I acquired a Rogers Top drum set yesterday. The vintage drum dealer from whom I acquired it said that he thinks the drums are from 1966. Bobby Chiasson examined pictures of the drums, and said that the configuration, the sizes, and the mounting hardware on the bass drum and floor tom make this a Top Hat set. For the catalog cops, this set was last pictured in the 1964 catalog. The 1966 catalog had something similar, but with different mounting hardware, that was called the Londoner 5. Can anyone direct me to a serial number dating guide that's fairly accurate. This appears to be a born-together drum set: All drums have Dayton Holiday tags and solid gray interiors. Here are the serial numbers: 14x20...61468, 16x16...75348, 8x12...77096, 8x12...77097. The Silver Sparkle wrap is about an 8.5 of 10 with a little snare rash on both 8x12s. The chrome has some little pimples, and can use a good soaking in a Dawn solution. One collet nose for a bass drum spur had only one wing. I have spares--already replaced it. I had kept the logo and monagram bass drum head from my last vintage Rogers set.
Rogers Top Hat Drum Set
If I want to be vintage Rogers-correct, I have a chrome over brass Power Tone snare from the same general time frame as the drums. I also have several vintage snare drums of various different brands and wraps that will work well with this set. I have swan leg cymbal and hi-hat stands, a few Swivomatic bass drum pedals, a Rogers stick tray, and a lot of A Zildjian cymbals ranging from the 1930's to the 1970's. I'll most likely sit behind the drum set on my custom-made Jim Petty canister throne. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Nice acquisition... Kit looks great!
After seeing that ad showing the MSRP price for that kit at $635, I ran it through an inflation calculator to see what the equivalent price for that 1966 kit in todays dollar would be... $5,123.
Here are some pictures of a pristine Top Hat kit, showing the correct Swivo tom holders.
-Mark
That's exactly the setup on the bass drum tom and cymbal "tree". I just need to turn mine around so that the mini knobby adjustment screws face the front of the drums. The floor tom has the extra knobby on the next panel to the right of the Rogers logo panel. I think that you're saying that the two short tom Swivo arms on my set are wrong. I think that they are different from those in your picture. But, I wouldn't say they are wrong. .There were many running changes made along the way.
That picture with the red backdrop is a page from the 1964 Rogers catalog. The picture was so small that all attempts to make it larger resulted in blurry text. For those of us who honed our drumming chops in the 1950s and 1960s, Rogers drums were the high-priced brand much the way DW is in today's marketplace.
Can someone please send me a link to the Rogers serial number/dating sites? I just would like to get a ball park estimate for the serial numbers.
UPDATE:
I found the serial number guide. The only form I have it in is PDF. I can't post a PDF file here. If you want a copy, please message me with your email address.
I found the Rogers serial number guide that I wanted to find. According to this guide, my Holiday drums--all four of them--date to 1966 in the year when the tags changed from Cleveland to Dayton. Powertone chrome over brass snare drum serial number 3219 shows up as made in 1963 with a Cleveland tag. I bought this drum for $100 at a guitar show several years ago. It was missing a snare strainer. I just happened to have one at home that I attached to the drum.
It seems top hat kits are popping up everywhere! I just acquired this kit about a month ago.
Dave
Nice, Howie. Good score.
Dave scored a real pretty Top Hat Rogers set. Thanks guys for the nice words.
Hey, Dave..... Do you know in what year(s) the drums in your set were made?
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