Well, that makes sense, but Slingerland used pretty much the same shell construction as Ludwig, but they never caught on with the r&r crowd either, so I'm wondering if there were other reasons. I would had thought drums that had a bit more resonance like Rogers, would had been sought after by rock drummers, seeing as how the music was louder. Plus the fact that they seemed to be built better, I know from owning Ludwig and Rogers drums, that Rogers were heavier and may have been more appropriate for the bashers. The Ludwig tom arms were limited on their positioning and the fold out kick legs were pretty light weight for guys with heavy feet. I saw a video of Joe Morello playing a Ludwig kit and even with his lighter foot work, was causing the kick to creep. Maybe Rogers didn't have a good marketing team for the rock guys and just catered to the jazz drummers, where as Ludwig seemed to go after those guys. I think Ludwig was more of a visionary company and saw the trend changing.

Professional drummers are chosen for an endorsement agreement contract based on the principle that they serve the manufacturing company as 'high visibility living billboards'; the goal being increased sales volume. Whether or not the drummers actually love the equipment and its sound are secondary to tour support, increased income, and career advancement. In the business world (and the drum business is indeed a business) loyalties depend on 'the bottom line" of the ledger books. However, then as now, companies endorse the artists; not the other way around. Buddy Rich reportedly dumped Rogers when CBS, which bought and owned Rogers and owned Buddy's record company as well, declined to renew his recording contract.

I can assure you from personnel experience this idea is bunk... the swivo tom holder is the strongest i have ever played and i have played them all but i played Rogers for over 40 years and never had any problems with tom holders holding up toms and i am as hard a hitter as can be... There is a reason JB Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell and many others had Rogers hardware put on their Ludwigs instead of ludwig hardware it was much much better...same for their hi hats and tilters and spurs the old ludwig gull wings were some of the worst. the ludwig curved were good as were Rogers...I watched Cream play in LA in 67 and Ginger baker was also a very hard hitter and he toured with his rogers mounts nope it was not because they were weak in any way... I have to agree with Tommy on this one Rogers was just not associated with Rock Music like Ludwig was... Charlie Watts still plays a Rogers Hihat... that hardware was rock solid.. IMHO

BUCKIE_B!

Absolutely correct, and very well known/documented today, plus... there is even MORE to that story too. Buddy had visions of CBS/Fender supplying EVERYTHING for his big band, and was pretty PO'd when they declined pretty much across the board. CBS/Fender figured that Big Band Jazz was DEAD... and didn't want to invest anything more in it. So yeah, BR split... and funny thing is, he LIKED Rogers and Joe Thompson too... a lot. But as you said, it is indeed a BUSINESS.

JR!

Yeah... thing is though: Rogers was just never a R&R drum. They never marketed the drums that way.. ( whereas Ludwig and Slingerland certainly did! ) .. and .. Rogers just seem to "speak" a little clearer and at higher tensions than Ludwig... Slingerland too for that matter. If you ever A/B Buddy playing his Rogers against his Slingerland's and/or later Ludwigs... the Rogers are just so much more present. Truly though... definitely more associated with the jazz drummers.. and .. Rogers never really went after the R&R market share during this period anyway. Their catalogs even reflect this. The ONLY set in the 1967 Rogers catalog that can be defined as R&R is the Dave Clark "Londoner". Every other set shown.. ( 8 of them ) .. comes from the jazz side of things/endorsers!

Tommyp

Brian Downey from Thin Lizzy played Rogers - he certainly rocks!

He had a green sparkle set and later played a chrome Big R set (which wasn't a Rogers production color).

Reg Isidore from Robin Trower also played Big R drums when I ordered my first set in 1966 I did so on the advice of a music store owner whom our band did alot of business with he told me they were the best what i got out of that deal was all cleveland blue sparkle and i agreed with him but up till then I had never heard of them everything in 64-66 was ludwig but at that time i owned a ludwig set red sparkle clasic 12,13,16.22.and it had the gull wing spurs and the only way to tighten them was with that wing nut and unless you used pliers they just did not hold same with the double tom mount...just think what could have been if they had been popular with R&R/.....

Well, it seems the Rogers marketing team dropped the ball on this one. They apparently didn't see what Ludwig saw or chose to ignore that the tide was turning to r&r. I've always been a Ludwig guy, but after owning several Rogers kits over the years, I 'm starting to appeciate them more. I've seen many flaws in Ludwig kits, but have yet to find any in any of the Rogers I've had. That being said, there's something about the sound of those vintage Ludwig drums.

Hi,

I think the question about who was a Rogers endorser is being conflated into who was a Rogers drummer. And from there into a discussion which rock drummers used Rogers.

Back then Endorser lists were kind of like the Grammy winners; deserving sure, but not necessarily youthful or cutting edge. Eventually they caught up and added Dave Clark in 1967--just about the tail end of the DC5. Slow on the uptake, Garibaldi was eventually listed as an endorser for Rogers.

Lots and lots of great drummers in the rock world used Rogers. Hal Blaine played them before moving to Ludwig, Earl Palmer played them for years before moving to Yamaha. Garibaldi and on up through a lot of Punk and New Wave drummers (Ramones, Sex Pistols, Talking Heads.) Most of this info comes from player interviews etc, rather than the manufacturer.

Also, don't agree with Cuddywumpus' recollection. Rogers was the best available hardware during the Swivo period. You don't have to be a Rogers fan to state that nothing compared to Swivo hardware. Drum stores--back when they existed--could make a small business out of fitting Rogers hardware to competitor shells.

Gina Shock from the Go Go's in the early 1980s had a white kit as well that also got a lot of MTV video exposure. I recall last year a VDF member purchasing and old snare of Gina's an having her sign it after a show..

But Yeah, if Rogers was the "cadillac" of drums...

Guys!

Remember... JR is talking about the 60's era for Rogers drums, not the later 70's/80's Big R series where they did in fact pick up plenty of R&R/Funk artists such as David Garibaldi.. Craig Kampf.. Gina Shock.. Harvey Mason.. Rod Morgenstein.. etc. For the time period in question though, Rogers was predominantly a jazz drummers drum!

Tommyp