That wrap is a mystery to me. It looks almost black, not close at all to Steel Grey Ripple. And yet, the Eagle badge on the bass looks like it has never been touched. And the earlier ride tom with the tacked head is wearing that wrap as well.

The way the wrap is cracked and falling off that one drum: it does not look like the usual material that Rogers used. Maybe a factory experiment before going with the now familiar Ripple colors? Also, the very early tom mixed with the Eagle badges and all wrapped with the same material? Very odd...

Gary N. or DanC:

Is the tone control on Wayne's tom correct? I acquired a Dayton Tower tom with the same muffler; it has the hard, flat, gray felt pad rather than the softer, black muffler pad that should have been on a Dayton. Can you outline the timeline of these three different tone controls (gray, black, and white)? Appreciate your Rogers knowledge.

[Attachment: 73390]

Mike

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Can anyone explain the gold sparkle bass drum setup?

I take it the mount in front of drum is for a cymbal.

Is the two back mounts so you could set up the toms left handed or right handed?

And would they all be straight swivo based

The bass drum did have the 18 inch cymbal arm in front and angled swivo straight legged spurs.

That is an early tone control, having the flat felt, and also the threaded clip on the end of the shaft instead of a nut.

To Gary or Dan

Do you think due to the tags that it would of been a 12/14/20 setup?

Does the T on the tags donate a specific location they where made at?

Found this tag from Cleveland area with earlier numbers.

Just curious

Wayne

After the move from NJ in the mid 50's, they were all made in Covington. That 'T' has no special significance, as far as I know, But Gary N. is the expert on that era.

Rogers used blank tags on drums here and there, usually when they were out of regular pre-printed Holiday (or Tower, etc) tags or the builder didn't have any left on his bench at that moment. They typed (or wrote) the name on a blank tag and stuck it in there. The serial number on the blank tag has no relation to the number series on the pre-printed tags. This also applies to tags with a model name (eg Newport etc) that is crossed out and Holiday is written in.

They were set up in Covington and owned by Grossman Music, in Cleveland, by 1953. I thank you Dan in thinking I would know that detail. Nope. The thing that gets to me about this set is that the serial numbers are close and they all have the same T. I have seen parade drums from this era that had a P and that made sense to me. Seeing bass, tom and snare with the same makes me think that it designated the assembler. Like the later pencil F or S etc. The officice with the typewriters were feet away from where the drums were assembled. Special orders that with typed tags were easily made. Grossman in Cleveland kept tabs on the Covington building with these serial numbers from the start. How many shells were ordered and how many numbers were used-easy. Must of been easy to keep track before Swiomatic and becoming busy and a much larger company as the years went by. Would love to know/see that early list surface but it is a dream of what was.

Ok. So these are most likely 1957/58 made in Covington

Does anyone have a picture of a set from this era with the whole setup?

Love to check that out.

Are the shells the Same as out of the Cleveland factory?(jasper shells)

The wrap came off easy on the bass, tom and snare and the shell are actually in great shape with the bass having some extra holes drilled for the (Yamaha) mount?

I still think I will sand down the shell and maybe leave them natural.

What do you guys think I should do or what would you do?

I don't think I can put it back to original so I will use the hardware i have and replace what is needed and let it be a player.

Any suggestions on the hardware welcome.

Thanks for your help

Wayne

There was no Cleveland factory: everything was made in Covington from the beginning in Ohio. The Grossman offices were in Cleveland.

Those are Jasper shells on all the drums, usually 3-ply.

I wouldn't leave them natural since that is not a finish ply on the outside of the shells and you probably won't be happy with the result. Much easier to wrap them and they will look really sharp when done. WMP or BDP would work well...

What is the condition of the lugs? Are they cracked? Since this is a "player's" kit, you could use all Rogers beaver-tail lugs.

I still think that the wrap might have been original, because the nails and the grommets on the badges looked unaltered. I bet the floor tom might even be a Rogers, which had cracked/broken lugs and they were replaced with Slingerland lugs. Is the inside of the floor tom shell gray, is there a paper tag and are the lug holes opened up to fit the Slingerland lugs?

I also think the shells should be wrapped. It's going to hide all of the imperfections and extra holes after they are plugged. Something basic and inexpensive, since they are now player's drums.

You can also drill and install reso lugs on the tacked tom tom.

-Tim