I am ashamed to admit it, but even as an amateur history buff, I wasn’t familiar with Farris. That all changed a few years ago with the purchase of an early 1960’s Rogers drum set that Farris owned and played. I will attempt to tell his story now as best as I can.
Read more1976 Rogers Londoner V Drum Set
They have a very nice KOA finish which was a Rogers finish from 1973 to 1976. The finish is hard like a counter top. This finish was according to Jack Propps, fellow vintage drummer, "The finish a lot of southern rockers used in the 70s, Monty Yoho- The Outlaws, Frank Beard-ZZ Top, Rick Burnett -Grinderswitch , Danny Darling-Jay Boy Adams and more. The finish was 'down home' but more durable than lacquered Gretsch or Slingerland and took bumps and bruises of 1 night stands across the USA."
Read moreHow My Passion For Collecting Rogers Drums Started
Welcome everyone to my Rogers World! I am super excited to have this fantastic opportunity to share my love for these amazing drums with the readers of ‘Not So Modern Drummer.’ My passion for drums started when my family lived in Venezuela.
Read more1965 Rogers Swingtime Outfit in Wine Red Ripple Pearl finish.
This is a 1965 Swingtime Outfit in the not so often seen Wine Red Ripple Pearl.
It’s a bit of a tongue twister to say indeed! I have learned (thanks to many of the Rogers experts online) that this is one of the rarest wraps Rogers produced and was not a particular big seller. To me it seems that most vintage drum companies “Pink” drums did not sell well when they were first introduced to the public all those years ago. And that low number of kits makes for quite a treasure hunt today.
Read moreRogers 1963/1964 Constellation Outfit
My research in the Rogers 60s catalogs has shown that the drums could be a variety of models such as a Louis Bellson Citation No. 2840 Outfit OR a Top Hat No. 1875 Outfit.
Read moreRogers 1980 XP-8 Series
My featured drum set this month is a Rogers Big R Londoner 5 set from the 1980s. It has all maple 8 ply shells with clear interiors and no reinforcement rings. These drums were called XP-8 series because of the shells. I copied the following information from a Rogers discussion forum, "XP-8s have 8-ply rock maple shells and were made from 1979 up until the demise of Rogers in 1984. They're excellent quality and comparable to modern day DWs but can be had at a fraction of the cost. The Memriloc hardware is strong and sturdy and ensures that they'll set up exactly the same every time - a real time saver. These sets are battleship tough and built to last. XP-8s are some of the best drums Rogers ever produced."
Read moreThe Rogers XP10 Series Snare Drums, 1981 - 1984 Dyna-Sonic and Super Ten
Shortly after the launch of the XP8, eight ply, all North American Maple shell ply series of drums in 1979, the reissue of the Rogers wood snare drum brought to us the XP10 series of snare drums. The production list of snare drums from 1965 had over a half a dozen various models. The production list for 1975 had two, Dyna-Sonic and SuperTen being the only offerings from Rogers. Available in 5x14 and 6.5x14. Dyna-Sonic was COB, SuperTen was COS. Rogers had discontinued wood shell snare drums in 1972, primarily due to lack of sales. The late 70's and early 80's, however, wood shell snare drums steadilly gaining in popularity. Into this market, Rogers launched the XP10.
Read moreA 1961 Rogers Dynasonic finds its way back home!
This particular drum is stamped #1308 which puts it towards the later side of production in 1961.The drum currently belongs to former Rogers employee, Jerry Shields. Jerry was an expert in tuning and setting up these beautiful drums prior to their shipping from the factory. In September of 2016, a group of Rogers enthusiasts set up a Kickstarter campaign to purchase this drum for Jerry’s birthday. We were fortunate to have Jerry share some words on his days with the Rogers Company.
Read moreRogers 1962 Swing Time Outfit, Mardis Gras finish
The set has the 3-ply Jasper shells and flat bearing edges, which were originally designed for calfskin heads. I have read that, starting in 1963, Rogers switched to Keller shells and a new sharper bearing edge. Another cool thing on this set is that both the floor tom and tom have “tall boy” hoops which were also designed for calfskin heads.
Read moreRogers 1978 Londoner V kit
I showed Jack MacFeetes a photo of one of the drums from this set and asked him to give me some comments I could use in this article. His comments were; "Five ply, maple birch. Color, Mohave Red, #84. 1976 Catalog shows this color in the Studio Ten Outfit, pg4. This drum made approximately 1978, Top hoop not correct. Memriloc hardware was developed through a collaboration with Dave Donoho and Roy Burns, and Rogers, of course mid 70s. Mounts are rock solid, stand up to the heaviest of hitters. Well made drums even though there were numerous moves during the Big R period, some of them very unnecessary, and quality at times affected by this. The hardware was about the best one could have at the time."
Read moreLate 80s RSD 146G Rogers Gold Plated Dyna-sonic
This gold plated drum was produced for Island in the late 1980s. Photos of the gold plated Dyna-sonic and the following text is found in Cook's book. "Apparently only a couple dozen of the RSD-146G gold plated Dyna-sonics were made for Island Music. The retail price was a quite reasonable $495.00, but the poor quality of the plating impeded the sales."
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