Hi Adam

You give a perfect description of an English Rogers in Grey Ripple wrap.

Logo with underscore, if you only have one missing you are doing well.

[IMG]http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb77/nutbox/DSCN1383-2-1.jpg[/IMG]

This is Grey Ripple -

[IMG]http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb77/nutbox/Dating/DSCN2180.jpg[/IMG]

If you look inside the shell where the logo is attached you might find a serial number. Only about half the drums have them. It can be viewed through the grommet hole. You are looking for a five figure number (could be very faint) and underneath the words "MADE IN ENGLAND". If there is a number I could date them for you. As you say they play very nicely.

Your collet plates will say "Swiv-o-Matic" as opposed to "Rogers". If you have a tom arm or cym tilter that will say "MADE IN ENGLAND" too. (Or could be blank - gets complicated!)

Thanks for the speedy reply, yep that is the logo and the finish, the only difference to the posted pic is that mine has the bread and butter lugs rather than the beavertail ones.

I just looked through the holes and there aren't any serials =[, but the collet plates say swiv-o-matic but not made in england.

I have two of those badges missing unfortunatley, one from snare and one from floor tom, im guessing they are reasonably rare and so my hopes of replacing them may be slim!

Any idea on a rough age range without the serials?

Thanks for your help

Adam

**Update **

Armed with this new 'made in england' knowledge I think it may be a Rogers Constellation kit which seems to place it between 1960-1962, the only value information I could see was someone selling one at £499 - I actually paid a little more for mine than that...

Hey Adam,

Can you post pics of the kit? It sounds like it looks way cool!

-Adam

Hi Adam,

I won't be able to post pics until either sunday night / monday morning (UK time) as I'm a few miles from my kit at the minute, but I'll get some up asap.

It really is lovely hehe

Only wear and tear is the bass hoops have been knocked around a fair bit

Adam

Stoked to check it out. Love me some Rogers. The English Rogers are new to me (in that I haven't ever seen them before)...so all the more excited!

-Ad

Adam, I have have come across a bloke recently who is going to try and laser cut these logos in brass and then chrome plate them. He needs 15 orders to make it worthwhile and each will then cost £12.99 I think he said plus postage. I will send you a link cos it was on another site.

Yeah your collet plates will say "Swiv-o-matic" and the collet/wing assemblies (those big wing nuts) will say "Made in England". They could be blank which would make your kit 61-62.

So, to start from the begining. English Rogers (ER) were made by the Ajax Drum company in North London. These are the pages from the Rogers Book which explains it ..............

http://books.google.com/books?id=Snb5FKut-rIC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=ajax+drum+shells&source=web&ots=HNzz4j66_H&sig=RisraFgyqcB5fIvqsgXx1emnKME

Ajax made their own B&B lugs and they are slightly different to the USA ones so if yours do crack in the future don't look for USA ones cos in order to use them you would have to elongate the holes in the shell.

The only part of your kit that is American made is the strainer and butt plate. As far as date goes, Ajax used B&Bs from 1961 to early 1965. If your floor tom has the hex bar legs and knobby fitting then you are looking at a date of late 62 - early 65. If yours has the Ajax tom legs then you are looking at a date of 1962.

Your shells will be birch, you might find that your snare is beech. You say 5ply but the most common shell is 3ply plywood bent into a cylinder with an overlap (scarf joint). This leaves a slight step inside the shell. There is a 5ply type which was individual plies with staggered butt joints which left no step (I have one bass drum like this) but they do not appear to have been common.

Thanks for that information, I do have hex legs on the floor tom, and thinking about it I did notice a step inside the toms so maybe they are 3ply, didn't notice it in the bass drum again so I'll have to have a look when I'm back with my kit.

It is well overdue a head change any time now, though I'm paranoid about the lugs now after reading all the cracking stories. I did read in another thread that ludwig standard lugs fit the same hole spacing as the american rogers, I'd have to check with these as I don't really want to modify the shells in anyway and risk losing future value should I decide to part with the kit in the distant future. (I'm only 22 and no desire to let it go for the foreseeable!)

I do love the look of the B&B lugs though!

As for the badges, it would be amazing if you could send me a link as I would certainly be interested in completing the look of my kit for that sort of money (as long as there is more demand than just me for them, not sure I could afford 15!)

The only other thing that makes the kit look a bit shabby is the bass hoops, they have had a couple of lumps knocked out of them in the past, still not sure whether I should touch up the paint or look into filling the chips

Interesting thing about English Rogers is that the B&B and Beavertail lug screw spacings are the same. It would require a slightly larger diameter drill bit to be run through the holes but a conversion for the toms at least is not difficult. Whether it is desirable is another question and one for you to answer yourself. In the late 70s when I was your age I had an ER set that I gigged up to 7 nights per week over a two year period and I am not aware of having cracked any lugs that were not already cracked.

Hey Adam, just curious, where did you see one for sale for £499?