Yamaha Drums

Artstar said:
I think those are all contracted mfg facilities.. so who knows..

The Haler guy and/or the guy with glasses from the Yamaha california office is always on Pearl forum.. drumforum.. and sometimes here. Name is "DRUMNHANDS"

Ask him. I am curious what his response would be also, but I think it is just a mistake from a contracted producer in Indonesia.
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Thanks again have not been to the pearl forums I'll give it a shot.
 
DJ88in2003 said:
I spoke to my trusted dealer from the last 20 years and was able to get a quote for a little less than 3k for a 4 piece. This is absolutely ridiculous for a kit made in China, i bet their margin is 80%.

I bought my absolute maples in 2000 for xxx and after I applied US inflation to it the inflation adjusted price is nowhere near 3k.

The drums look nice and it is great for Yamaha to try to be competitive and move production out of japan. I think the Chinese kits are probably just as good as any, but I will not pay much more than the Tama birch/bubinga or a Chinese Mapex.

At this price range, Ludwig classic maples or even the Legacy is a much better buy.

Yamaha needs to be careful not to price too much brand equity into a product that needs to prove itself first.

Just 2 cents. The kits look amazing, nothing against them
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Thank you for voicing my thoughts.

If you get back to this thread, could you say how much your 2000 Absolute Maples were (xxx)? It's OK to do that.
 
BGH said:
Some of you guys know that I dabble in drum refinishing, although I'm no pro at it. If I do it with a particular drum, its usually because its in bad shape to begin with, so its my effort to rescue it and also just try to learn some of these skills.

Here is my latest project, and most successful to date. Its a 6.5x13 Musashi. I don't really care for the see-through black finishes. I know some of you really like them, but they are just not my preference. I like my black to be solid black, and I have that with my RC's. Since I just got my brown Oaks, I thought I'd refinish this to go along with that kit. I wasn't looking to match the color, just blend with a natural or light brown for the snare.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The stain I used really brings out the figuring of the Oak. The color is somewhat similar to a dark version of Vintage Natural. I used a satin poly as the finishing touch after the stain.
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Nice job Bruce. You really have a knack for this refinishing thing!
Neal
 
evilg99 said:
Nice job Bruce. You really have a knack for this refinishing thing!
Neal
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Thanks, Neal. This is def my best effort to date. Its close to looking like a factory finish. I've learned a lot in my last 2 projects about what works and what doesn't work. My son tells me I should refinish drums for a living. Maybe in retirement, if that ever happens...

Bruce
 
Yep - the snare looks good. The see-through black isn't my favorite finish, but I don't think I'd want to attempt to strip it.
I know how much work that is, and I think it looks pretty good as-is.
In your case though, where you want it to match something else, it makes sense.
 
wildbill said:
Yep - the snare looks good. The see-through black isn't my favorite finish, but I don't think I'd want to attempt to strip it.
I know how much work that is, and I think it looks pretty good as-is.
In your case though, where you want it to match something else, it makes sense.
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Thanks. Yeah, I would never do this to a drum I had spent any significant money on. This snare cost me $100 and was a bit nicked-up when I got it. Pretty much the same for any drum I refinish. And, I already have a black RC snare, so....was time for something different. Getting the brown Oaks was the thing that ultimately prompted me to go for it.
 
my 2000 Absolute set was $1650, bought new from a dealer in PA, USA. It included 10x9, 12x10, 14x12 all hanging toms and a 22x18. Absolute in vintage finish with the old golden badges, At 2.5% average annual inflation that comes to $2,275 at the end of 2013, using the following formula: $1,650 * (1.025)^13

I now have a birch absolute nouveau in cherry and a Tama bubinga elite in red banded copper. I miss the maple sound and was thinking about the absolute hybrid until I saw the suggested prices
 
DJ88in2003 said:
my 2000 Absolute set was $1650, bought new from a dealer in PA, USA. It included 10x9, 12x10, 14x12 all hanging toms and a 22x18. Absolute in vintage finish with the old golden badges, At 2.5% average annual inflation that comes to $2,275 at the end of 2013, using the following formula: $1,650 * (1.025)^13

I now have a birch absolute nouveau in cherry and a Tama bubinga elite in red banded copper. I miss the maple sound and was thinking about the absolute hybrid until I saw the suggested prices
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I'd bet there will be lower prices one way or another, down the road a bit. I don't think guys will be beating the doors to buy the Absolutes at those prices.

You have cherrywood BCANs? Send me a PM if you are selling any. I've been piecing together a kit of those.
 
FInally some European prices:

Very good pricing considering the older Absolutes, Live Customs and even former Oaks.

http://www.thomann.de/nl/search_dir.html?sw=yamaha+hybrid+maple&bn=&gk=

That sound...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w31kbzkP8KA&feature=youtu.be

And to compare Recommended Retail Prices:
Hybrid: €3294,00 (+/- £2736,00) Found on Thomann.co.uk (+/- $4491,00)
Absolute: +/- 4167,00 (+/- £3462,00) Found on Rhythmbase.co.uk (+/- $5682,00)
Recording: €3318,00 (+/- £2756,00) Found on Thomann.co.uk (+/- $4523,00)


More in-depth video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjH8BuZfbcY
 
Last edited:
Hello fellow Yamaha aficionados!

I thought this would be a great place to share my excitement. I just placed a deposit on these drums and will be picking them up later this month:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11Gw9VLNHOs

These are Live Customs in Black Wood, 22 x 14, 16 x 15, 14 x 13, 12 x 8 & 10 x 7.

Hopefully Dave left a little of his mojo behind on these. ;-)
 
Also, if anyone is interested, I have a 8 x 7 Cherry Wood MCAN tom for sale. Just message me for details. Thanks!
 
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Vintage Yamaha 9000 Recording Custom, made in...
 
MusiQmaN said:
FInally some European prices:

Very good pricing considering the older Absolutes, Live Customs and even former Oaks.

http://www.thomann.de/nl/search_dir.html?sw=yamaha+hybrid+maple&bn=&gk=

And to compare Recommended Retail Prices:
Hybrid: €3294,00 (+/- £2736,00) Found on Thomann.co.uk (+/- $4491,00)
Absolute: +/- 4167,00 (+/- £3462,00) Found on Rhythmbase.co.uk (+/- $5682,00)
Recording: €3318,00 (+/- £2756,00) Found on Thomann.co.uk (+/- $4523,00)
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I'm not sure that I agree with your "good pricing" statement. I haven't double checked the websites you've quoted from. However, I do remember quite well what a Maple Custom Absolute 14x6 snare cost on the Thomann site in 2011: about 460euros. The equivalent Hybrid snare is currently going for 539euros (German Thomann website)! That is certainly not a drop in price. For those of you not familiar with the European market, Thomann is the biggest online retailer, the only one that is really pan-European in it's reach. They generally have the lowest prices, or at least they're very competitive.

I thought that the whole moving to China thing was about making Yamaha more competitive which is fair enough. I once asked the staff in a large drum store here in France why they didn't have many Yamaha drums. The answer was simple: the prices weren't competitive. So I really don't understand what Yamaha are playing at with the pricing on the new Chinese made gear. They're gonna have to get their marketing department into overdrive if they want to convince people to pay more for Chinese drums than they previously did for the Japanese ones. No dig at the Chinese here, I have a very nice Chinese made Gretsch kit myself. But I don't think anyone is going to accept that Yamaha moved to a super-low-wage country but still found enough production costs to maintain the old prices.
 
Agreed, my statement was similar to yours some days back. The Chinese people have reached very high quality skills, BUT, if I look at the competition maximum 2500 bucks would be ok for a china made absloute set. Maximum. (5 piece set, snare included)
 
Mike Stand said:
I'm not sure that I agree with your "good pricing" statement. I haven't double checked the websites you've quoted from. However, I do remember quite well what a Maple Custom Absolute 14x6 snare cost on the Thomann site in 2011: about 460euros. The equivalent Hybrid snare is currently going for 539euros (German Thomann website)! That is certainly not a drop in price. For those of you not familiar with the European market, Thomann is the biggest online retailer, the only one that is really pan-European in it's reach. They generally have the lowest prices, or at least they're very competitive.

I thought that the whole moving to China thing was about making Yamaha more competitive which is fair enough. I once asked the staff in a large drum store here in France why they didn't have many Yamaha drums. The answer was simple: the prices weren't competitive. So I really don't understand what Yamaha are playing at with the pricing on the new Chinese made gear. They're gonna have to get their marketing department into overdrive if they want to convince people to pay more for Chinese drums than they previously did for the Japanese ones. No dig at the Chinese here, I have a very nice Chinese made Gretsch kit myself. But I don't think anyone is going to accept that Yamaha moved to a super-low-wage country but still found enough production costs to maintain the old prices.
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Regarding the prices. I did double checked them and they are cheaper like you can see here.

And the reason why stores don't stock Yamaha is that they always tended to be hard to get in the 90's. That became so much better in the 00's.

And once again, super low wage doesn't necessarily mean you can have ultra low prices, thats wishful thinking.

Ultra low prices usually means ultra low quality (and thats the link we have with the made in China stamp right?)

And even if they are cheaper (yes 873,- RRP cheaper is a lot, even/especially in these days) then prices (just like any new brand or product, which sort of is Yamaha now with their new factory and business structure) will probably/hopefully drop down like they always do with everything thats a first timer.
 
Mike Stand said:
I'm not sure that I agree with your "good pricing" statement. I haven't double checked the websites you've quoted from. However, I do remember quite well what a Maple Custom Absolute 14x6 snare cost on the Thomann site in 2011: about 460euros. The equivalent Hybrid snare is currently going for 539euros (German Thomann website)! That is certainly not a drop in price.
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Ps. regardless the china should be cheap discussion.

What you mentioning is sales price, thats different than RRP.

Sales prices at the start of a new era/product will always be closer to the RRP then after years (the first MCA's came out in 2009 and I bet they costed more then they did two years later)
 
Artstar said:
I would place Taiwan in a different category from China. ESPECIALLY from back in the day.

I owned that exact model .. early 70's production ???.. I dare anybody to take one of those apart , and take apart a Gretsch from the same era and see which one has better build.
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FYI the official name of the country we typically know as "Taiwan" is "Republic of China".
The official name of the country we typically know as "China" is "People's Republic of China".

Dutch
 
MusiQmaN said:
Vintage Yamaha 9000 Recording Custom, made in...
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I would place Taiwan in a different category from China. ESPECIALLY from back in the day.

I owned that exact model .. early 70's production ???.. I dare anybody to take one of those apart , and take apart a Gretsch from the same era and see which one has better build.
 
MusiQmaN said:
Ps. regardless the china should be cheap discussion.

What you mentioning is sales price, thats different than RRP.

Sales prices at the start of a new era/product will always be closer to the RRP then after years (the first MCA's came out in 2009 and I bet they costed more then they did two years later)
Click to expand...

I see your point about prices being inflated because it's a new product. Yamaha probably don't want to undersell their product (and undervalue their brand) just because it's made in China so I can understand that initial pricing might be pitched a little high.

However, let's not kid ourselves. Yamaha hasn't "reinvented the drum". The Absolutes were already a state of the art series, how much better would the Hybrids have to be to justify the price tag? I think the reaction amongst members here is that the prices are disproportionately high.

As for "Made in China"=cheaper manufacturing costs, there's no discussion to be had. Nigh on everything is made in China now exactly because it is cheaper. Certainly a lot cheaper than manufacturing in Japan.

As for the RRP, that's always a load of baloney, in any business. What matters to the man/woman in the street is the actual, current price they're going to pay.
 
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