Project Rogers Snare Drum

After having so much fun with my Project Ludwig Snare Drum, I decided I needed another project…

Are you familiar with the Rogers Dyna-Sonic snare drum?  If not, you should be.  They were once called “The Cadillac of snare drums,” and they featured some of the most unique innovations.  And I just bought one off of some StonerDude down in Kyle, Texas.

A brief history: Rogers began selling drums in 1849, and by the 1940s and 50s, were popular with big band drummers.  The company was based in Ohio near key competitors Ludwig and Slingerland (in Illinois).  The company was bought by CBS Musical Instruments (who also purchased Fender) in the 1960’s and went out of business 1980s when new-fangled electronic drums and cheap imported drums made life tough for all of the American drum brands.

What Rogers is probably most famous for was the Dyna-Sonic snare drum.  Released in 1961 (and produced until the company was shuttered), this snare had many of top-of-the-line features including ten lugs, adjustable muffler, chrome over brass shell (or wood, but the wood shell models are very rare), and a lever action throw-off.  But what makes this drum unique is the snare mechanism.  On most snares, tightening the snares pulls the snare tighter against the bottom head.  This can raise the pitch of the bottom head, and cause the snare to “choke”.  The Dyna has a snare frame that allows you to tension the snare wires independently.  Thus you can have a tight snare sound, yet a fully resonant bottom head.  The throw-off only controls how tight the frame is against the bottom head, not how tight the snare wires are being pulled.  Cool, right?  Or at the very least, unique.

And lemme tell you, this drum was hot.  Buddy Rich played one while he was a Rogers endorsee.  But rumors has it that even after he moved on to Slingerland, he would still use the Dyna and catch hell for it. 

Now back to StonerDude…I saw a Craigslist ad about a “custom made snare from the 50s”, so I clicked on it.  No photo, but he says he has an old Rogers snare for sale for $150.  I email and ask if is a Dyna-Sonic, and does it have all of its bits and pieces, because they often don’t.  He replies with a yes and yes.  When I ask if I can see it because I am interested, he says sure, come on down to Kyle and we’ll get it out of hock.  Yep, he pawned it.  To buy what, I didn’t ask.  I made the ten mile trip down south and sure enough, it was all there.  Crusty and spent, but complete.  Looks like a mid-60’s model based on the hardware, and the serial number is 11330.  Got if for $100.  I think it was a solid purchase.  When I’m all done, it should be worth $300-$350.

On a side note, StonerDude was hilarious.  First off, he was 30-minutes late, and I had a tight schedule that day as I was heading up to Dallas for the guitar show.  Second, he wants to ask me all kinds of questions about how long I’ve played, what kind of drums do I have, what’s my band like, etc.  Then we go in the pawn shop and here is the conversation we have:

StonerDude: “Hey dude, wassup?”

PawnGuy: “Hey.” (rolls eyes as soon as he sees us walk in)

StonerDude: “This guy wants to buy that snare, is it cool if he checks it out first?”

PawnGuy: “Yeah.”

StonerDude: “Hey man, you’re doing that open mic night tonight, right?  Awesome.  That’ll be kickass.  Maybe my brother and I will show up.”

PawnGuy: “It’s not an open mic night, it’s a couple of guys playing.”

StonerDude: “Oh yeah, that’s right, I read the flyer man, ‘Two Awesome Guys’ right?”

PawnGuy: “That would be ‘Two Austin Guys’.” (looks very annoyed)

StonerDude: “Oh, right, yeah, cool, I’ll bring my daughters then.”

Anyway, the guys was harmless, but he was a total “dude”.

For the project part, it’s really not too much work.  Here’s what’s going to happen:

1.    Take it apart, and see if everything is in working order.

2.   Clean everything to get the 15 years in the garage gunk and funk off of it.

3.   Purchase some chrome cleaner and polish the heck out of every piece.

4.   Purchase new heads: REMO Powerstroke 3 coated with dot on top and REMO Ambassador Snare on the bottom.

5.   Purchase PureSound Dyna-Sonic snare wires (yep, they make one special just for this drum)

6.   Put it all back together and tune ‘till happy

Step #1: Complete.  Looks good. There was a mild dent in the shell where the throw-off is affixed.  I took a rubber mallet and gently bumped it out.  No problem.  Everything looks original except for the Pearl snare wires and the batter-side hoop and tension rods.  Not a big deal though.  Still happy. 

Step #2: Complete.  I carefully used some gentle cleaner and hot water to wash the mung off. Worked well, although it did turn that small bucket of water pretty brown by the time I was done.  I thoroughly dried all of the parts and organized everything so nothing gets lost or confused.

Next weekend, I’ll get going on the polishing.  That will take a while as dang near every part is chrome plated.  And some of the parts (throw-off, butt-plate, top hoop, muffler knob) have some pitting that will need some serious elbow grease to get looking good.  Also, I’ve ordered the strainer and the heads, so they should come in later this week or early next week.  I can’t wait to see and hear this baby when its glory is restored. 

Stay tuned.