When these drums were introduced in 1967, Rogers had begun to phase out various models in order to cut costs. These drums were meant to fill the voids that would be created by elimination of Banner, Luxor, and Tower snare drums, and the Tower configured drum sets. This significantly reduced hard costs by not carrying entry level/student level snares and drums. The lugs were designed by Henry Grossman (?) and were used by him to job some sets and drums under the Duplex name after he sold Rogers to CBS. These lugs were incorporated into the R360 and 380 drums from 67- the early 70s. The Yamaha drums are of decent quality and of much higher quality than most of the stencil MIJ drums of the period.

For JDZ - Yeah I think I will take you up on it. I can't imagine actually using it, but at that price... I will at least have the matching set! I don't mind doing a little restoration work. I am amazed to see that same leather strap for a connecting link that they used on the bass pedal.

I am new to the forum here so...I guess there is a mechanism to private- message and exchange contact info. I'll see if I can figure it out...

Thanks for all the effort to dig it out and take the photos. Here's a shot of the bass pedal in case you didn't have the same one...

Phil

Jack!

You are darn near infallible with your Rogers history/timelines! In this case though, it was Joe Thompson that designed what became the Duplex lug. Course we could also say "close enough for jazz"... as it was indeed Grossman that built the Duplex line of drums after Rogers was sold to CBS. Beauty of the Joe Thompson designed Duplex lug is of course that it is cast. A nice/heavy lug! I have two of the Rogers 1st run R-360 snare drums. One with Rogers Beavertails, and one with the Duplex lug. Both drums are high quality! I have always maintained that they should have been called the Rogers SuperEight as they mimic the Rogers SuperTen with regard to build quality/sound in a steel shell!

Tommyp

HoustonPhil!

I have played a Rogers Swivo-Matic bass drum pedal with my Rogers drums for over 10 years now. This particular Swivo-Matic has to be the NICEST one I have ever owned/played too, and I have had at least 5 of them over the years. Reason I mention that though, is this:

I was at a drum show a couple years back and saw a Rogers R-380 bass drum pedal on a table. SAME exact pedal you have here. I bought it for $15.00, brought it home, disassembled..cleaned..lubricated..reassembled. It is an amazingly SMOOTH playing pedal. I was quite surprised actually. The action is perfect! I have never gigged it, but I bet it would! I played it with one of my practice sets just to try it and see what my $15.00 bought. Again... super SMOOTH. Amazingly so. It's also in near MINT condition as it appears to not really have ever been played. It was just dull/dirty. I still have it. I actually like it... for what it is! Amazingly good build quality for the dollar.. and .. completely usable! Not to mention, it also looks pretty neat!

Tommyp

Tommy, without doing a bit of a search, I wasn't sure. Hence, the (?) behind the name. Because, I wasn't quite sure. Should have known it was Joe. He made everything.

Jack!

Oh gosh yes! I knew that you were going off the top of your memory! Main reason I knew immediately was because I have TWO of the R-360 snare drums... and 1st run models as well. Because of the research I did back when I bought 'em.. ( and I have had them for a while now too! ) .. I remembered that Joe Thompson was behind that lug design. You are of course right on the money here too: ... He made everything. Indeed!

Tommyp

TommyP - Great story! I must admit, I actually did use the bass pedal until a year ago.

I agree it is very smooth and responsive. I had some problems with squeaks and a wear point. The clamp that holds it to the bass drum rim pivots on a roll pin, and the hole in the stamped/formed part of the clamp has worn so the roll pin will not stay in tight. The pedal keeps working loose - so in the middle of practice or the gig it would slide off the rim and start to walk. I think these are solvable but I have not worked on it yet. I previously added a washer under the screw head holding the strap ends to the pedal toe, to solve an elongation of the hole in the leather strap ends.

For some reason I am not sure that this configuration would be a good hi hat design, BUT I will find out!

Phil

Tommy, I keep hoping to snag one of these at a really low price, they were far and above anything coming into the country at the time. It leave a real bitter taste though that the company which gave Yamaha such a great start in US market was pretty much put to rest forever by Yamaha just a few years ago.

Ok, everyone, I am now the proud owner of jdz's vintage R-380 hi hat. As he said, it is missing some wing screws. I plan to restore it to working condition and while I may not find original Rogers components, I would at least like to know what the originals might have looked like. Oddly the rest of my set does not have anything else I think that would be representative. Also we are not sure the clutch is original. So...does anyone out there have a good photo of an original-condition Rogers hi hat of 1970-ish vintage to use as a guide?

Any interest in selling the r-380 hi hat you purchased?

Thanks

Steve