has the edge, as it were. John Good is not interested in having kits returned with spur mounts directing the pointed legs towards the player, for example. Of course, look at the DW lineage; look at the predecessor Camco. The finest drums on God's green earth, in my opinion, especially the later, undersized shells. John Good is hip to that, if not as extreme in practice, and he's also hip to the properties of solid shells of varying thickness, and he's intimately aware of the effect of ply direction on tone. Gretsch is more of a Ford Philosophy outfit. That spoken, I've heard newer Kaman-instigated Asian kits that, I swear, sound as good as any round badge, square badge, or no-badge Gretsch ever............it's down to your ears and the music. Gretsch corners sixties and post-sixties contemporary jazz: it's the formula and it works.

Nobody'd even consider them, but I own some Yamaha Oak custom drums, thanks to Hagi, in green abalone wrap, that sound to my ears every bit as "jazz" as sixties' Tony. The dynamic range is astounding.

The first thing for a drummer making the big decision is to nail down preferences, starting with small toms and going to large toms, then bass drum and snare drum. If you know what you want, you'll know it when you hear it. In that respect, I think that we're lucky to have such a range of choice and, if we were prepared to be completely honest, and if we were willing to try and do the deed blindfolded and forget brand loyalty, we'd assemble wicked-sounding drumsets by "test driving" each drum in the manner in which we buy cymbals. Then we'd really have a kit. Aye, it wouldn't be a Camco, though!
Bruce

Hello Earl: Pardon the delay in my response. I agree with you all the way but find it a drag that mega prices place some of the vintage drums, particularly round badge Gretsch, way above the budgets of young drummers. I'm a Camco nut but can scarcely afford them; good thing I bought a few kits before the prices went wild.

I agree that the Recording Custom and Maple Custom were the sheeet. In fact, they sort of remind me of some of the first Brooklyn Gretsch drums I saw, going back years: the drums were 3-ply and the plies were thick, as I recall, making the shells quite substantial. At any rate, the wood composition of those old drums, and also Ludwig, Camco, Gretsch, Rogers, etc, was not so "pure" as today. A center ply of gum, or, on other brands, mixed plies of poplar or bass (or who knows) certainly provided different tonal qualities. A perfect bearing edge is good; it's necessary but not sufficient. Same with a good shell; but it doesn't have to be pure, American rock maple. Anytime something goes into mass production, one knows immediately that it's not necessarily manufactured from the optimum "tone wood". It's manufactured from wood that's sturdy, durable, and available in quantity! When a Japanese company manufactures drums out of North American maple because that's what drummers demand, it's almost a travesty. That's why I chose Yamaha Birch Absolutes: Japanese indigenous wood and not so conformist in terms of the "tyranny of maple" trend. I've heard and played drums made of what we'd now consider substandard wood and those drums, as in the former Yamaha Stage Custom, Jakarta-made, probably now made in China, sounded great. They might have been constructed from Philipine mahogany or Bangkok balsa. But the sound was special and not so pristine and typical.

You offer good insights and I agree with you. And I agree that it's the eve of Christmas. Merry Christmas Earl. Mr Christmas Mr Lawrence. And let's be good to the living.
Sincerely, Bruce