Interesting - thanks!

I remember when they came out. I always knew that when you heard a drum you were hearing the head plus the shell. The Roto toms made me realize that the head sound was much greater than I'd though it would have been.

No patent? Someone please make an all wood one with calf heads. It would be nice for tweaking the toms fast at gigs.

Great site, I just picked up a set on eBay really cheap and this info will come in handy. Thanks

Picked up a 10" in 1980.

Still with me today. Not quite a concert tom,

yet not a timbale either.

Oh yeah, you can also drop the pitch, hit it with mallets

or even your bare hands...

Take the sucker apart and it rings like a bell. (Spoxe)

A very versatile piece of percusssion.

The smaller ones ( 6 and 8 ) are kinda' limited but man o' man

a 14 or 16 ( if you can find one ) will blow your socks off.

As previously mentioned the head choice is key.

I've used everything from CS, PS, Amb, Hydraulic and

currently Rennaisance.

Numerous Movie and TV tracks, Pink Floyd's "Time", XTC's "Senses"

and one Terry Bozzio have proven their value.

Drop one in the mix for giggles...

:2Cents:

Am I correct in remembering some sort of pedal with a cable you could use to tune Roto toms like you do timpani?

Hmm.

Recall the Yamaha Floor Tom with a timp mechanism

but nothing that sophisticated for the Roto.

I bought a Pollard Syndrum 178 soon after...

:p

I was an Eighties Roto-Tom geeky dweeb. I had the full set ... 6,8,10,12,14,16,18. Wow. Major goofiness.

I did find it interesting to see in the 1968 Slingerland cat, a page on the Slingerland Roto-Tom. That was kinda cool.

I used to have a Remo catalog from the late 70's that had a pedal driven roto tom. I thought it was pretty cool.

I'd love to get a set of roto toms again. Especially a 12 and 14. I had a set of 6-8-10's in the 80's. Got 'em for my 14th birthday.

roto's ruled! just add the 6"8"10" and sudenly you could play Rush and KISS' extended tom fills on your stencil four piece kit!D' Drummer

I just listed a real nice 16" remo roto tom with the stand on e bay . i should have maybe posted the drum here first . i rember back in the 80's every body had roto tom's or wished they did . i think roto toms are apart of music history .