Thrilling stories from ROGERS Drummers all over the world reaching us day by day by mail.
I thought I collect them for a while and publish them on our website.
In case you don't wish to have your story on the web (which I don't really believe), please contact me and I'll delete it at once.
Andreas
Marin Latorre:
Hola!! Soy Martin Latorre de Argentina. hace poco compre una Rogers Londoner
5 de 1978 de la que estoy orgulloso.
Quisiera estar en contacto con ustedes y enviarles fotos si me lo permiten.
bueno, adios y suerte.
Keeley and Jay Marriott:
Hi,
I just purchased a 1961 rogers kit as my first ever drum kit and i love it,
i'd love to know more about it. Is there anyway i can identify it. Its all swivomatic
and rogers script logo and red sparkle in colour. It has a rogers damper. Here's
some pics for your site if you like, It was brought 2nd hand in 1965 and stayed
in the family until last sunday. I paid £375.00 pounds sterling. I'm looking
for a matching rogers cybal stand, and some 14" super zyn hi hats, (to
go with the super zyn ride).
Cheers, Jay, Derby, England.
Robert from Paris:
Hello !! from Paris (france)
i am Rogers fan to and collectorman drummer
so you can see my Rogers on my web site if you want.
http://mapage.noos.fr/cocktail
CLICK ON my photo on the first
page for the personal drums colllection .
regards Robert.
By Al Fair:
Hi! My name is Al Fair from the US. I currently live here. I have been a fan of rogers drums for 16 years and am currently trying to restore a kit I recently purchased. It is not yet complete, but with the help of ebay and other sites like this, I am on my way to finishing my kit! There is a story behind this. I have been used to most familiar names, like pearl, which I have two of those kits, and ludwig, and Tama. But when I was in highschool, around 15 years old I heard my first Rogers and fell in love with it!!!! I played this set for four years and desperately tried to purchase from my school but they would not sell it until a few years after I finished school. I missed that kit for close to twenty years, and happened to be in a small town store and found a kit indentical to it, if not the same kit!!!! I bought it. It is missing alot of parts, but the shells are amazing!!! and the covers are as if they are brand new, but are original. The hardware that did come with it is in great shape!!! Maybe you guys can help me find my missing parts? email me at afair1@triad.rr.com and hopefully we as fellow rogers lovers can become aquainted. Thanks for the website.
By Brad from Sydney:
Hi how are you?
My names brad im 19 years old live in Sydney Australia, i bought my first drumkit
4 years ago for $500 and it was a Rogers. I still have the original hardware,
and pedal. Im not sure what model it is, or how much it is worth but im running
out of space and i cannot keep it any more. If its not too much of a hassle
is it ok to give me any details about what model it is, year etc.
I now play a Sleishman kit which is australian custom made www.sleishman.com
awesome kit, i love it.
Ill attach some photos of my Rogers kit.
Thanks heaps!
By Leon Hoeben from the Netherlands:
First, let me introduce myself.
My name is Leon Hoeben, and I live in the Netherlands.
A few years ago, I asked my favourite drumshop to contact me, if they had a
vintage set for sale.
I was looking for SOME kit, but didn't really know what I wanted. I was not
"into" vintage drums at that time yet.
One day, the shopowner called me: some older guy bought a new drumkit, and left
his old one at the shop.
He was the first owner, they told me! It was a Rogers kit...
I liked this silver sparkle drums immediately, just for the looks of it, although
it was a pity there were no snare or stands included.
Only a 22" bassdrum, 12 and 13" toms and a 16" floortom. The
labels show "Power Tone Model, Fullerton".
I found out it should be manufactured in 1971. With the snare drum, they called
this set a Londoner Five.
Well, I bought the kit, took it apart, polished every single part with car polish
(!), and put new Remo Ambassadors on top and bottom. The kit really sounds like
those old jazz kits you hear on records. Simply love it!
I don't use the 13" tom, and I'm still looking for a matching wooden snare.
However, they are very hard to get, and very expensive...
What I like most about a kit like this, is that not "everybody" has
a Rogers, or even is familiar to the brand.
Let's be honest: EVERYBODY has a Ludwig, only the lucky ones own a Rogers...
I hope you like the pic. Greetings to all Rogers fans!
Leon from Weert, The Netherlands
Hans from Arnheim, The Netherlands:
Hallo ich bin Hans uns wohne in Arnheim in Holland.
Hier drei fotos das orginele und mein set. (Anm. des Webmasters: Ihr findet
es in der Galerie/Find it in the gallery)
Die hardware ist nicht original, aber ich möchte das noch mal originel
machen.
Wen es fur mich nicht so weit ist möchte ich gerne mal auf das treffen
kommen.
when you like good rock&roll, listen to the
aftertones playing on Rogers drums.
by.
Dan Boucher: (October 26, 2002)
If they want the real McCoy, as we say in the US, please go to Jollity Drum Farm to inquire about the set in the attached photo. May not be available and if it is will not be cheap, but will be super nice! Anyway, it's a nice photo!
Story by Dan Boucher:
I'm writing to you from Cairo, Egypt, where there have been no Rogers sitings,
as yet. Closest thing has been a 60's set of Camcos played by the most well
known drummer in Egypt, Yehia Khalil. Nice old natural maple finish set 20,12,14
with COB snare.
I used to buy and trade in vintage drums in the Boston, MA USA area, locating
them and moving them on to the US dealers that were making them available to
the world. I've had many Rogers sets, including just about every color made
and many size combinations:
Red sparkle: 20,12,14 - 20,12,16 - 20,12,13,16
Blue sparkle: 20,12,14 - 20,12,16 - 20,12,13,16
Gold sparkle: 20,12,14
Silver sparkle: 22,13,16 - 20,12,14 - 20,12,16
Champagne sparkle: 20,12,14 - 20,12,16
WMP: 20,12,14 - 20,12,16 - 20,12,13,16
BDP: 20,12,14 - 20,12,16
Steel grey ripple pearl: 20,12,14
Red onyx: 20,12,14 - 20,12,16 - 20,12,13,16
Blue onyx: 22,13,16 - 20,12,14 - 20,12,16 - 20,12,13,16
Black onyx: 22,13,16 - 20,12,14 - 20,12,16 - 20,12,13,16
I've owned 5X14 wooden DynaSonics in BDP, Champagne sparkle and Blue Onyx plus
bunches of the COB models and a pile of wooden and COB PowerTones too.
Now, believe it or not, I've not a single photo of all these drums in my posession
at the moment. I think there are many in my stored files in the US, but none
of those would be in electronic format as it was pre-readily-available digital
cameras. Someday, I may have them reformatted and send some over.
Unfortunately, I own no Rogers drums at the moment. I'm thinking to pick up
another set when I repatriate. For now I'm here with a recent set of all maple
Ludwigs in 16X20, 9X12 and 14X15 with a 5X14 wooden snare. Drums are black and
snare is purple!
You may enjoy the attached photo that was sent to me recently by a trading friend of many years, Bobby Chiasson, of the Jollity Drum Farm. We bought and sold back and forth steadily for about five years during the mid-nineties. I actually sent him the photos from your site of the Australian based blue and silver sparkle set, which generated the reply photo that is now attached. I suspect the set was once played by "Captain America"!
Strubble:
Guten tag, Andreas!
I ran across your site while surfing the web. How nice to see a whole group of drummers dedicated to the great ROGERS drums.
I myself still own a 5-piece "Londoner" set up that I purchased new
in 1970. They're solid black. I special ordered the drum set with the
awesome Dyna-Sonic snare drum & the Swiv-O-Matic High-hat pedal and bass
drum pedal. I still have all the original hardware & stands except the
snare drum stand. I keep my treasured ROGERS set in storage now days. I don't
play that set any more, but I still use the Dyna-Sonic snare drum
from time to time. What an awesome instrument!
Those drums served me well for the more than 20 years I played them, including
the 38 months I was stationed with 5/68 Armor at Sullivan
Kaserne, near Mannheim! I played many Military Clubs as well as many civilian
clubs while there.
I invite you & your drumming friends to join my Yahoo Group for drummers,
called "Drumzilla's Lair". There are several hundred drumming members
from
around the world already there, and we'd love to have you guys be part of our
group. The address is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/drumzillaslair
.
I hope to see you all there.
Regards,
Butch Strubble (Originally "Strubel", from Odernheim & Albig am
Alzey)
some days later we received another mail from Strubble:
Actually, I was in Germany for more than 3 years, not just a couple months. (Sorry, Strubble!) I got to Germany in January of 1979, and went back to the U.S. in February of 1982. My wife & I liked Germany very much & did quite a lot of traveling. We actually lived in Weinheim, but I was posted to Sullivan Kaserne (Kafertal) with Company "A", 5-58 Armor.
I do have several photos of my ROGERS drums in action, several from my time
in Germany. I have pictures of my set at the Rainbow NCO Club in
Darmstadt, at Zum Peter's in Sandhoffen, the NCO club at Taukonen Barracks in
Worms, etc. Also have many of me playing them here in the U.S. I'll
scan them in & send them to you guys shortly. (We're looking forward
to!!!)
I was always a big fan of ROGERS drums, and when I had the chance to buy a
new drum set back in 69-70, I wasn't going to settle for anything less than
the best, ROGERS. Those drums still sound terrific! I do want to get my ROGERS
set restored to their original glory because they're excellent drums
& deserve to be lovingly cared for.
I look forward to talking with you again soon. Please, if you have a chance,
you & your drumming friends take a look at the Yahoo group for
drummers I moderate. It's called Drumzilla's Lair, and you can see it at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/drumzillaslair
. My band's website and audio
clips are at http://twilightmusic.com
.
Regards,
Butch Strubble
Tallahassee, Florida, USA
Ken from Cleveland, Ohio:
In my posting here of May 9, I said that I am originally from Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., but at age 16 (when I bought my Rogers Viking kit), I never knew or cared that Rogers Drums was based in my home town.
Well, I recently went back to my home town for a visit and took some photos of the two Rogers drums locations.
I invite all to see them -- and my own set -- at my newly-posted page as listed in the header here.
-- Ken in Atlanta
(in Atlanta since 1984, but ALWAYS a native Clevelander)
Don't miss to visit Ken's Website with the photos of the ROGERS Drum Company:
http://personal.atl.bellsouth.net/atl/p/o/poshedly (you did a gret job, Ken!)
Story by Thomas Moje:
I have a story to tell about my Rogers steel grey ripple drum kit. A world-class pro drummer played on my Rogers kit just this past Saturday (April 27). Have you heard of Bobby Previte? He is a world class pro jazz drummer and composer. Born and raised in Niagara Falls, New York State, USA. About 15 miles (33 kilometres?) from where I live. A friend of mine grew up with Bobby in Niagara Falls, and they had a rock band when they were teenagers. Bobby was the drummer, and he had a Rogers kit then (in blue onyx pearl finish). After graduation from high school, they went their separate ways, and Bobby went on to a career in music.
He has recorded about 12 albums plus composed for many other artists, including
the Moscow Circus. He was in Buffalo, New York to perform the entire Miles Davis
'Bitches Brew' work with a band made up of local musicians (in the Buffalo/Niagara
Falls, New York area) which I saw last night...awesome! Anyway...he came up
to my town to visit his boyhood friend and former bandmate. While he was there,
my friend John told him about my Rogers drum kit, and he wanted to see it. So,
he came over to my place and played on my kit for about 20 minutes. It was great!
The guy is truly talented. He liked my Rogers drums and said it brought back
memories about his first Rogers drum set. He does not play Rogers now, but he
thinks they were (and are) great drums. He especially liked my brass-shell
Dynasonic snare drum, and I think he might have bought it on the spot had I
offered to sell it to him.
Anyway, it was a great experience...I wonder if some of his talent will rub
off on me? Well anyway I thought you might find it cool that a great drummer
played on one of your website reader's kits. If you wish to learn more about
Bobby Previte, he has his own website. From your web browser home page, just
type in 'Bobby Previte' and hit on 'search'.
