Rarely seen fairly close consecutive serial numbers on a Cleveland era bop kit...

Awesome! Beautiful kit.

The best sounding Rogers kit I own...

I seem to recall seeing that kit for sale at Century Drum Shop in Toronto and being very tempted. Ebony stain, right? I have younger big brother (20" bass Dayton era) in jet black. I really enjoy it. What do you make of the sound of a Rogers 18 compared to those of the other manufacturers, especially Gretsch?

Fantastic Rogers kit you have there!Yes Sir

Wow! Ultra-rare and in wonderful condition. I bet they sound fantastic ��

As far as sound goes not bad at all but a totally different sound.

With my Cleveland era Rogers 18" bass drum no matter how hard you try you cannot match sound wise my early 1960s Gretsch 18" bass drum because with Gretsch, I can get a much higher tuning range... but surprizingly both Rogers & Gretsch kits have very beautiful sounding 12x8 and 14x14 toms.

So IMHO the only true difference between the Rogers is; it has that "boom" when Gretsch has that "bling"..

But, I equally love them both and feel blessed to have them in my collection.

Any idea what makes the Gretsch more responsive to higher tuning? I assume equal heads, or at least the heads are not a function of that. I know the Rogers has the rings and Gretsch doesn't. Rogers probably has 5 plies of maple and poplar, but I'm not sure what the Gretsch would be. Both are painted inside, so some absorption there.

Oddly enough, given the rounded bearing edges and cast hoops of the Gretsch, I would have expected the toms to have a better sound for jazz.

I love the sound/tuning range of my Rogers 12" and 14" drums and can even get a respectable jazz sound out of my 20" bass drum, but can't comfortably crank it up in the 18" range. I've never tried an 18" bass drum, but a 16" floor tom can get a pretty decent bop sound, if mounted on a cradle and tuned up a little.

In general, I think Gretsch and Rogers both have a great tuning ranges and are very versatile.