[KONA]

GRETSCH
The following are my reasons...........it's riviting reading by the way!
I started playing when I was about 13 yrs old. I bought a $300 (new) Japanese kit at 16 yrs old and a new Gretsch kit at 20 in 1969. I sold the Gretsch (sad to say) in 1976 and quit playing until last year. May 10th 2007 I ordered a Gretsch Renown Purewood African Mahogany shellpack - 6pc. It arrived Aug 25th and I started my drumming journey again.
I bought Gretsch for two reasons:
1) When I was looking around for drums last year I checked out a lot of kits and did a lot of reading, adverts etc. To me, anyway, the Gretsch drums looked and sounded as nice as any of the top-line drums.
2) Plain old nostalgia - I have some great memories associated with playing my first Gretsch kit.

OTHER DRUMS:
This week I bought a Premier Signia Marquis 14x5.5 snare
A few months ago I added a DW Collector's Series snare to my kit (Black Oyster Glass - It's really sparkly - oh, and it sounds nice too).
I also have a Gretsch Blackhawk Mighty Mini 10x6 snare - love it!

I'm liking all the drums I have so far...............

I also play congas and own a full set of Valje's. I bought them new in 1976 from Ray Ayotte when he had Drums Only! on Kingsway in Vancouver, BC.

I might add that I tried some Taye drums before I decided on Gretsch and I almost bought them. As far as sounding and lookin nice goes I think I could have bought DW, Yamaha, Pearl, Taye or Sonor (all of which I looked at) and been happy with any of them. Actually, Mapex are great too.
Maybe I'll just have to get one of each............

Cheers,

Kona