Why would anyone want two 14" floor toms? Is that to hold a drink and a towel? A newspaper maybe?

sabshga!

When I read your post/query, I said hmmm.... is he asking a rhetorical question here, or does he truly not have a clue as to why anyone would want/play two 14X14 floor toms. So, I'll just answer as if your question was truly posed for "wanting to know".

Dual floor toms, be they 16's, or 14's in this case, are a Buddy Rich trademark. Buddy always used two floors, as did a host of other pro's back in the day. It was considered the "perfect" set up: one up, two down if you will. Earlier in his career Buddy actually PLAYED the 2nd floor tom, and quite a bit at that. As time went on, he did relegate the 2nd floor tom to holding his towel, and barely, if ever, played it. But as you know, there have been MANY players to use two floor toms, or even three as Dennis Chambers does or the late Tony Williams did... and a lot of times one of the drums sizes are doubled, be they 14's, or the most common, 16's. So,

On this particular 1966 Rogers kit, it IS a Buddy Rich model, the "BR Headliner" in this case, so this kit was outfitted with TWO 14X14 floor toms, whereas Buddy's bigger Rogers kit was the "BR Celebrity" kit, and that kit had TWO 16X16 floor toms.

Regarding playability/sound: It is relatively simple sabshga, they are tuned differently, or as Buddy would have said, tensioned. Very easy to do of course, and the back 14X14 has a much lower, punchier sound to it, which gives the drummer a choice of three tom sounds. When I gig with the two 14's... ( and that doesn't happen every gig! ) ... I truly enjoy having the extra "voice" if you will. I am tempted to put a towel on it at times though!

Lastly, 14X14 vintage floor toms are generally considered... RARE! ... thus, this kit having two, makes it a bit more valuable, as well as being the exact BR set-up, only in smaller, easier moved, more "gig friendly" sizes. And hey, they're Rogers!

Tommyp

I was being glib. I used to use a 14 and 16 but I felt the 16x16 was too big. Too much air to move IMHO. I like to have my drum sizes 2" apart so that the voice differences are more pronounced, hence my joking at 2 14s. I now use 8, 10, 12 racks and a 14 x 14. The 8 and 10 being non vintage and the 8 being optional in the set up. I also sometimes put a 13 to the left of my hi hat which really opens up the playing field for me as I am a righty and usually play cross handed on the high hat.

Bottom line... nice set. Thanks for the info. Both times I saw Buddy perform, he used the back floor tom as a drink and towel holder.

Call me

Gary

Dix Hills, NY

WOW!.. Tommy, that is all the RIGHT STUFF in one package... right vintage, right sizes,, right hardware. It doesnt get much beeter than that.. maybe if Buddy Hisself actually played on it.. you could get 2x that.. What you have is a reasonable price price for a great kit.

Fatboy46!

THANK YOU for the very nice words regarding my '66 Rogers "BR Headliner" kit... I appreciate that YOU appreciate a nice kit!

I'm not being overly aggressive in attempting to sell these, as I really do love these drums... thus, I only have them listed/shown here. I'm not really interested in eBaying them... at least at this juncture. What has been neat is this:

A lot of guys have gotten to view a pretty rare Rogers BR model kit, in just amazing condition across the board, which is why I felt that the VSD Forum was THE place to show these. Thanks again! Hey!... Got Rogers?! :-)

Tommyp