Building a Gretsch Max Roach - Progressive Jazz Snare

When it comes to piccolo snare drums, I've always wanted to get my hands on one of those Nobel & Cooley 14" x 3.75" maple snare drum favored by Phil Collins, or the vintage Gretsch 14" x 4" Progressive Jazz maple snare, made famous in the late 1950s and early 1960s by the legendary drummer Max Roach. The Nobel & Cooley will cost you at least $1000, and the Gretsch at least twice as much or more. Not cheap, that's for sure. Well, I've built a bunch of snare drums before, so why not make my own version of the Gretsch drum?
From 1954 to 1961, Gretsch promoted this snare as the "Max Roach Model", and later as the "Progressive Jazz Model". Finding a vintage shell was nearly impossible without spending a ton of cash, however finding a modern Gretsch 14" x 4" shell was a lot easier. After scouring ebay & Reverb for months, I got my hands on a 6 ply maple shell with bearing edges and a snare bed added. This would be a 8 lug snare; My other Gretsch snares were 10 or  20 lug, with die cast hoops.

 After the shell, most of the parts were easy to find: A JS Chrome wrap from Jammin' Sam; Die cast hoops, Vintage tone control; Air vent & key; A vintage Gretsch 1960s round badge and grommet; Vintage throw off and butt, PureSound 20 strand snare wires, Evans Genera and Snare Side 300 heads, and silver galvanized fence paint for the shell interior. The most elusive parts were the Gretsch piccolo mini-lugs. I could find one or two here and there, but I needed 8. Thankfully, the folks at Salt City Drums were able to order all eight of them for me.

One month later the elusive lugs had arrived, and I was able to finally able to assemble the drum. Although the Max Roach/Progressive Jazz snares came in either a Pearl or Nitron lacquer finishes, I opted to cover it in chrome, just like all of my other Gretsch snare drums. I'd seen photos of them in sparkle and in lacquer finishes, but never in "chrome over wood". Jammin's Sam makes the best chrome wrap I have ever used; Easy to attach with bonding tape and the brass grommets to match.

 The trickiest bit involved the vintage strainer. I've installed Gretsch's Lightning throw off and butts on virtually all of my other Gretsch snare drums and attached the strainers with nylon tape, but for some reason the tape just wasn't working. The vintage lug design just wouldn't get the wires close enough to the snare head. Once I discovered the strainer required nylon strings, I replaced those plastic strips and was good to go. The results were pretty astonishing; That vintage sound, both warm and crispy.

For the price of the parts, the shell, and the satisfaction of building this modern classic, I was well pleased. I now had a Gretsch snare I can use for that bop sound of Max Roach; the '80s gated reverb  sound of Phil Collins; the jazz fusion sound of Rayford Griffin, to blend with my range of Gretsch Custom USA drums. Age is all that distinguishes this drum from a true vintage snare. That can't be reproduced, however for my purposes, and using modern recording techniques, I can get pretty darn close. Perhaps in another 50 years, this drum will have that true vintage sound. In the meantime, I'll happily roll along with my modern gem; A reproduction of the 1961 Gretsch Max Roach - Progressive Jazz 14" x 4" snare drum and the Gretsch USA Progressive Jazz Kit!


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