I'm picking the set up tomorrow in South Jersey. I spoke to the owner today. Other than the metal bass drum rims, the set is all original, no modifications, no extra holes drilled, no funny business. I'm meeting him at a diner around lunchtime. His dad bought the set for him as a teenager. I'll find out the year tomorrow.

I'll post photos of the drums in a day or two. Stay tuned.

All the drums have little scuffs or dings and dents, and the finish is bubbling up around a couple of lugs on the bass drum, all small stuff in the long run, and all of it very hard to see, unless you get up close and look really hard. All the hardware is there, and it all works, and as I mentioned previously, no extra holes. I will order new inlay strips from Precision Drum, and fix the small crack in one hoop.

They have mix & match batter heads right now; an Ambassador on the 12," a Pinstripe on the 13," and an Evans G2 on the 16." The batter head on the 24" bass drum is a Pinstripe. The 12" tom sounds best with the Ambassador, so I'll re-head the other two toms with them.

The guy I bought them from is the second owner actually. His father bought them for him in 1978. He did some research and said they were from '69, Dayton shells with Fullerton labels. He gave me a set of Gator Protechtor hard cases for them, which I will sell. The BD case is huge, on wheels. Just too big for me to deal with.

All in all, they look great, and I am very pleased. Photos to follow soon.

"Dayton shells with Fullerton labels" doesn't make any sense.

Dayton shells and Fullerton shells are the same thing... 5 ply Keller.

If they have Fullerton tags they came from Fullerton California.

do the tags have borders ?

Circa ‘69 drums purchased in 1978? Seems difficult to say for certain how many previous owners.

The 12" and 16" tom labels have no borders. The bass drum and 13" tom labels do have borders.

Of course, I'm just going on what the seller told me. I'm here to get some clarity.

Pictures would be great but everything points to early Fullerton drums

I had a long and enlightening conversation with Rogers expert Jeff Burke tonight, who filled me in on the drums I just bought.

The 12," 13," and 16" toms were all made in Dayton as per the serial numbers, according to Jeff, and were most likely shipped to Fullerton with a lot of other shells, hardware, work in progress, machinery, etc. The bass drum is likely Fullerton made, as per that serial number. They could be either Jasper or Keller shells. The drums are Holiday models, except for the BD, which is a Powertone. One of the toms has a label with a name crossed out and Holiday written in pen.

Jeff was about 95% sure that what I have is not a Londoner set, but one half of an Ultra- Power VIII set that could have been pieced together. Most likely, a previous owner, or the music store where the seller bought the drums in 1978, sold the other 24" bass drum, along with the 14." 15." and 18" toms, breaking the big set up into two smaller sets. The collet and collet nose bracket under my 12" tom was for a clip-on hi-hat, because a cymbal L arm wouldn't fit. Or, it could have been installed for a snare drum on special order, but unlikely. The floor tom is a 3-ply. All the other drums are 5-ply.

Jeff put the date of manufacture at 1969 at the latest, and the bass drum perhaps made in 1970, as per the serial numbers.

I have a last minute unexpected gig tomorrow night, so they'll get their baptism of fire then. I put new clear Ambassadors on the 13" and 16" toms. and tuned the drums up. I think they'll sound great.

Don't know where you live DrumBob, but if it is cold, be very careful taking those drums out tonight (I live in the middle section of the west coast of FL and it was down to 36 last night). That red onyx wrap is now beyond 50 years old and probably on the edge of getting brittle if not already there. The onyx finishes are some of the worst when it comes to splitting and cracking.

After gazing at the Rogers 67-68 catalog many many times as a kid and wanting that red onyx Citadel set, I finally got my first one in the late 90's from Rockin' Rita's (a few of you might remember that outfit). It arrived and was really nice, though as an early Fullerton production it had one poor bearing edge on the 8x12. I took it out almost immediately on a cold night in Boston and the next morning I saw that the wrap on the bottom of the bass drum had a good size split. I was bummed big time. Because of that and the 12 bearing edge, I sold the kit soon after for the same money I bought it for. I did disclose all flaws, but expected the buyer was after the 14 (very hard to find in that era) and that was in excellent shape.

I've since seen many split onyx finishes and some even completely delaminated from the shell. So again, it's a beautiful kit but be careful for that wrap.

I will say that the bass drum is going to give you a big sound! In fact, the whole kit should. So enjoy that part to the max.

Thanks for the heads-up, Dan. I never would have known about that. Fortunately, we've been in a warm patch around here lately in northern NJ. It's been in the 40's at night, not bad, so I'm sure the wrap should be fine. I don't load the drums into the car until right before I leave, they'll be in the warm car, and then carried right into the venue.

I can tell the bass drum will be a monster just from whacking it a few times in the basement. I immediately put an Evans bass drum pillow inside, and will take a felt strip with me in case it needs additional dampening. The bandleader always gives me grief if my bass drums have too much ring. He's from that "deader is better" school of drum tuning.

Jeff is a close friend ... he'll steer you right.

If your shells are 5 ply they are Keller.