This was at both a fantastic idea, and an epically stupid stock market crash economic meltdown disaster at the same time. Series II with the plastic lugs and paper shells was supposed to be a cheap entry level drum line that would lead beginners toward quality American made drums. The design is fundamentally solid. Remo proved that with their Acousticon shells. Someone else has done it with lug casings in the past few years as well. The problem with Rogers wasn't so much in the design concept or the associated engineering, but it came from a decision by corporate that X plastic formula that was very strong and would more that adequately handle the stresses of head tension... was just too expensive. So plastic Y formula was to be used instead. Because after all, plastic is plastic. It was a decision that cost them a small fortune. A failure induced by corporate, for which no one at corporate was ever blamed. And in the ensuing months, it was a few members at corporate who bought Rogers from CBS and killed off what was left of Rogers. Series II drums arrived at dealers broken, or broke quickly upon full assembly, or were returned within days... broken. Sets were sent back by the dozens. Very few remained in the hands of the end user. It was horrific.

They have no value. They were, and forever will be. an embarrassment on the Rogers name. Far worse than Island Music Imports. Far beyond the death knell ownership by Yamaha. They hastened the end of Rogers.

Would love to see some pics of these, what a history

The Rogers Book shows some pictures of the Series II drums...with corresponding commentary about many of the things that Phloughman says. Yes, a truly marketing nightmare! Lugs broke apart due to being plastic. The article mentions about a bass drum pedal coming apart while being passed around at a corporate meeting.

I believe someone on eBay, just recently, was selling a Series II tom.

-Mark

Just found the Series II drum on Ebay...offered by our own member VintagedrumBug! It's a 9x13 tom. May just be the only one out there! Item number 271165975667

-Mark

Ploughman:

I've got the Rogers book, but loaned it to a friend about a week ago. I thought I remembered reading the corporate shenanigans that doomed this build from the outset.

As if by magic, I got a text from my friend asking if we'd be home today, so he could drop off the book. Thanks for the input buddy. I was hoping to get your insight about these. If you have time, c'mon down on the 7th of next month. Dana's got another event, and I'll be more than happy to make you all the hot dogs you can eat.

GAR: I certainly will take and post pictures of the kit, as soon as I get it home. I've got some other projects looming at the moment, so maybe around one or two weeks.

id4f: That's another story I'd heard as well. I didn't look at the kit long. I basically gave it a sideways glance and shivered. A couple of us did give the kick pedal a quick look. It seems to be mostly plastic, including the foot board.

Just a thought: The decision makers at Rogers needed a head examination about this. Okay, they wanted an inexpensive kit, a starter kit. Pearl was still churning out cheap kits by the ton at that time. I understand the corporate thought process well enough to 'get' why they'd do this, but their methodology was vacationing somewhere far away. Why reinvent the wheel? I think they should have bought a boatload of 'Rogers' branded kits from Pearl.

Just checked out some pics of this line. Hardware actually looks aluminum- apparently aluminum tubes. Makes me wonder about all aluminum hardware ( did anyone make any?)

Seems to me that these drums would have value to a collector. It is like the value of the R-360 and R-380s without having the quality. It is a historic piece helpful to tell the history. I know that this is part of the appeal for me to own an R-380.

I once flipped a Remo Acousticon snare and learned that it had a cult following and actually sounded great. One might like this snare as well though the lugs might need to be replaced.

I just tried to look at the positives outside the boundaries of drum build quality.

I know as their ship was sinking many of their decisions were based purely on economics and not on a common sense consideration for the experience of the customer. Too bad this resulted in such a moronic decision that would cause so much damage financially and to the reputation of Rogers. It sort of makes you wonder if they were actually intending to sink the ship with these decisions, especially when parts fall apart at the table in the conference room just passing something around.

Fish - One thing for sure is that this will be a great vehicle to stimulate great educational discussion about American drum history not only here but with your friend as well.

Remo Acousticon: I've never actually seen (or heard) the allure of these, but that's just me. I actually came up with a couple of the snares fairly recently, a few months ago. Each came with nondescript starter kits that I'm (in)famous for flipping. Flipped both of the snares as well. One on the internet (ten lug version) and the other locally. Interesting drums kits, but not for me. Some guys swear by 'em, and gig them regularly. I'm not sure about the 'Perma Tuned' stuff, or if that included the snares.

Dj333: Yep, that's about 60% of why I'm burdening the forum with these. There's always more info floating around. These Series II drums are purely looky-lous, shelf queens. Maybe somebody would play 'em, but you'd need a bucket of parts beside the kit to keep it going. When I get the drums home, we'll do a parts off discussion about the shells.

Some of the hardware could be metal. No clue at this point. I do know that there isn't much metal in the kick pedal.

Thanks for your input.

C

Here is a pic link for those who have not seen them.. along with yet another fairly scathing review...

John

http://www.drummagazine.com/gear/post/rogers-series-2-here-today-gone-this-afternoon/

This review is quite void of opinion. If anything it suggests to snag one up as a rare piece of drum history (just as I suggested). They report the snare shell to be made from mold-injected nylon....wonder how that would sound, as I don't believe I have ever seen/heard any drum/snare made from such a material.