Herbert Heim - Drummer | Vintagedrums - Rogers PowerTone Bass Drum

The 70's Rogers 24"x14" PowerTone bass drum was part of a heap of drumparts, which I got for free. The guy who gave the drums away, once collected different shells (Tama, Meazzi, Sonor and the Rogers bass) and wrapped them in blue. They were stored in a barn, damaged, totally dirty and with a strong smell.

Rogers 24" x 14" PowerTone Bass Drum | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

Pics from the Bench

Some pics of the different stages of the repair process.

The Rogers bass drum was part of this scrapheap. | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

A sense of delight is growing. | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

The blue wrap was a good protection for the original WMP … | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

… but was an awful lot of work to remove and neutralize | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

The hoops were also in bad condition. One could be saved. | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

Tho holes of a DIY tom mount has to be closed. | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

Cutted out the cracked wrap and plugged the holes with some maple wood. | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

Plugged and filled | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

The actual WMP wrap looks more vintage than the original wrap. | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

Painted the sanded area on the inside in grey. | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

The repaired area is still visible but looks clean. | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

With mounted head and hoop only visible from the near distance | Herbert Heim Vintagedrums

The Rogers Bass Drum in action

This fantastic sounding drum found it's way to one of my favorite German drummers, Eric Schaefer. He is a really talented and versatile musician, playing with "Das Kondensat", The New Joachim Kühn Trio or the Michael Wollny Trio. He used the Bassdrum on the actual Wollny record "Ghosts" which was recorded in July 2022.

What Eric says…

"I already knew the sound of the Rogers 24" bass drum from the studio of my good friend, sound engineer Guy Sternberg, who incidentally also recorded and helped produce “Ghosts” with the Michael Wollny Trio. When Hebbe told me at a concert in Augsburg that he had one of those very same Rogers bass drums in his workshop to be reconditioned, I was thrilled. I was able to follow the restoration process from the photos that Hebbe sent me. Some time later I received the reconditioned bass drum. From the very first moment I laid eyes on it, I was amazed by this decades-old instrument, which Hebbe had restored to a wonderful condition. Its incomparable sound still inspires me when I’m practicing, playing concerts or in the recording studio. I think it's wonderful to give an old drum a second life in this way, especially in our fast-moving times, where everything seems to appear and disappear as if on cue."

Eric Schäfer - Drummer, Composer