Re-wrap & restoration of 1968 Rogers R-380 drumset (Yamaha made)

[antiquemusic]

UPDATE: I found a late 60's R-380 bass drum and then proceeded rest of this thread to repair, restore, and re-wrap these drums. This is a thread of that process. I not seeking to buy anymore R-380 drums at this time

ORIGINAL POST: I seek late 1960's Rogers R380 bass drum any wrap color incomplete or missing parts considered to complete set of drums to gig out with. I have rack tom and floor tom already in original midnight blue marine pearl. I'm experienced in re-wrapping old drums so I hope to acquire bass drum and re-wrap to match the toms.

There's a R380 bass drum (black wrap with wallpaper on inside of shell) on ebay currently as of June 2022 for $100 + $100shipping ($200 total) that is missing reso bass drum hoop and spurs but otherwise seems complete...but rack tom mount, lugs and t-rods seem rusty and t-rods look somewhat bent. I'm concerned the shell might be warped badly as seller says it was found in basement after sitting 20+ years and in my experience old drums missing front reso hoop for many decades the shells warp badly...for $200 I just don't want to roll the dice....I'd take a chance buying that partial late 1960's R380 bass drum for $100 maybe even $125 total but $200 just is too much especially in that poor condition...the previous owner applied wallpaper on inside of shell on the ebay one could also tear off all the gray paint if removed

Anyhow, anyone here sitting on an old R380 bass drum? I'd consider R360 bass drum same era same lugs also would consider partial R380/360 bass drums without original metal hoops or rack tom mount. I'm patient so if a year or two goes by by the time you're reading this I might still be looking. I actually really love these late 1960's Yamaha shell Rogers R360/380 drums along with the70's and 80's USA BigR and XPK heavy maple shell drums. I have no interest in the 80's R series Taiwan drums though.

hello from Colorado by the way

 

[lanebune]

I had a full set that I sold to a music store in Baker Oregon. The owner said he was going to give them to a friend of his. I can't remember the name of the music store, but maybe you could do a search for music stores in Baker and give them a call. ( I don't there are many music stores there!) Maybe the recipient has given up and they're just collecting dust.

 

[antiquemusic]

copy that lanebune! thank you! May I ask what you sold them for and how long ago that was?

I found a "Marilyns Music" of Baker, Oregon

is this the place I should call?

I know these old R380 drums have been become quite rare in the marketplace last 10 years but they have "the sound" and look that I am looking for. I need something to play out with a church group that visits old folks retirement and hospice care homes. I prefer to keep drums as original as possible and won't be reselling these. My other drum set is a 1962 Ludwig classic orange sparkle 22/13/16 and they are just too valuable to be gigging out in and out of drum cases and vehicles setting up / tearing down etc. I wanted a quality old school birch thick shell set of drums and stumbled across these Rogers R360 16floor tom and 13rack tom and these are absolutely high quality drums in every way, amazed people ever thought they were low end drums. The lugs and rims are typical high quality Rogers and the shells have that Yamaha sound and quality I am looking for.

I have restored loads of old drums in my life and have no problem recovering another bass drum to match the midnight dark blue marine pearl of the toms.

 

[lanebune]

Yes Marilyns Music. That's it. They didn't go up for sale at the store, they were a gift for a woman as I recall. (Maybe Marilyn!) They were the 3rd set I ever had and I still miss them. As you say They were quality built. I sold them maybe 6-7 years ago, but they may just be in the lady's house sitting there. It would be great if you could locate them and get them. Good luck and let me know how it goes if you decide to pursue this.

Lane

 

[lanebune]

BTW, The owner of the store's name Is Damon and I sold it for 450.00 6 years ago.

 

[drummerjohn333]

I have a 22in shell, cracked wrap. No hardware. Would send it to you for 30 plus shipping. I am in Michigan.
PM me.

John

 

[antiquemusic]

I made an offer and purchased the partial late 1960's Rogers R-380 bass drum that was for sale on eBay. I have stripped off the old black wrap and cleaned up the lugs. Since the tom holder is only partially original (the tom spade mount and vertical arm are original but the mount collar on bass drum turned out to be late 1970's Big R tom mount baseplate) so I elected to plug the tom mount bracket holes on bass drum completely to a "virgin" bass drum style. I used heat gun to remove the early 1980's era wallpaper that was on inside of the bass drum and then repainted the interior the correct slate gray color. The bass drum hoop that came with partial drum is too far gone with rust so I purchased a set of vintage 22" chrome hoops off eBay.

I then removed the old dark blue diamond pearl wrap from my rack tom and floor tom and plugged the tom spade mount bracket plate from the rack tom and will just end up using a snare drum stand for that rack tom. I have ordered hot pink pearl drum wrap off eBay and will re-wrap all three drums to match.

I am excited, these are the Yamaha angled laminate maple shells so I know they will look and sound amazing when all is done.

Someday if by chance I can purchase the correct late 1960's Yamaha baseplate tom mount then I will put the set back to full factory original condition but that part is exceedingly rare and I may never find one so until then I filled the mount holes on bass drum shell, sanded flush, painted interior back to correct gray color, and once shell is wrapped you will never know there was ever a tom mount on bass drum.

Drum wrap arrives next week, I am excited to finish this quick little project. These Rogers R-380 drums built with Rogers hardware and Yamaha shells are pretty rare, very high quality, and beginning to really go up in value. I think I will end up keeping this drum set but I say that all the time and end up selling things. Either way, should come out nice. I will keep posting pictures of progress

 

[antiquemusic]

I have a 22in shell, cracked wrap. No hardware. Would send it to you for 30 plus shipping. I am in Michigan.
PM me.

John

God bless you John and thank you, I am sorta interested but without the bass drum lugs your shell would require me to go on massive lifelong hunt for the lugs that fit....the original R-380 (and R-360) Rogers USA drum shell hardware is wildly rare and something I needed. The drum lugs for bass drum are longer than the lugs on the toms. I had hoped that the drum lugs for bass drum were same as the toms since they are a few Yamaha shell late 60's Rogers R-380, Rogers R-360, and early 70's Duplex Grossman rack toms (all used same USA made Rogers 3 stripe chrome lug casing) but the rack tom and bass drum use different length lugs and it is bass drum lugs I would need...boo hoo

So buying your shell would not have helped me since the bass drum lugs are so wildly rare otherwise I would have bought your shell! If you happen to know where I could get R-380/R-360/Duplex-Grossman 3 stripe bass drum lugs (at least the casings in decent shape) then I would still buy your shell!

PS, the bass drum lugs on the partial drum I bought from eBay have a few drum lugs that are mildly pitted and chrome flaking so I am always open to buying another complete or partial late 60's Rogers R-380 (or R360) bass drum if I could get nicer condition lugs...but until then I will just put these mildly pitted chrome flaking lugs on bottom of my bass drum I refinished and about to re-wrap

 

[DanC]

I heard that regular Rogers lugs will fit those holes, but I'm not sure about that.

 

[antiquemusic]

So today I learned that this first generation late 1960's Rogers R-380 drum shell hardware lug casing shell attachment screws, lug casing insert nuts, and lug tension rod screws, tom mount, everything is metric...so Rogers R-380 drums were definitely 100% totally made by Yamaha, shells, hardware, wrap, everything...I had always sort of assumed that Rogers was only buying wrapped shells from Yamaha back in the late 1960's on these first generation R-360 & R-380 series drums and then assembling the drums with USA Made hardware....but since the hardware on this first generation set of R-380's is all metric thread throughout, I can safely assume it was 100% made by Yamaha in Japan.

So Rogers was buying completely assembled drums from Yamaha and putting Rogers R-380 badges on them...if anyone is curious, I discovered the lug casing shell attachment screws are flat head M4 diameter x 0.70 threads per millimeter x 11mm long threads (good luck finding exact replacements for them!) and I have to admit I was bummed out that the tension rod screws and female nut inserts for the lug casings were also metric...boo hoo...so I had to order replacement SAE modern style lug casing inserts from DrumFactoryDirect.com to go with the replacement chrome bass drum tension rod screws & claws I got off eBay...

If anyone is keeping track of the details on these drums, besides being totally metric hardware, the metal hoops on these first generation Rogers R380's drums are all steel...bass drum, toms (I don't have the R-380 snare...yet but I assume those are chrome over steel hoops also)....I was curious and did the magnet thing...obviously, this is a big difference between the chrome over brass hoops like the USA made drums

Since I only had one bass drum hoop and it was rusty, I ordered some used 22" decent condition vintage shiny chrome Tama metal hoops offeBay that are 1970's era...close enough! I would likely never find a late 60's set of Yamaha chrome over steel bass drum hoops but these Tama hoops are very similar appearance and size and were in very good condition and a good price.
I also got some 10mil single ply white coated new heads reso & batter from DrumFactoryDirect.com for the bass, 16" floor tom, and 13" rack tom, they look good quality to me...I also ordered a Rogers script logo bass drum decal off eBay and I will add that once I finish assembling the drums

I also just received my hot pink marine pearl drum wrap from eBay and wow, it is extremely hot pink not that much marine pearl super bright and bold but should look really cool with the white coated heads and chrome hardware...I will rewrap the shells tomorrow and assemble all the drums except the bass drum since I have to wait for my SAE lug casing female nut inserts for the tension rods which should arrive middle of next week...I will post pictures tomorrow once I get shells re-wrapped and the rack tom and floor fully assembled and tuned up

 

[DanC]

By the way, the Rogers USA metal hoops are chrome over steel...

 

[antiquemusic]

Cool thanks DanC, I honestly assumed Rogers USA were COB hoops like old school Ludwig & Slingerland. Appreciate the education!

I'm getting ready to re-wrap these R-380 shells, here's the eBay drum wrap I got, it is good quality thick 0.50mm thick wrap! these R-380 shells are loose fit to modern drum heads so I am going to trim the wrap to go all the way to edge of the shells

 

[antiquemusic]

FYI, the inexpensive pearl drum wrap on eBay is thick and overall decent wrap but it arrives with crooked edges so extra time needs to be done to square up the edges.... also, this eBay drum wrap is a bit on the brittle side so poke your holes with awl carefully going slowly from inside to outside and make sure you have a hole reamer that you clean out the holes from outside to inside...

I'm installing the drum wrap using half inch wide 3M double sided clear extra thin tape and 1" overlap and since heads fit fine all the way to bearing edge, I cut drum wrap up to edge of shells and then am filing to the outside roundover edge....
I also discovered the bearing edge is 30degrees inside + 1/8" outside roundover similiar to vintage Lugwigs of late 1950's and early to mid 1960's

I ordered qty3 chrome 3/8" air vent grommets from drumfactorydirect.com originally but checked my package only got one, I ordered ones that were too long anyways and mangled the first one with my squish tool...boo hoo, so had to order more...

The hot pink marine pearl color is cool looking though especially with the chrome hardware and new 10mil thick single ply drumfactorydirect.com coated white heads (no logo)...I used short 1/4" long wood screws to mount the R-380 badge on panel next to tone control

Here is rack tom, all finished....doing the floor tom next but waiting on a delamination I found at the bearing edge seam that I glued and clamped...I'll let the delamination repair stay clamped another hour or so before I install wrap

 

[antiquemusic]

I got the floor tom wrapped and re-assembled...I am really liking the hot pink marine pearl wrap on these late 1960's Rogers / Yamaha R-380's. I like the classic white coated heads and chrome hardware, very swinging 60's vibe to these drums...

I will wrap the bass drum on Monday but am waiting for lug insert nut & spring parts from DrumFactoryDirect.com so I can re-assemble but hopefully I will have the drums finished by end of next week...I also ordered some DrumDoctor bearing edge lubrication wax which I have never used before coming on my parts order from DrumFactoryDirect,com...I am excited to try that stuff, it was an impulse purchase to buy it

 

[antiquemusic]

Bass drum shell wrapped...I'm waiting for bass drum lug casing nut inserts and drum lug tension rod springs from drumfactorydirect.com so I can finish re-assembly...very cool looking drums with this hot pink marine pearl wrap from eBay

 

[antiquemusic]

the drums came out looking nice! I'll take some glamour shots maybe tomorrow

 

[antiquemusic]

I applied the $10 eBay "Rogers" bass drum head decal and it looks nice. I also applied the DrumDoctor bearing edge wax and I'll report back on if it helps tuning stability after I tune up the heads tomorrow...it goes on like lip balm. I'll also report back on the DrumFactoryDirect.com 10mil single ply white coated heads, they seem decent quality but fyi they're made in China.

The eBay set of chrome bass drum claws and tension rods ended up being a disappointment, I couldn't use the tension rods (the threads didn't fit anything I had and I am scratching my head what thread pitch they actually are??? So I only used the claws and they look alright but I wish I would have just paid extra and bought ones from DrumFactoryDirect.com since everything I've gotten from them has been good quality from what I've seen thus far. So i went to Rupps Drum shop of Denever, Colorado and bought qty16 chrome 4" long bass drum tension rods along with two used Tama memory lock collars that I added to the bass drum spurs to keep them from sliding into the drum shell when playing, I honestly don't think the original spur screws will hold them very well. The oversized hinged Tama memory lock collars will obviously work very well but they sorta ruin the sleek appearance though so maybe at some point I might get some smaller round profile hardware store round lock collars...but at the end of the day, these drums need to be playable so I had to add something to the spurs

I don't plan on adding bass drum hoop inlay strips - I think these drums look good with straight chrome hoops but who knows maybe I'll add inlay strips later, we'll see...

Tomorrow I'll take these outside and take some "glamour shots" of these drums all angles. Cool looking drums, and two thumbs up for the hot pink marine pearl drum wrap off eBay

 

[DamnSingerAlsoDrums]

Damn! that hot pink pearl may not be for everyone, but it sure rings my bell! Congrats on the re-wrap.

 

[rikkrebs]

Those turned out very nice.

 

[antiquemusic]

outside pictures