I’m a drummer , and have owned 50’s / 60’s Gretsch drums , made in Brooklyn NY ! Sold them all . Oversized shells made for calf heads . Had to force plastic heads on . Pain in the ass .
My impression, not knowing that much about drums, is that early drums were fairly lightweight in construction. Even the better brands, Gretsch, Slingerland, Ludwig. And certainly, so were guitars, the most popular (rock) guitar models having been introduced in the 50’s and are nothing if not fanatically faithful to how they were made back then. But you strum guitars but beat the hell out of drums. Early drum hardware seems really lightweight compared to beefy modern drum hardware. There weren’t that many power drummers back in the 40’s and 50’s, not until Elvin Jones & Tony Williams.