Gretsch Cadillac Green and Gold 'Birdland' Round Badge

Brand:  Gretsch
Size:  20x14, 13x9 &16x16
Shells:  6-Ply with Silver Liner
Finish:  Original Cadillac Green Nitron with Gold Hardware

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Gretsch 'Birdland' Round Badge Outfit 20x14, 13x9 and 16x16




GRETSCH CADILLAC GREEN & GOLD BIRDLAND KIT
In the opinion of noted vintage drum expert, Steve Maxwell of Chicago, this is
the rarest and possibly the most desirable of all Gretsch kits.
Cadillac Green Nitron was the colour of the kit that Gretsch built as the house
kit for the Birdland night club in NYC in the mid 1950s. 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 colour line
for only a few years, and Cadillac Nitron green is the most highly sought after
and is the only colour that came with gold plated hardware.
Over the years very few of these kits have surfaced. Through research less than a
dozen kits in total are known throughout the world.
These drums have been privately owned by a renowned UK base drummer since 1996.
Purchased for Portland Oregon, they were sympathetically restored by Peter Woods of Hoopers Drum store, Aldershot.
The bass drum hoops have had their paint retouched and some finish on the kick as been touched up where 
a previous owner tried to force modern heads onto it.  

This being a Nitron wrap and along with the diamond plate floor tom leg holders
would date this kit to the late 1950s.