Thanks, Gary! I learn something new every time I log in here. Cool1

John

Cool, I'm getting a little closer to emerging from the fog of lack of knowledge here.

Thanks Ploughman and Gary.... !!

Good learning session for me about the Rogers Drom Co.

"hey,there's not gonna be a test right"LoLoLoLo

That's something I wasn't aware of. I thought it went directly from

Covington to Fullerton. Thanks for confirming this!

You are very welcome. I kinda like this olde Rogers era (30s/40s/50s/60s) and the good folk that were behind it all. There might not of been Rogers drums if not for Farmingdale, NJ resident Cleveland S. Rogers who wanted to expand and start making drums.

As usual, well said Gary! To me, there are only two eras, the Farmingdale and Covington eras. After the Covington era I loose all interest. I believe the drums were built in Dayton for a very short time.

My first "professional" kit was a 1972 Rogers Celebrity in Silver Sparkle. I had that kit for 10 years. While I will always have a soft spot in my heart for that kit, I eventually learned, decades later, of how good the Covington drums were. That's exactly why I'm restoring a beautiful Cleveland-tagged Headliner kit! Pictures will be posted when it's complete!

My first professional drum set was one that I ordered from Fosters Music in Hammond, Indiana in 1961. With some financial assistance from my parents, I traded in my three piece mid-fifties Gretsch Cameo Coral/Charcoal Duco lacquer set for a drum set that I had been yearning for. All of the other guys I knew who had drum sets had Ludwig drums. I wanted to be different ever since I acquired the Rogers catalog that featured the new Swivomatic hardware. The Cozy Cole outfits fascinated me. I ordered what was essentially the Starlite outfit--14x20, 16x16, 8x12, matching 5x14 snare all in the Holiday series. I wanted, and ordered, the bass drum to have one telescoping Swivo cymbal mount, a single Swivo tom mount, and a Swivo snare drum mount. I did not order the catalog set because I already had a good hihat stand and some cymbal stands. But, I did order the Swivo bass drum pedal with the one piece footboard. I already had the A Zildjian 20" ride and 15" hihat cymbals that I bought new in the late 50's. I added a 22" A Zildjian ride to use on the right side when I moved the 20' over to my left side to ride when my right hand got tired (I'm a natural leftie). The one thing that I agonized over was which color to order. I wanted to be different from all the other guys I knew who had drum sets in the various sparkle colors. The "old" guys had WMP. My favorite clothing color throughout high school was black. The Rogers Black Diamond Pearl called out: "Choose me". So, I did. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of that wonderful drum set that I gigged with on my first real money jobs (wow..haven't used that word for a gig in about 30 years). I now have a near duplicate of that set in a 1963 Champagne Sparkle set except for the Swivo mounted snare. I have also owned other vintage Rogers sets and snares in recent years.

Fast forward to 1980. I had applied to be a manufacturer's representative for Rogers drums in 1977. I found out that CBS had made Fender the caretaker company for manufacturing and selling Rogers drums and Rhodes pianos. Fender/Rogers/Rhodes kindly told me that they did not need any sales reps at that time. I was hired by ARP Instruments to be the representative for their synthesizers in fourteen states based out of Dallas. In October, 1980, I was contacted by Fender who needed a new rep based in Texas. So, I became the Fender/Rogers/Rhodes rep for the last few years of the American made Rogers drums. That career was a terrific way to be the ultimate drummer. I got to hang out with musicians for three years with ARP and twenty seven years with Fender. My official retirement date will live forever in infamy--just joking--December 7, 2007.

Thanks for sharing that wonderful story! There are many of us here who can really relate to it! Beautiful set of drums, too!

I should add that my 1961 Rogers drums had B&B lugs while my 1963 set came with beavertail lugs. Hell....all I knew back in the 60's was that there were lugs on the drums. If any were cracked, I never noticed.