Rogers is back. Maxwell's Drum Shop is now taking orders for the new Rogers Dyna-Sonic. As the decals and brochure give us to know, Rogers intends to once again become a leader in the industry. At the beginning of the year when the RogersDrumsUSA.com website was “prematurely” launched for a few hours, the buzz it created on the Facebook groups was unprecedented. Hundreds of comments, dozens of threads, and reactions spanning everything from “Oh No!” to ecstatic elation. I was with the latter grouping of people.
Dyna-Sonic serial number 1171. This drum was offered on the Rogers Drums Group II Facebook page. Condition was utterly deplorable. The shell was covered in grime, many years worth of grime. It displayed the absolute worst in neglect. It was however, fairly complete. The frame, of course was long gone. The tension rods were mostly a mix of unknowns that were themselves thirty to forty years old. The heads on the drum, I am pretty sure, were 70s era Remo. This drum had not been played for decadesDyna-Sonic serial number 1171. This drum was offered on the Rogers Drums Group II Facebook page. Condition was utterly deplorable. The shell was covered in grime, many years worth of grime. It displayed the absolute worst in neglect. It was however, fairly complete. The frame, of course was long gone. The tension rods were mostly a mix of unknowns that were themselves thirty to forty years old. The heads on the drum, I am pretty sure, were 70s era Remo. This drum had not been played for decades
Shortly after the launch of the XP8, eight ply, all North American Maple shell ply series of drums in 1979, the reissue of the Rogers wood snare drum brought to us the XP10 series of snare drums. The production list of snare drums from 1965 had over a half a dozen various models. The production list for 1975 had two, Dyna-Sonic and SuperTen being the only offerings from Rogers. Available in 5x14 and 6.5x14. Dyna-Sonic was COB, SuperTen was COS. Rogers had discontinued wood shell snare drums in 1972, primarily due to lack of sales. The late 70's and early 80's, however, wood shell snare drums steadilly gaining in popularity. Into this market, Rogers launched the XP10.
Whether we are willing to admit it or not, I think perhaps most of us at some point in time, have ruined a drum. With some, it was long before it was vintage. The need to make something playable, to fix something that was broken, to add something we needed at the time. Adding a mount, but not bothering to sufficiently plan out its placement, and in so doing created something that not only did not work, but, by its very nature, put an undue burden on the set. Changing mounts with “other” parts, drilling extra holes, making changes that for the moment, made the drum usable. However, at the same time, marring a beautiful drum with ugliness.