I had one for a few years. Six bread n butter lugs I had repaired by Joe Montineri.

Great sounding drum and I had planned to have joe make tube lugs to fit the original holes but I ended up selling it.

I believe it is the same all-maple shell as the Power Tone. Rounded bearings and in my opinion the best sounding drum for that 40’s wide open ringy rim shot tone. It immediately reminded me of Buddy Rich.

Hoops were very tall on mine as well, presumably to accommodate calf heads. Standard plastic heads fit just fine.

Thanks for your post, Jim.

I also have a fond memory of a really great sounding Luxor snare, and I'm trying to get the same kind of sound in a new drum I'm building myself. It certainly won't be by any stretch of the imagination, a copy. Just "Luxor-esque".

The current plan is a Keller 6-ply maple shell with 6-ply re-rings and rounded edges. That's why I'm asking here. Just trying to see if I'm in the right ballpark.

Anybody else? Bump!

Earlier 3 ply with 3 ply rings. keller made shells. MBM composition. Later, 5 ply with 5 ply rings, MBMBM composition. The long standing myth of Poplar being in the inner ply was never correct for the keller shells Rogers used. The distinctive colors of Poplar wood are absent in Rogers drum shells. Mostly this would be visible as end grain in the bearing edge. Colors inherent to poplar are not in Rogers drums. Birch however...yes.

Bearing edge on these ... and the other drums of the Beavertail period would be at a 1/16" nominal landing at the point.

Snare Beds varied from model to model, Dyna-Sonic being a nominal .004" with Powertone and Tower being close to each other, and the student drums slightly more.

Great, Ploughman! Getting closer to what I need to know. Could you tell me what the thickness of the shells might have been for the 3 and 5-ply shells? I'm just trying to compare it to a modern Keller VSS shell. For example, a current Keller 6-ply shell is 3/16" thick.

Also, I'm looking to know the height of the reinforcement rings on a 5x14" Rogers shell. The current standard seems to be around 3/4", though I have a feeling Rogers were probably closer to 1". They were also beveled on the inside.

If Keller made the originals, maybe try ordering a vintage tower shell from Keller?

Just go with it. It is never going to be exactly the same. Montineri was building some replica shells about a year ago for Dyna-Sonic. He wouldprobably make one for you drilled to 6 8 or 10 lugs for what you are wanting to do.

Towers and Powertones can be had for about 350-500 most colors. Some that need rewrapped in 300-400 range with hardware on them.

Or you could buy yourself a brand new Rogers Dyna-Sonic. I bought two.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'd still like to get it close to the specs of the Rogers shell though if possible. Doesn't seem terribly unreasonable. There's gotta be somebody out there with one of these drums and a tape measure who can help me out.

I have seen too many people defrauded by a clone drum to assist much in the making of one. Most are easy to spot. Some not so much. Some are so well done, pictures do not tell the truth. So, you build it. You make it as absolutely correct as possible. In ten years........you die. Your estate broker presents it as a genuine Dyna-Sonic. Some one briefly views a couple of bad pictures and it is deemed a Dyna-Sonic. It gets sold to someone who really doesn't know. In five years...... it gets sold again... and now I own it. And I am ****ed. In the clone wars.... I am on the side of real drums, and only real drums.

+1

Why not just buy a nice beavertail Luxor? Probably about the price of building a modern drum. Plus the modern Luxor “like” drum just wouldn’t have the mojo of an original.