Dorado by Gretsch - Made in Japan

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This was sent to me by my drum nerd buddy Jay in Knoxville TN. He is the administrator of the Facebook group "Knoxville Drummers Union". He goes by the code name Jay Options over there. I think he is hiding from someone. You have to know the secret password to join that group and they are a shifty bunch :-) . Dorado Drums were added to the Gretsch Dorado catalog in 1973. They were cheap Japanese stencil sets; imports and didn't hang around too long. That's about all I know about them. I would put that particular set of Jay's in the $200 category just because they are in good shape. If the floor tom and snare drum were there they might be worth $300 to $350  -  George Lawrence

Here is a quote from author Mike Jones about Dorado guitars. Some of this may be applicable to Dorado Drums.

" I love the Dorado myself and have the same model 12 string as you. I also have 2- Model 5985 solid-body electrics. They are extremely well made and very playable. I am including information about them in a chapter of my book "Gretsch's Lost Weekend; The Guitars of Booneville and The Hagner Musical Instrument Company, 1970-1981" I am not going to be devoting much to the acoustic models but here's what I can tell you.

The Dorado guitars were made by Matsumoko of Japan between 1971 and 1973. The most intersting thing is, other than minor cosmetic differences, Matsumoko made the exact same guitar for Epiphone, Aria, Conrad, Granada and Lyle, though less so, their acoustic guitars. The ones that were marketed by the other companies were manufactured between 1970 and 1976. The Headstock design seem to be the only real variable on all of the models. As to why they were distributed by Gretsch, there was a long standing rumor that the Dorado was imported by Gretsch/Baldwin to make up for the lack of inventory after the Booneville factory fire in January 1973 destroyed the Gretsch production facility. While a plausable theory, It doesn't work with the time line. It appears to be more of a deal worked out by Fred Gretsch (still on the Gretsch/Baldwin Board of Directors) and Bill Hagner to work with Japanese suppliers. Gene Haugh told me that the decision to import was made in the spring of 1972 by Baldwin and Fred Gretsch. The first catalogs with Gretsch's name appeared in the fall of the same year and offered only acoustic models. In the 1973 catalog they offered an electric 6 string solid-body as well as a solid-body 4 string bass. Your 12 string model was one of two 12 string models offered in the 1973 catalog. Interstingly they also offered drums that year. A little known fact that you might enjoy. Gene told me that Fred brought a Dorado acoustic to Booneville one day in early 1972. According to Gene, Fred had put some masking tape over the logo, came into Gene's office and asked him to try it out. Gene played around with it for a few minutes then Fred asked him how he thought it played and what he thought it was. Gene said it played great and thought it was a Gibson. Fred peeled the tape off to expose the Dorado logo and said "That's what I thought too. Were gonna start distributing these." Gene told me he didn't care much for the electric solid body model's finish but the acoustics were as good as anything anyone was making during those days. Dorado had 3 logos. Plain Gold screen in fat block letters, Gold silk screen normal block letters in 1971-72 and in 1973 they introduced a Stylish in-laid mother of pearl logo. Yours is a 1973. I'll see if I can find some acoustic pics of the Aria, Epiphone, Conrad, Lyle acoustics so you can see they are all the same. For now, here's how the Dorado solid-body electric compares with all the other Matsumoko solid-body electric guitars. I hope this helps.

Mike Jones

1920s Sonor Drums & Hardware

Check out the 1920s Sonor drums and hardware! a double pedal? In the twenties? Really?

1969 Ludwig Psychedelic Red Hollywood Drum Set

It's really warming up for us here in the deep south. I hope your Summer has begun well. I got out early this morning to photograph this drum set for my article and I am still sweating all over the drums as I set them up. I know this set is not mint, but they are a good example of this attractive and desirable finish. I have been writing for the magazine for a while and the reason they keep me around, I guess, is because I am just a regular collector like most of you. I am not a super rich man with unlimited funds to spend on drums. Boy if I were rich I would go wild at the drum shows and keep E-Bay and UPS very happy. Instead, I save for a while and look until I find a kit or snare that really turns me on. I have bought a few pieces every year for the past twenty years, and sold a few pieces now and then. I have sought to improve the collection as I go along. I will buy a set in a finish I like, and when the set in the same finish in better condition comes along, I'll buy it and sell mine. I really don't consider myself a hoarder. I don't have five matching drums in the same finish or anything like that. If I have an extra drum in a finish another collector wants I share up.

The set I am featuring this month is a beautiful Ludwig Hollywood set from 1969. The wrap is Ludwig's exclusive Psychedelic Red Pearl finish. The big drum companies of that day mostly shared the sparkle colors and pearl finishes on their drums, but no other drum company dared to offer this finish, so it was only on the Ludwig sets. Ludwig tried two other psychedelic finishes on their drums, but they were not as successful in sales compared to this awesome finish. I don't have the time nor words to describe what psychedelic means to us who were from the sixties, but suffice it to say we loved everything psychedelic during that period of our lives. The wild colors are a part of that movement, and these drums are very colorful. Someone described this finish as looking like a "frog in a blender." The badges are the Blue Olive parallelograms that replaced the Keystone badges that year. The interiors are natural maple that has been clear coated. The sizes are typical for the Hollywood sets. Bass drum 22"X14", floor tom 16"X16", mounted toms 13"X9", and 12"X8". The snare is a 14"X5" chrome Supraphonic. This was the type snare that went out with most of the sets sold.

This was one of the earliest sets I bought when I started my collection. When I was in high school, a friend got a double bass drum set of Ludwigs in this finish. When I saw those brand new Psychedelic red drums I couldn't believe how spectacular they looked. I never got over that, so I went looking to recapture that experience by owning a set like those. I told my good friend Bill Pace, who actually had a vintage drum store at that time, to let me know if he found a set I could buy. He called me one afternoon with the news that he had a set in his store if I wanted to see them. I took my son with me to share the excitement. We bought them and I have certainly enjoyed owning them ever since. They are not perfect, as I said, but if you get a chance to buy a set like this in almost any condition you should do it. The finish fades with time and light exposure. The green color is the first to go. Even faded they are still desirable.

I don't know if this will make the editors cut or not, but I also included a picture of a Ludwig factory Psychedelic wood shell Supraphonic re-issue snare drum Ludwig made for me just before they re-issued the color on sets fifteen years ago. I along with others had requested Ludwig re-issue the finish, and so I got one of if not the first one. The head was signed by Bill Pace who sold me the original kit and by the "Chief" Mr. Bill Ludwig.