Rogers Astoria Mahogany Spotlight

[tommykat1]

This drum set was pristine when I got it, except for cracked lugs. No pitting or rust whatsoever, like the day it came out of the music store in 1958. Wonderful silvery-frosty patina on the fasteners and tone control. I had to find some rare large size double sided B&B lugs before I could restore this to playing condition. Also needed some patience before I found the missing Rogers "Upbeat" pedal.

Rogers "pirate script" transition badge/Eagle badge. One of the first Swivomatic sets produced, circa late 1957 or early 1958. The Swivo plates do not have "Rogers" on them. Special order mahogany finish was not offered in the catalog for this model.

I reinforced the 8 lugs on the batter side of the floor tom. The bottom 8 and the snare 6 are uncracked original lugs. I'm not too worried about cracking, as I'm tuning this loose, the way it was done back in the day. Remo Renaissance Diplomat on the batter side doesn't need much tightness, about 79-80 on the drum dial. The Renaissance is Remo's resin-based calfskin imitation.

Note that these drums use the large B&B lugs on both snare and FT. They are 2 ply Jasper shells plus the mahogany veneer layer (which makes them light as a feather) plus 3 ply rerings and rounded bearing edges, which give them a unique '50s jazz sound, suitable for tasty brush strokes or subtle, rudimentary jazz or blues stickwork.

I have it set up to play in "standing" position, but the snare can easily be swiveled and lowered to access the tom top batter. The Swivomatic fittings and rods that allow this are especially cool.

[jmettam]

Wow!

Beautiful kit!

How did you ever find the pedal? I have been keeping my eyes out for years for one of those (if I find the pedal, then I'll worry about the drums : > )

Really amazing kit. Congratulations!

- John

[tommykat1]

Thanks, John. The pedal was from an eBay auction about six months ago. The original was lost somehow, as it was missing when I won the outfit, which, annoyingly, was offered in pieces in separate eBay auctions a few minutes apart about a year ago. I lucked out and won these over 45 minutes of nerve-wracked hell.

It came with early Rogers oval badge heads, which I put away for safe keeping. The snare reso was calfskin. The floor tom reso clearly showed where the pedal batter had worn it, all indications that this had been a true cocktail outfit.

The brightwork parts quite literally look new, and took no restoration. I've never seen vintage tension rods that didn't have black grime on them, but these looked new out of the box, and there's not a scratch or nick on any of the Swivo parts or rods.

Note the "mock Memriloc" set screw collars, an addition I learned about on the Rogers forum. Makes setup/breakdown a snap.These come with Allen screws, but the standard Rogers (or DW) 5/8" drum key screws have the same thread size.

[zimbop]

Wow, that's a beautiful finish. Too bad it's so hard to find good natural finishes these days.

[tommykat1]

Zimbop, interestingly, this was considered the "economy" finish in the 50s. Back then, it was less expensive to produce a good wood veneer wrap compared with the more popular and expensive pearl wraps. Seems it's the reverse today.

[zorf]

Very cool.
What are the dimensions of the drums?
And does anybody make anything similar to the swivelmatic today?

[tommykat1]

Zorf, unfortunately, these are unique to the era. The Rogers cocktail outfits were produced from the late 40s through about 1963 or 64. The mania surrounding the Beatles boy band culture killed it, as everyone (including me) wanted a Ringo drum set after that. The Swivmatic hardware was discontinued by Rogers in the 70s, when they invented the Memriloc system.

The drums are "real" drums, ie, these were standard Rogers items that could also be integrated into a full drum set. In fact, the "Cozy Cole" outfit featured a floor tom with the "Upbeat" pedal--the precursor to the "double bass" outfit that appeared later.

The snare drum is a standard 14" and the floor tom is 16." These items (and a cymbal arm & cowbell) comprised the Astoria cocktail outfit. The Parklane outfit added a 12" tom. You can hang as many noisemakers as you like off of the swivo fittings. I have a previous post in the forum detailing a red sparkle Parklane. I sure feel fortunate to have come across these gems.

Here's the catalog page from 1958:



And 1962:



And here's the Parklane. I won the caster on ebay last year. Too cool!

[zorf]

when you have the snare swiveled directly over the main drum, do you
get much interaction between the two drums, or does the fact that they are not directly coupled, isolated them?

Do you get a decent bass sound?
it looks like it's a 16X16 maybe?

The expresso kit has this setup and i always wondered what the bass drum sounded
like.

[tommykat1]

Yes, 16 x 16 and 5 x 14. The bass is like what you'd expect: very close to an 18" jazz sound. It carries very well unmiked in an average room.

With the snare over the top, you get a little more snare ring when you kick, but when the music is playing it's not noticeable. I actually play this with the snare swiveled away, as I like using the tom also. I just thought it made for a cool picture.

I use the red sparkle outfit regularly at an open mike my band hosts weekly in a small lounge. The rounded bearing edges dating to the era also generate a quieter sound, so even when rocking out, the patrons don't get an ear overload.

[zorf]

Cool.
Thanks for posting up photos.
I noticed that the price was $270 new.
Since these are really old and no one plays these kind of drums anymore,
how about if i give you five dollars for them?







Just kidding!

[tommykat1]

Deal!