I am out on tour playing drums for Jeremy Fisher right now and I had a chance to stop at the Memphis Drum Shop. They have an amazing vintage drum room and they were nice enough to let me snap some pictures of their displays. What a great store! The vintage room is just great. Many times when I am out on tour I don’t get to stop and see everything every town has to offer. Luckily, I had some time in Memphis to enjoy a great drum shop. Enjoy the pics.

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The Rogers “Century” Concert snare drum with bread and butter lugs PHOTO GALLERY

The 15″ X 8″ Rogers built “Century” Concert snare drum. I have wanted to play one of these big snares for a while. They were originally offered by Rogers in the early to mid sixties as snare drums for “concert band and orchestra”. This is the first Rogers Century I have ever been able to get my hands on and try it for my own applications.

This particular Rogers Century is an early 1960’s, bread and butter lug, 15″ X 8″ snare drum with a Cleveland tag [s#4515]. The interior is finished with a slightly lighter grey lacquer than usual. The interior also features an “F” stamp. Many of my favorite Rogers drums have this F stamp. The red sparkle wrap (listed as “red sparkling pearl” in the 1962 Rogers catalog) looks much lighter than my Red Cleveland PowerTone but if you look just under the head of the Rogers Century (the un-exposed areas) you can see that both wraps were originally the same. This old Century snare was probably was exposed to a lot UV rays (fluorescent light) causing the color change. Other instruments built in the late ’50s and early ’60s such as guitars also had unstable red finishes. I actually love the look of this brighter (cooked) wrap.

With this snare my hope was that it would sound like a fatter version of a Holiday snare of the same era. Previously I had been let down by a deep (marching band) 10″ X 14″ PowerTone that I picked up on eBay. When I hit the Buy It Now button for the 10″ X 14″ PowerTone I was excited about trying a variation on what I consider to be one of the best snare designs ever! For me the PowerTone is the Les Paul of drums. Though excited to receive this 10″ X 14″ PowerTone, as soon as I received the 10″ X 14″ PowerTone it quickly became clear that the excessive depth dimension (10″ verses 5 or 6 and a half inch) was too far outside of the optimum ratios for it to be anything but a specialty sound for me.

With this 15″ X 8″ Rogers Century snare drum, I was excited as this might be a size that I could sneak into a session and get an extra low end edge. The idea and justification with an 8″ X 15″ Century is that the ratio of diameter to depth would be fairly close to a regular snare drum and hopefully it might produce a bigger note with the same focus… Right? Let us find out.

Below is a video of my first encounter with this 15/8″ Rogers Century [s#4515]. Since I was lucky enough to pick up the drum with original heads and snare wires on it, I thought I would record it that way first. Sometimes old heads just sound great. Also, to give some perspective in this video demo I threw in a couple of measures with one of my favorite wood 5/14″ PowerTones for a reference. For optimal listening, use your favorite headphones or plug your computer into some good speakers and check it out.

Click here to see this Rogers Century video maximized for mac users

After first hearing this drum, I realized that if I approached it like a standard size snare, I would be let down. My brother was in the room and he didn’t seem impressed by this “huge, cool Rogers Century drum” that I had been expecting in the mail and blabbing about all week. A 15″ snare is just not going to have the same crack as a standard size snare. And on top of the size, a bread and butter lug drum of this era can have a hard time with high tuning due to the lugs. This drums differences needed to be showcased rather than played down. So I got excited to tune it down real low and hear depth of the drum. Here is how the first approach at dead tuning came out.

Click here to see this Rogers Century video maximized for mac users

After I heard this (and got a little better reaction from my brother) I started to realize a cool way to use this drum. I decided to keep the tuning really low and really compress the stereo room microphones I had set up about 15 feet from the drums. Since this snare had such a great low end smack, it would be ideal to play the cymbals softer and over compress the drum sound. Now, this would be an exciting way to hear this drum. Here are two different vibes with a hyped drum sound.

Click here to see this Rogers Century video maximized for mac users

Click here to see this Rogers Century video maximized for mac users

If you own a 15 inch snare drum or floor tom, you know that 15″ heads are usually special order. I lucked out on the day I recorded these videos and found TWO sets of top and bottom 15″ REMO ambassador heads in town! Actually, two of them were left over from my own special order years ago that I never picked up! I use coated on top and clear on bottom. Here is the sound of the Century with brand new heads tuned up.

Click here to see this Rogers Century video maximized for mac users

My brother seemed a little more excited about the Rogers Century after hearing these and suggested that I put the Century up against his favorite (and only) 15″ snare drum, a cloud badge Slingerland RadioKing. This Cloud Badge RadioKing is the same exact size as the Century with the same lug set-up.

I have had many experiences with this this Slingerland 8″ X 15″ drum, including playing an entire album on it in Capitol Records (studio B) in Hollywood. The drum sounds great and surprisingly easy to tune up and down. Here is the first comparison.

Click here to see this Rogers Century video maximized for mac users

After this video was made I went on Christmas Holiday. As I was enjoying my break I sifted though the mixes and video of these drums and realized that I needed to do a better Slingerland RadioKing vs. Rogers Century video. By the time I had recorded the first one, I had the room mics way too far back in the room and the sound was a little too big to hear the difference in articulation. Here is the 2nd 15″ X 8″ Rogers Century vs. 15″ X 8″ Slingerland RadioKing video. This video is also the first video recorded through our new Soundcraft GB2 mixing board that whips the crap out of going directly into the DigiDesign 002 channels! I hope you enjoy the new tones!

Click here to see this Rogers Century video maximized for mac users

Rogers 8″ X 15″ Century Concert snare drum specs

• Finish: Sparkling Red Pearl
• Shell: 8/15″ “F” stamped maple shell
• Shell plies: 3ply shell with 3ply reinforcement ring
• Interior: Flat Grey
• Logo/Badge: script Rogers
• Lugs: 16 self aligning brass Bread and Butter lugs (8 to a side)
• T-rods: early sixties with square heads
• Throw-off: Perma-tension (black-inked clock-face) with long throw arm (missing back plate)
• Butt Plate: Perma-tension end plate
• Lug washers: Round
• Tag: typed “CENTURY” Cleveland, OH [s#4515]
• Special markings: F penciled in top left corner of tag (thought to be employee initial), F stamped into the reinforcement ring (unknown meaning)

While re-heading the RadioKing and the Century (coated ambassadors on top, clear on bottom) for the last video one difference was clear, the lugs. Now, I am a Rogers fan and some of my favorite sounds have come from Rogers B & B lug snare drums and I also really like the way they look but the operation of them usually feels a little jagged compared to the Slingerland or a Beavertail lug.

After playing a certain number of Rogers Bread and Butter lug drums, I have also developed an opinion that drums with these lugs seem to have a distinctive “softer” tone. Not better or worse, just different. Rogers drums with these lugs (even in pristine condition) seem to have a slight “give” to the feel, absorbing energy in to the soft brass lugs thus effecting the sound. In the case of comparing these two 15″ drums, it was a bit easier to get the head properly on the Slingerland RadioKing than the Rogers Century because the alignment (hoop and lugs) was better.

Another difference in the two drums is the rims. Check out the video below.

Click here to see this Rogers Century video maximized for mac users

We noticed this different tone and focus in the rims while we had the drums disassembled. The brass stamped rim from the Slingerland just has a very true tone and note almost like a bell. It doesn’t change pitch no matter where you hit it, this is quite different from the Rogers (tall) rim which seems to have two different notes. One on each edge of the rim.

There is not a ton of information about Rogers Century “Concert” drums. If you google “Rogers Century Concert snare drum” you probably won’t find much. If you are lucky enough to have the original 60’s Rogers catalogs, you will find very little about the Rogers Century snare drums except the size and a photo. The 67-68 Rogers catalog says the most out of any catalog with this paragraph below…

“SHARP, POWERFUL. Separate tension. For the concert band or orchestra. Swiv-o-matic strainer. Sturdy cross-laminated shell and rock maple reinforcing rings. Chrome platedfittings, deluxe triple flange hoops,and internal tone control. 16 self aligning lugs. 20-strand snares.”

I am interested in checking out any Rogers drums made in the Cleveland era. The dedication to excellence of the Rogers Drum company during the Covington era (Cleveland, Dayton tagged) era almost ensures an amazing drum. Around 1962, Rogers production took another step toward their MAGIC era and changed to sharp bearing edges. The bearing edges found in this era of flat grey shells are very true and sharp. Sharp bearing edge on crisp, old, dry wood… GOOOOD!! Hopefully, we can find ourselves a Beavertail version of a Rogers Century someday and compare the two. I can’t wait!

The 6.5″ Powertone snare drum made by Rogers.

Among all of the amazing, rare drums we have seen we are about to show you one of our favorites. The Rogers wood PowerTone, most commonly found in the 5/14″ size, is known as a snare that sounds great easily, with no fuss. For me and many others, it is THE snare w use when I want a great sound quick. Always reliable, always versitile, always solid. Sounds great in a wide variations of environments and musical styles.

Even though the unique Rogers built DynaSonic, with its revolutionary design has become a hot topic and collectors item demanding every where from 3 to 10 times the dollar amount of the 5″ PowerTone, the PowerTone remains a mainstay in studios, chosen by many professionals because of simplistic beauty in tone and solid, easy, reliable operation. If the Dyna-Sonic is the 1965 Cadillac, the PowerTone would be the Pontiac GTO.

The design is simple and elegant, with only 8 lugs, sharp bearing edges, tiny snare beds, quality sturdy butt and snare throw-off… The design was completely reliant on high quality materials, hardware and craftsmanship that the Rogers Drum Company was committed to until CBS sold Fender in about 1986.

It is interesting that these drums were made in the 1960’s and seem to be as reliable as many top-of the line modern snares. The worst I have done is stripped a throw-off or butt end screw. I am also amazed that all of these shells (that I have encountered) are still perfectly round. Put the head on, finger tension it and you already got a good note! Can’t say that about some of my modern drums.

The sound, (insert most words used to describe great snare drum here). You have to play one to know just how magic these little drums sound! Some players/collectors favor certain eras, but from Cleveland to Fullerton, I have not found a bad one. I have come across many amazing 5/14″ examples but have only handled one 6.5/14″ and it is this drum. Serial # 3038, early Beavertail lug Cleveland Red Glass Glitter snare with a (round) black inked clock-face throw-off attached to the rare 6.5″ 3 ply “F” stamped shell.

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Here is beautiful red sparkle Tower drum kit made in the mid sixties by the Rogers drum company in Covington, OH and shipped from Cleveland. The Tower line sold as Rogers “beginner” model but these drums look great and are made from high quality materials. The Tower model snare pictured is exactly the same as an (upper-line) PowerTone snare drum of the same era. The only difference is the throw-off and butt-plate. All Tower drums in general use the same quality shell, lugs, tension rods, rims and bearing edge cut as the top-of-the-line Holiday drums.

Their are drummers that think I am out of line for thinking that Bantam and Sta-tite strainers (found on 6-lug Luxors and 8-lug Tower snares) aren’t as stury as a Swiv-o-matic or earlier Perma-tension round clock-face throw-off found on a PowerTone or Dyna-Sonic. I have had problems with these low profile strainers loosening through-out a performance and find myself replacing stripped little screws.

With that said, I am very patient in a studio setting and will gladly put up with temperamental old gear for the right sound. Whether it is a Luxor snare where the snare wires don’t quite hold in tight under medium playing or a great tube compressor that decides to crackle whenever it wants. Anything for a the right sonic touch that serves the mood of the song or band. And especially if you use old gear you will have to deal with the little quirks in it’s personality. Even in a studio with a tech on hand, old gear just sometimes acts up and requires attention. Instruments are the same way.

This Tower drumset is rounded out with a 16″ Holiday floor tom. It is very common to find “beginner” vintage sets with a slightly different color, model or even brand name floor tom included. The reason why is because the floor tom was considered an “add-on” or a “extra” if you were not yet a pro. Many configurations, like this red sparkle Tower set, were sold without floor toms to keep the size, weight and price down. Down the road, the set would be “upgraded” by the owner and end up with a floor tom that isn’t quite original to the set, but in a way… it is original. It is the original floor tom included in the set.

I personally love Tower drums and some other vintage beginner models (my brother just bought a late 70’s Ludwig Standard beginner kit that sounds great!) In the case of Rogers Tower drums, the shells are exactly the same as the top-of-the-line Holiday drums and the different lug and t-rod set-up just sound different to me, not better or worse.

The tuning process of these drums is not quite the same as a drum with a double lug design. From my experience, the tuning range is a little more limited and and the note doesn’t ring forever. I have had luck with tuning Tower drums just under medium tuning and letting the tone rumble there. While zeroing in on tuning I am sometimes wondering if the Tower drums are going to be too dead. But when playing the full set the quick, punchy notes really seem to come alive and mix themselves nicely. BAM!

Click here for more pictures of this red glass glitter Tower set

Click here for pictures of our Blue Onyx Tower set

Click here for mind-blowing pictures of a champagne sparkle tower set with early 3 ply dynasonic

Read more rogers tower posts

The Mardi Gras finish by Rogers appears on some of the most desired drums made by the drum company. Even though drums in this finish were only produced for a span of around five years (late 50’s to mid 60’s), this was the middle of major shifts in standards at Rogers. As a result, this finish can be found in several main stages of production.

• Bread and Butter lugs drums with rounded bearing edges (like this set in this story)

• Bread and Butter lugs with sharp bearing edges

• Beavertail lug with sharp bearing edges

The consensus seems to be that drums with this kind of edge/construction are less desirable because of their different tuning range and less bright, less modern tone. However, some people have no problem taking the extra time to tune for the different edges and love the sound. I was recently involved in a session with a huge band and producer that had a tech bring in an astounding amount of options for the project. In the end, a late 50’s pair of WFL toms (with this style of bearing edges) were chosen a wide array of modern and vintage options. They sounded great.

I’m sure there are old school guys out there that prefer this kind of bearing edge and are accustomed to tuning them. I am used to a more modern, sharp bearing edge but the tuning (learning) curve seemed pretty short and easy to me. The drum does a little more dictating than I am used to. Instead of directing the drum where to go I kind of just have to let the drum tell me what note it wants to resonate at and keep it at that. The sweet spot is smaller but the tone is deep, quick and almost pre-mixed. I am down with it.

Click here for more pictures of the Rogers Mardi Gras set and stay posted for our Round bearing edge vs. sharp bearing edge Contrast and comparison clip. Enjoy!!

Rogers wood DynaSonic Snare Drum 5×14″ vs. 6.5×14″ comparison video.

The DynaSonic started out as Rogers need for a breakthrough idea to attract big name endorsees that could launch the small drum company into a force to be reckoned with.

New owner Henry Grossman welcomed ideas and perspectives from many including friend and drum shop owner Ellis Tollin, Ben Strauss(head of Marketing) and even Buddy Rich. After gathering opinions they concluded that there was a MAJOR need for a snare drum that would not be choked by the engaging of the snare wires or by the stroke of a stick. This drum must also be able to take a beating and yet still respond dynamically at any level of playing! A tall order indeed!!

The new breakthrough snare drum was an evolution of three years of refining by master inventor and engineer Joe Thompson. The DynaSonic differs from regular snare design in the fact that there are only slight SNARE BEDS cut into the bottom bearing edge, unlike this Slingerland RADIOKING. In the minds of the fellows at Rogers and those that they had consulted, you could not tune a head properly with these irregular levels in the bearing edge.

The snare bridge made it possible to gently and evenly bring the wires up to kiss the bottom head and eliminated the need to pull and stretch the wires against the head… Thus, eliminating the usual choking and muffling the bottom head. Also, the bridge opened up the option to have seperate tension on A) the snare wires and B) the pressure of these pre-tensioned wires against the bottom resonant head.

These advanced, breakthrough ideas coupled with quality construction did impress many including Louis Bellson and Buddy Rich and within a short period of time catapulted the small company to the third largest company in the drum world. AMAZING GROWTH INDEED!!

Hear two great examples of these drums by clicking on this Rogers wood DynaSonic Snare 5″ vs. 6.5″ comparison video. In this clip you will hear one 5″ Dyna-Sonic verses a 6.5″ Dyna. Both wood snares were tuned up as close as possible with no muffling. I personally love a good tight muffled drum but for this comparision I thought I would leave it wide open with no muffling. The miking set-up and levels remained exactly the same for both snares. Which one do you like?? How much of a difference can you hear??? Enjoy!

Rogers Wood PowerTone 6.5×14″ vs. 5×14″ Snare Drum comparison video .
See a side-by-side comparison of two Rogers PowerTone Snare Drums in different sizes. As an added bonus, we will hear a rocking Silver 22-16-13 Cleveland era Rogers drumset. These drums sound better and better over the years. The tuning on the drums are medium tension with moderate muffling. Check it out.

The set is a Fullerton era Rogers Champagne Sparkle Drum Set with a 14×24 Bass Drum, 16×18 Floor Tom, 16×16 Floor Tom and a 9×13 Tom Tom. We left the old original heads on and used a high tuning with no muffling. Sometimes these old sets just sound cool left alone with the old heads on them. The snare comparison is eye opening. The 6.5″ sounds like it is tuned to a lower pitch but from where I was tuning from they were as the same note! The different shell just shows up different in the mics. Enjoy and give us feedback…Rogers wood DynaSonic Snare Drum 5×14″ vs. 6.5×14″ comparison video.

If you liked this video and want to see the more, click below and see videos of each snare by itself.

Silver Glass Glitter Rogers 5×14″ DynaSonic Snare Drum

Steel Gray Ripple Rogers 6.5×14″ DynaSonic Snare Drum.

Check out our first contrast and comparison video. You will see and hear three different Rogers Cleveland era drumsets played back to back. This is our first crack at comparing vintage drumsets mic-ed up and filmed and hopefully we will get better and better with your feedback. Check it out and comment to us about what you think.
Compare and Contrast - A slightly in-depth video featuring three different rogers Cleveland era drumsets.

Now, I am not in touch with every Rogers enthusiast and collector out there but I try keep as informed as possible about these drums. Any one willing to talk vintage drums, I am in. Any new drum I can open up, take a lug off, get a picture of, whack with a stick etc.. I will jump at the opportunity. Always willing to learn, always inspired by these things.

The point that I am getting to is about this 6.5 inch Rogers Pink Strata Dyna-Sonic snare drum. From my knowledge, until this drum popped up, there was no such drum known to to exist. The only documented example of a Pink Strata Dyna I ever saw was the 5″ version showcased in the Rogers Book by Rob Cook. And then SURPRISE, this weird drum jumps out of the woodwork, another Rogers Pink Strata Dyna! But, even more startling, this drum is found in the rare (usually special order) 6.5″ size. which, if you look at our web site you might think is the most common because we are obsessed with them!

If you go back and look at Rogers catalogs from the 60’s there are many available sizes, options and special orders. 26″ and 28″ Holiday and Tower bass drums, 16/14″ holiday floor toms, 9/13″ Tower toms, 8/15″ Century drums, 6.5″ PowerTone snare drums etc.. Even though we don’t see many of these drums, the old catalogs suggest that some number of them were ordered and made and still around somewhere today. There are probably many, many examples out there that we don’t know about. We cannot know it all or have an accurate count all we can do is estimate from what we have seen. We did not see this drum coming, I never thought I would see such a DynaSonic in this size and color.

The bummer about this drum is that the original owner modified it somewhat. The inside has had an extra laquer layer applied (over the star washers and everything!) and the Rogers logo had been removed at one time. The great thing about this particular drum is that any example of a drum this unique in any condition or level of originality is way cool to see.

Pink Strata wraps are like the other two Rogers Strata finishes in the fact that from batch to batch and year to year they can appear very different. This high contrast finish is much more orange and cloud-like than the nearly purple wrap found on this Tower snare drum. Here is a picture of these two very different Rogers Pink Strata script era snare drums. Wow, very different indeed!!

You can read collector Steve Maxwell’s originality evaluation of this drum by clicking here. Thanks Steve!!

Click here to see the full Rogers Pink Strata Dyna·Sonic 6.5″ Snare gallery