In our opinion, this is the rarest and possibly the most desirable of all Gretsch kits. Cadillac Green Nitron was the color of the kit that Gretsch built as the house kit for the Birdland night club in NYC in the late 50s. Gretsch had been building a guitar that was finished in cadillac green with gold hardware and they decided to do the same with a drum set. There were only a few different nitron finishes and they were in the color line for only a few years, and cadillac nitron green is the most highly sought after and is the only color that came with gold plated hardware. These were offered from 1954-1958. Over the years very few of these kits have surfaced. Through our research we know of less than a dozen in total. The kit you see here is my personal kit and I thought I'd share it with you here so you can see an example of the "real deal". 5.5x14, 9x13, 16x16, 14x22. Since these sets were built as Gretsch transitioned from 50s 3 ply to later 50s 6 ply, you will see slight differences in kits from this era. An example here is the early version die cast rims on the snare and 13, and the slightly earlier double flanged "stick choppers" on the 16. Very cool, and, the set sounds incredible. It's on display in our new Illinois store showroom.

$0.00