1pc vs 2pc footboard is a matter of personal preference, to be honest. I just finished rebuilding a Rogers swivomatic pedal that I bought off of ebay. It was a one piece board. The hinge had massive amounts of slop and side to side play in it, and I rather didn't like it the way it was. So, I located a 2pc board on ebay in good shape and fitted that. The feel was ok, but not as good as the 1pc (even with the slop!) to me. I play heel down, so this might be why I felt that the 1pc had a better feel. I have since properly repaired the hinge on the 1pc and now there is no slop. And it feels wonderful, much better than the way it was when I first got it, not loosey-goosey anymore, you know? I'm sure that if you play heel up that a 2pc would have a better feel to you. If you play heel down, then the 1pc may be the way to go for you.

As far as the historical angle, I believe that the 1pc pedal was on the drawing board first, since that is the pedal that the patent was issued for. The concept was to have as many adjustments possible to make the pedal ergonomically comfortable for the drummer, to make it a natural extension of the foot. I believe the 2pc came later (on the drawing board anyway, not necessarily when Rogers released the pedal to the public) to satisfy those that prefered the feel of those types of pedals instead of the flat, solid 1pc board.

Here's a link to the actual patent through google patent search:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=8YdOAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA5&dq=patent+3030847&hl=en&ei=oGUETrCRMOTj0QGPm5nxCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=patent%203030847&f=false

I can't comment as to whether the two piece or one piece came first. The one piece footboards that I own don't seem to have the play that was mentioned. I own both, and my two piece has a lot of "slop" to it, so it may just depend on how worn the pedal is. I think Ludwig-dude has a good point. If you play heel down, the one piece would feel better.

I personally prefer the feel of the one piece.

I will note that a one piece pedal should be played with a one piece hi hat as it does raise your feet a bit. If you mix the two pedals (a one piece bass pedal and a two piece hi hat) it feels odd - kind of like your feet are playing on two different levels.

I might add that Buddy Rich was a fan of the one piece footboard swivo pedal.

Just boils down to personal preference.

Just to clarify, I wasn't saying that ALL of the 1pc footboard pedals have play, just that the particular one I have did. Seems that the pivot screws had broken and someone used a long stud to replace them at some point in its life, which in turn ovaled out the baseplate where the pivot screws mounted causing excessive slop, or side to side play making it difficult to play and feel strange to me. I have since fixed the issue by drilling, tapping and fitting thread repair inserts to the base plate and fitting short bolts with washers to make the pivot hinge work as it should with no play. If I could find the correct type of hinge pin screws I would fit those, but since parts in general for these old pedals are rather hard to come by, I figured that this would be an acceptable solution to the issue with side to side play in my particular pedal.

Having tried both types of footboards on my pedal, I personally like the feel of the 1pc board that it came with (now that it has been repaired of course) rather than the 2pc board for the way I play (again, I play heel-down).

Thanks! The more I read the more I think I'm lucky to have a one piece footboard Swiv-O-Matic with ALL original parts and nearly unused perfect condition! I see many that sellers probably are not aware that something is missing, like the clamp (kinda necessary) and the toe clip. Mine has it all, so lucky me! Now I gotta see if I like the feel of it.

LUdiwg-dude, that sounds like a great fix for the pedal. I have never seen just the hinge available. That pin is a not so easy to find part. Good thing you are mechanically inclined.

Opti..... Hope you enjoy your one piece. You should have no problem adjusting the pedal as it has alot of settings.

My first pro drum set was a 1961 Rogers Holiday four piece set. I ordered the drums with the one piece Swivo bass drum pedal. I played on that pedal for seventeen years. I replaced many worn out parts over the years. The most frequently replaced parts were the bearing screws that go into each side of the heel plate, and act as a fulcrum to the lever of the foot board. The holes in the actual heel plate into which the bearing screws fit eventually key-holed and completely wore through the bottom of the piece. That pedal was included with my last gigging set (a NOS mid 60's Slingy Green Glass Glitter set that I bought in 1977) when I parted with that set.

When I got back into drums as a collector and restorer, I began acquiring Swivo pedals. I currently have five or six of them . I would need to search through my bin containing vintage pedals to be sure of how many. All of the swivo pedals I have now are of the two piece footboard/heel plate variety. I honestly don't notice any real difference in feel because I have always claimed to have the slowest right foot in the business. My absolute favorite Swivo pedal is the transition model with no need for the separate hoop clamp because the clamping mechanism is operated by a lever at the front of the pedal. Also notice the pivoting hard plastic square beater that I love. This beater hitting on a moleskin patch gives me the feel and sound that I prefer. Oh....don't worry about the missing spike on the pedal. I have never used the spikes, and I have several of them on my other pedals.

Yes, I found they are had to come by. They are actually two separate pins that screw into the inner base plate of the heel , and it seems that the threads had stripped out somehow, so someone just fed one long stud through it, which eventually wore out, keyholed if you will, the inner base plate. I only figured out that there were two separate pins after finding the pedal's patent drawings online through google patent search! After I realized how it was supposed to be, it made sense to me to repair the threads using inserts and new bolts. I think the original thread was 1/4"-20, but I went with 1/4"-28.....mainly because I had them in stock! LoLoLoLo The bushings in the heelplate itself were perfect! So, new threads and new bolts and its back in action the way it was supposed to be (ok, well nearly the way its supposed to be...LOL!)

It's always nice to hear that someone was able to breath new life into a vintage piece. No reason that shouldn't continue to serve you well for decades to come.