Yes, 1969 is the year most dating guides attribute to the Holiday - Powertone transition, but this is a fuzzy period for tags. The Powertone tags were already in use on snares in the 21000-24000 range during this time, and I've seen two toms with these Powertone (one word) snare labels; however the Power Tone (two words) labels started with a whole new range of serial numbers. These new Power Tone tags didn't appear until 1970. I'm not as concerned about which serial numbers correspond to which year as I am about which hardware (screws, bolts, lugs, collets, rods, etc) correspond to which serial numbers. This matters more when you're trying to restore a drum back to its factory configuration.

And I think everyone agrees that these "hair-splitting" attempts at precise dating are less than productive as labels were mixed up and pulled randomly, model names on old labels were corrected by hand, and a 1969 drum with a 1969 label could have sat in the warehouse and then been sold new in 1970. Once, when I questioned a seller about his claim that the Dynasonic he personally bought new in 1970 had to actually be a 1971 by its serial number, he simply replied, "What difference does it make, do you want the drum or not?" A little gruff, but indeed, what difference does it really make?

Mike

I"m with you Mike. In stating "my understanding" I meant that my statement was open for correction. I'm still learning even after several years of being infatuated by Rogers drums.

PM sent gwader.