was on the left and right side of the grommet with the left U.S.A. The GRETSCH logo below the grommet was placed upside down to allow for the varied positioning of the toms. The brass badge had the GRETSCH logo in block letters above the grommet.

This would allow the badge to look the same no matter which way the tom was mounted. In 1980, due to the popularity of multiple -tom outfits, the badge was changed to a square shape with the corners cropped. This badge is very similar to the previous badge but the tag line on the bottom was changed back to 'DRUM MAKERS SINCE 1883' in block letters.Ī brief glimpse into the modern day drum badge. The second version of the octagon badge went into production in late 1979. This is the only badge to carry the infamous 'Great Gretsch Sound' tag line. Final production of Gretsch Drums with this badge was in mid 1979. The bottom section of the badge reads 'THAT GREAT GRETSCH SOUND'. One the right side of the brass grommet the word DRUMS appears in block letters. This brass badge had the GRETSCH logo written in block type with an elongated letter 'T 'in the middle of the Gretsch name. The next badge design for Gretsch was an octagon shaped badge. Final production of Gretsch drums with the Round badge was in 1971 The older version of the Round Badge used a carpenter's tack to attach the badge to the shells while later version used the standard brass grommet to affix the badge. The badge was round with GRETSCH written across the top and DRUM MAKERS SINCE 1883 along the bottom. This was the first badge used on Gretsch drums going all the way back to 1883.

You can use the following information to give you an idea when your Gretsch drums were manufactured: 'To help date you Gretsch Drums take a close look at your logo badges on your kit. ***'ok well I found an interesting piece of info from emailing a customer service thing on the gretsch website and I just got a response that said because of fires most of the records were destroyed so I thought I'd just post the email I got in case anyone else had any problems or if anyone was just interested The following GREAT piece of info was posted by another PDF member (I-IS-JAMES) a few months ago. snare.but FYI, it's probably 1980-ish or newer (going by the badge configuration, according to the info that follows). Stop sign badge baby!AWESOME snare, and I wish I had it because of the finish match to my kit, and to suppliment my C.O.B.

Gretsch round badge kit