Maker

Rogers Drums

American drum maker of the Dyna-Sonic era

Rogers grew out of a nineteenth-century New Jersey leather business into the drum company that defined mid-century American hardware. The Swiv-O-Matic mounting system and the Dyna-Sonic snare — with its floating snare frame — were copied for decades. The brand passed through several owners after the 1960s and has been revived more than once.

Models

  • Rogers Dyna-Sonic

    Percussion · United States

    The Dyna-Sonic suspends its snare wires in a separate frame that touches the head under controlled tension rather than being pulled across it, which gives an unusually even response at low volume. It is one of the few genuinely original snare designs of the twentieth century.

  • Rogers Londoner

    Drum kit · United States

    The Londoner sets were Rogers' answer to the growing kits of the 1970s, offered in numbered configurations that ran up to double bass drums and five toms.

  • Rogers Powertone

    Percussion · United States

    The Powertone used the same shells and hardware as the Dyna-Sonic with a conventional strainer and snare bed, which made it cheaper, louder, and — to some drummers — the better rock drum of the two.

  • Rogers Holiday

    Drum kit · United States

    Holiday kits carried Rogers' Swiv-O-Matic ball-and-socket mounting, which let a tom be positioned in ways competitors' hardware could not, and thin maple shells with reinforcement rings. The Cleveland- and Dayton-badged drums are the ones collectors chase.

Categories

  • Drum Kits

    Acoustic and hybrid drum kit model families, shell packs, and related drum sets.

  • Snare Drums

    Snare drums and snare drum model families, including metal-shell and wood-shell snares.

  • Drum Hardware

    The steel between the drummer and the drums. Bass drum pedals and hi-hat stands are considered purchases in their own right, and a throne outlasts several kits.

Representative model

  • Rogers Dyna-Sonic

    Percussion · United States

    The Dyna-Sonic suspends its snare wires in a separate frame that touches the head under controlled tension rather than being pulled across it, which gives an unusually even response at low volume. It is one of the few genuinely original snare designs of the twentieth century.