I don't know that he's asking a premium due to rarity or not. I just know I see Big R sets going for a LOT less than $1400. I've seen them as low as $450-500 not long ago. I'm very jaded about people who ask exorbitant amounts of money for drums they think are priceless. There's some idiot on FB Marketplace right now asking $10,000 for a multi-tom Gretsch set. Everyone has busted his balls mercilessly.

I just know I wouldn't spend that much money on a Big R set. You may think differently, and that's your choice.

I don't know where you are located, but I know a guy in North Plainfield, NJ who is selling a couple of Rogers Onyx sets right now for reasonable money on FB marketplace. His name is Chris Del Vecchio, and he's a nice guy to deal with. He buys and sells used drums and cymbals for a living. Check him out.

While I love the Swivo-era Rogers sets, I do like this 1975 Big R set as well! The 14x20 bass drum and 14x14 floor tom are very rare! And yes, I'm not that crazy about Memri-loc hardware, but at least the floor tom legs still made use of Swivo brackets and hex legs! Many of you may remember the 1975-76 Big R set I restored some years back. It was a lot of work. One big issue is the thinner bass drum hoops that Rogers was using. I'd want to see a picture of the section of hoop where the pedal attaches, to see if there are any issues.

Something else that caught my eye is that this "Headliner-4" set uses a double-tom holder. Rogers used a single tom arm for this configuration and not a double-tom holder. Was the mounting arm replaced? Those single tom Memri-Loc arms are tough to find.

As to price, yes, it's way overpriced!! Most likely because it's being offered by a brick-and-mortar store where they want to make a nice profit. A fair price, even for this store, would be around $800. If you're interested in this set, just wait it out and see if the seller will come down. Let's be honest, except for many of us on this forum, and some other drum sites, selling this kit to the general public will take a long time.

-Mark

Hey Bob and Mark,

Yeah, I've definitely gotten a better sense of the value thanks to these discussions, and finding some comps on Reverb. It seems like the current going price for kits like this is less than $1k, even for larger kits (e.g. this one), but the Yellow color and 20" kick are super appealing to me, and rare it seems. Anyway, I'll just make sure not to get ripped off (thanks to you folks), though I don't need to get the best price anyone's ever gotten.

Bob --- I appreciate the referral. I used to be from New Jersey, but now I'm living in exile in California ;-)

Mark -- thanks for the catch on the tom mount. It seems there's an option to take either the double or a single mount.

Cheers,

Dan

A lot of people USED to be from New Jersey! A very dear friend of mine moved to the San Francisco area recently with her aged mother, and they love it out there.

I drove up the coast, from Anaheim to San Francisco in 2007 and was blown away. I drove through San Luis Obispo and called my wife and said, "We're moving here!"

That didn't happen. Oh well. I think I'd do quite nicely in California. My wife is afraid The Big One will hit anytime, and she'll float away in the Pacific Ocean.

“ though I don't need to get the best price anyone's ever gotten.”

This is a very good point. Even though you wisely sought information to help you make a reasoned decision, obviously the decision is yours. I have paid up for things I really wanted because I was impatient or worried that the opportunity may not present itself again. On those occasions (the details of which I will not disclose here), I was happy I made those decisions and never regretted them. You don’t have to prove to any of us that you heeded advice offered here.

Josh