SKF NOTE: For a brief period, after stepping down as Modern Drummer‘s managing editor, I worked as the Northeast Sales Representative for the Gretsch Musical Instrument Co. These two “Gretsch Percussion Artist” lists were included in a three-ring-binder full of Gretsch product info and pricing. When retailers asked how much it would cost to buy a Gretsch drumset, an individual drum, sticks – anything. The answers were in my three-ring-binder.

These 1983 artist lists vary slightly. My guess is the list without the “Class” column is newer.

The only Gretsch Drum Clinic I managed was with Harvey Mason in Connecticut. But common sense tells me the “A” class Gretsch artists are the better known drummers. The asterisks (*) next to drummers’ names indicate the players interested in doing drum clinics.

Interesting that a majority of drummers didn’t want to do clinics.

I remember talking with Karl Dustman, a well-respected drum industry pro working at the time for Gretsch, about this list. Imagining a Tony Williams clinic was exciting until Dustman said, “Tony Williams is Gretsch‘s most expensive non-working clinician.”

Going strictly by memory, Harvey Mason’s clinic fee in 1983 was in the $800 range. That’s $2,516 in today’s dollars.

Tony Williams’s Gretsch clinic fee was $1,200 or, in today’s dollars, $3,775.

When a drum retailer wanted to host a drum clinic, the dealer was required to cover the clinician’s fee. (I’m not sure about expenses for travel, meals, lodging.) Retailers were also required to have at the clinic a Gretsch drumset matching the clinician’s specifications: number of drums, specific drum sizes, hardware, and specific color.

If you were a large retailer with a big Gretsch drum inventory you might have a clinician’s drumset on hand.

But for smaller drum retailers, having a, say, Harvey Mason clinic, would mean paying the $800 fee plus buying a brand new Mason Gretsch drum set with hardware. Maybe cymbals.

In theory, the drum clinic would inspire attendees to buy from the retailer enough new Gretsch drums to make the venture profitable.

In my very limited drum selling experience, that theory did not hold true for smaller drum dealers. I would be interested in seeing profit-and-loss clinic data from drum manufacturers, not just Gretsch.