I have been trying to fine this out for year's..My set is a 22",13''.16" and a 14" wood snare..Same cymbal set-up on the bass drum as john's set..Iam sure the shell's are Rogers 5 plt with ring's..The mounted tom and floor tom you can see were the three nail hole's were for the Roger's badge's and the paper tag's were they have been removed..Snare drum and bass drum NO nail hole's or paper tag's were ever on the these two drum's.My snare has the Roger's "classman's" 4 screw's mounting rim's are Roger's high Boy's..Bass drum T-rod's and claw's are Roger's...So have told me that my set could have been made or should i say put together and sold under the Grossman's name but then again i was told it could be a protoype of a Roger's "Buddy Rich" ceb.set..Roger's came out with if i recall right in the 1963 catalog showing the sat as a four piece 22.13,16,14 snare with the same cymbal set up on the bass drum....With this other set of John's that showed up i have emailed a friend who has a friend who has every drum catalog printed from 1910-2011 and have ask him if he has a "Grossman's" drum catalog that he could copy for me...Mikey

Mikey,

Thanks for the details. Although an expert has told me these are NOT Rogers, my gut tells me otherwise. The little details in the shells like the little line in the re enforcement rings, the actual matching Rogers hardware, even the shell smell! What are the odds of our sets being set up with the exact hardware and placement? The sound that so many have talked about is there. The instant I heard that sound I thought "oh that's what they all mean". The lugs seem to be the bigger factor for skeptics. However it seems as though Rogers was always developing new hardware and this might have been a prototype lug. If everything else points to early 60's wouldn't it make sense that these lugs would have been an early attempt at refining the bread and butter? My shells have NO pin holes and no sign of paper badges, but that is actually insignificant to me. I think we have to look at the other details that are so strange. My vote? Rogers! We all are learning something new here, even the "experts".

I have double checked the Grossman Music counter catalogs 1961, 1963 and 1968. None of those lugs seen in there. The 63 Grossman catalog has the Rogers Buddy Rich cover 62R Rogers catalog in it plus other drums not in the regular Rogers catalog. I do believe there was a 1965 Grossman counter catalog and it should have the 64R Rogers catalog in it plus other drums not offered in there.

It was stressed to me that Henry Grossman spent quite a bit of time on these large books. Some in the 600 page range-total instruments offered. The lack of or removal of badges on both sets makes me think prototype as well. Who knows until we can find them in print...if they ever made it to print. Very healthy to have Rogers thoughts! Keep on lookin, Gary

John, Yes to me both set's are Roger's even with the same hardwear set up on the bass drum's..I forgot to ask you what leg's do you have on your bass drum? With your set showing up and just like mine iam going to do alot more asking around about these kit's i have another guy i will be emailing your photo's too along with my set's photo's maybe he will know something about these drum's...Mikey

Well the "bug" has hit me and I am thinking of moving these.... Any interest out there? Before I even post them in the for sale area, I wonder if there is interest???