Well a new Honda Civic functions better than an old Corvette Stingray, but that doesn't mean that the Corvette is not "quality stuff". I would still prefer driving the ill-handling, gas-inefficient, poor braking Corvette in a nice, polite manner than I would driving the new Honda Civic without a worry.
Same thing holds true for Rogers Swiv-O-Matic hardware. When it came out, it was a new idea -it seemed (and was) more functional at the time. The collet things were initially machined and of very high quality and they also reflected the style of the time in which they were created -they were "futuristic" in both function and appearance and they helped to differentiate Rogers from the remaining "Big Four" manufacturers -much the same way that the Big Four car manufacturers (Ford, Chevrolet, Pontiac and Dodge) used to approach building cars. Once things like aerodynamics were studied in regards to the way car bodies were designed, the fins and rocket-shaped bumpers that had been a major part of the individual style, disappeared. All of the differentiating factors began to melt into each other in favor of a more unified look and design across the board. As a result, the cars of today run better and more efficiently, but they lack a clearly individualized identity. After all, most of them are made from parts that come from the same places...built by robots and made to suit the needs of higher-profit manufacturing.
I believe the same to be true in relation to vintage drum gear verses new gear and it is my personal belief that the "quality" of an object doesn't always have to pertain to how much more abuse it can hold up to. Rogers Swiv-O-Matic may not have been perfect, but it certainly wasn't low-quality.flowers2
