For want of a good title.
This thread isnt about pics of my drums.
This is about the Rogers Dynasonic. A tremendously great drum that I grew up with, and that many of you have never seen. It was, during the 1960s and 1970s one of the top five drums in the world. Surpassed in sales druing that time by only perhaps Ludwigs Supra, and the Ludwig Acrolite. And always considered superior in quality.
Two Rogers Dynasonic Snare Drums 6.5x14 from the early 1980s.
Here is a closeup of the snare frame.........
The Rogers Dynasonic is unique in that the snare bed ...originally .004 ... is almost non existant. The snares are suspended in the frame, under constant never changing tension, and no matter how much you tighten the throwoff, the tension of the snares does not change. So what we have is a two part adjustment system........ a floating snare ....... tensioned completly seperate from the snare to the head. The possibilities for increased sensitivity in this type of system are easy to grasp.
The snare frame itself is realatively simple, snares are secured by a screw at one end, and a tensioning assembly at the other...... The two pics below demonstrate these points of contact.
Throwoff, and snare tension screw below.
Butt end of frame, and snare butt.
From 1961-1975 As many as 55,000 Rogers Dynasonic Snare drums were produced. The vast majority of these in Chrome over Brass. During this time an oval CUSTOM BUILT DYNASONIC badge integrated with the vent grommet identified all of the drums, with a brief period at the beginning of production where a paper tag inside the shell identified the drum as a Dynasonic. As few as 3,000 wooden Dynasonics may have been produced. These were 3 ply shells with reinforcing rings in the beginning, and very early in production, Rogers began using a five ply with reinforcing rings shell. The use of the five ply shell lasted untill the end of production for wooden snare drums in 1975. Today, these are quite valuable and will command prices as much as $4,000.00. Prices for Chrome over Brass Dynasonics can reach several hundred dollars. Some have sold for above 700.00. There were no wooden snare drums produced during 1975-81.
From 1975 to 1984, were produced what are called the Big R drums. Recognized by the Big R Rogers square badge mounted on the drums exterior. It is possible another 50,000 or so snare drums were produced during this time. All were Chrome over brass. In 1981, during the XP8 production run, continuing through 1984.... Rogers began to produce wooden Dynasonic snares using 10 ply shells. There is no direct estimate on production numbers available, but it could have been fewer than 1000 pieces in all configurations. Value is increasing.
I have found these drums to be extremely sensitive, and have used it as my primary snare since 1979.
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