Last of the Swivomatic era. If constructed properly, they would be very good drums. The collets that were used to lock down the toms and spurs are cast metal and the noses of those collets tend to split. You can get newly manufactured machined collets and vintage ones off eBay and other similar outlets. Watch for poor bearing edges. The Fullerton, California facility seems to have struggled more with that issue than was the case in the Cleveland and Dayton Ohio eras, which were both manufactured in Covington, Ohio.

That era tends not to hold value as vintage drums as well as the earlier two eras. However, if you are looking for the Rogers sound and look, those drums will do the trick. Lugs are thinner and do not have felt inside. In fact, they may not even have springs, though someone else can better comment on when Rogers dropped springs in favor of "C" clips just outside the lug to hold the swivel nut from falling into the lug.

The solid color wraps have also not been as popular as the finishes available in the 60's.

Good luck with it!

The Swivomatic era drums are still great! About all this kit would need is machined collet noses and your good to go. The lugs should still be the ones with internal springs, as those using the C clip came out with the Big R series.

Yes, your kit is the Londoner V and the color is Mojave Red. Not the most popular color, but still nothing really wrong with it. I would value the kit at anywhere between $600 to $800. Getting it for less would be great!

-Mark

Thanks for the backup on the C clips dating Mark. You're up early today!!

Hi Dan! Yes, I'm up early! Also, what I may do is link this post to a new thread in the Vintage USA section so that more people see it.

-Mark

Those would be 1974 as indicated by the B prefix in the serial number.

Mojave Red was not that popular, which makes it more rare as well.

The look nice to me. The cast collets are fine as long as you don't over-tighten them.

Yes, I made mistake, since almost all of my posts are in non-USA section, I put it here by habit...

Thanks for all info about this drum

I'm reading on third photo "september 1972", isn't it?

Yes, you are correct about the year. However, that is simply the tag Rogers began using in September of 1972, but this didn't change. What matters is the letter code. As previously mentioned, the "B" code does mean it is from 1973. I believe the 9/72 tags were in effect until the Big R series of 1975.

-Mark

Did a little more research and found excellent information about the 9/72 labels on our forum. Here's the link... http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=25289

-Mark