The Drawn Brass Solution, part 1
It's very frustrating to see a beautiful Rogers drum or set
from the late 1950s through 1963 and into 1964 because inspection will reveal
one, two, ten, forty broken, cracked, and/or missing drawn brass lugs--the kind
that are affectionately called bread and butter lugs. These thin brass
lugs--first without and later with a center ridge--are great looking but so
very, very fragile. In the past owners have tried to make do by using other
lugs--a lot of 60s-70s imported Japanese lugs seem to work. Rogers complicated
the solution two ways--first there are a number of sizes of drawn brass lugs,
and secondly as the better beavertails came out in 1964, Rogers management
decided to make them use a different hole pattern so they do not retro- fit! Too
many owners decided to drill extra holes to use the wrong lugs and chalked it up
to necessity!
We recently found a truly pristine set that had the first
series of drawn brass lugs--the ones without the ridges. After waiting weeks to
figure out what to do, we decided on the following--leave the bass alone (only
one lug was broken). The bass lugs were not tightened as much. By the way,
Slingerland lugs fit those holes. For the snare and 2 toms, we ever so slightly
enlargened the holes and put brand new Tempus lugs from our friend Paul Mason.
The Rogers tom and snare lugs have the same length, but the bass lugs were
longer than those from Tempus.
The Tempus lugs are smooth and "coffin
shaped" and complemented the smooth drawn brass lugs on the bass. Now, the
set was ready to live again.
Until such time as a true retro lug is
created, owners have so few choices. It is really sad to see such beautiful
drums go to waste or to have extra holes drilled in them to accommodate the "wrong
lugs".
In our case--and we explained this to the new owner--he now
has a set he can use, and if true replacement lugs are made, then he can put
them in the place of the Tempus lugs.
Rogers is just too good a company
to leave drums "out there" unused and unusable.
If you'd like
to learn more about Rogers and drawn brass lugs, then I invite you to get a copy
of my book,
"The Great American Drums". |
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