Tell me about vintage drums!

[titaniumSS]

All kinds. Rogers, Slingerland, Ludwigs, etc! I want to know what tone they have, what's good and what's not and maybe a price range of some of them. I've just become very interested in them recently and want some in the near future. Probably use for studio drumming as I would not want to try and protect them at shows and on the road.

Thanks in advance!

[Alan_]

I'm not very familiar with anything but old ludwigs and a lil bit with old gretsch.

60's luddys have a very "fat" resonant sound, due to the low-end boost given by the poplar inner layer swathed in maple on the inside and outside. I haven't really gotten to know the mahogany/poplar/mahogany combo. All the sets I've played have been the maple/poplar/maple with maple reinforcing rings.

I'm a huge aficionado of the brass or aluminum supraphonic snares. they both have unique characteristics. the brass is a bit more ringy, but also a bit fatter than the ludalloy. either one can tear your head off at higher volumes, or play well at ridiculously quiet sound levels. I find them both to be superior to ANY steel shelled snare I've ever encountered.

gretsch shells seem a little brighter to me, not as fat.

if you're wanting to know about rogers, ploughman is apparently the man. he totally makes me drool every time I look at all those gorgeous pics of his drums he posts.

[titaniumSS]

lol thanks Alan. Thats weird to hear about the gretsch drums because it seems all the newer ones I hear have a "fatter" sound to them.

[ThePloughman]

Rogers were the absolute best drums available from 1963-1972. And the XP8 drums available from 79-84 arent shabby by any means.

You can see my drums in the vintage section.

Heh, heres a teaser.
1984 Rogers XP8
16x18, 8x12, 9x13, 14x14......... Snare is an 83 Rogers Dynasonic XP10 maple, 6.5x14
Hardware is DW 9000 series, Pedals are Iron Cobra, Cymbals by Paiste, 2002.

[titaniumSS]

Damn. Honestly, your thread is what got me interested lol were there any virgin bass drums made?

[ThePloughman]

There were.

This is a 1968 Rogers 14x20, Dayton Tag....... probably belonged to a double bass set originally. recovered. No Mount Holes other than the spurs.

[titaniumSS]

Im guessing there weren't many made or for sale?

[ThePloughman]

There were a lot of them made. Double bass did not get started with van halen.

Louis Bellson invented double bass, in jazz, big band, a long time before there was Rock and Roll. Bellson was a Rogers endorsee for several years. The Bellson setup was carried in Rogers cataloges for several years.

[titaniumSS]

Oh, I meant just a single bass kit with a virgin kit. I know double bass didn't start with rock and roll lol my bad, I should've rephrased my question a little more clearly. What are the running prices or "good deals" on an old set of Rogers? Say.....a set of 68/69's and a set of 83/84's?

[ThePloughman]

There is a world of criteria that determines price.

68-69 Rogers would be in the Dayton Fullerton Transition period. Very good drums, five ply shells. 9/72 Fullerton tag Rogers were three ply shells. Early Big R Memrilock is five ply shells, 1975-79. XP8 came out in 1979. Eight ply all maple shells.
Color, condition, configuration. All factors in value.

I paid 400.00 on an Ebay BIN for the black kit above. Sweet deal. In those sizes and condition, it should have been close to a thousand. I got lucky.

Any kit in excellent condition with the hardware for the drums in correct order...... for 600 or less is probably a pretty good deal.

[titaniumSS]

sounds like I will be surfing ebay for deals for awhile then haha