Ludwig Classic Maple & Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute Review

ChrisCirino

Senior Member
Let me begin by admitting to my severe drum addiction. In the last 6 months I have purchased two high end drum kits (Ludwig Classic Maples & Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute) and built a third out of Keller shells. That wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t already own five other kits (Two DW, Two vintage Ludwig, One Gretsch). I preface my review with this information to establish that I am not a brand loyalist and that I have owned and played the drums of nearly all of the large manufacturers. I chronicled my journey to drum excess in another thread a few years ago: http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55082

Ludwig Classic Maple: 7x10 TT, 8x12 TT, 14x14 FT, 16x16 FT, 14x22 BD (Sable Classic Coat aka Black Lacquer)

Specs: Standard Classic Maple 7-ply Cross-Laminated North American Maple shells with non-standard factory fully rounded bearing edges. All toms/floor toms have 2.3mm triple flange hoops, mini-classic lugs and Atlas mounts including floor tom leg brackets. BD has the through the shell Atlas tom mount and mini-classic lugs. Drums came equipped with Ludwig medium weight Weathermaster heads (Coated batter, Clear Reso). Bass drum came with Ludwig Power Collar clear batter and a Vintage Front Logo head.

Fit & Finish: The finish is a beautiful black lacquer well executed with no visible blemishes. The bearing edges were flawless and smooth to the touch. Shell interiors were also well done and all hardware was fixed tightly to the shells. These drums came completely disassembled so I elected to use different heads (Remo CS batter, Clear Ambassador Reso) as the stock Ludwigs were very thin (apparently their medium weight heads are 7mm mylar) and wouldn’t work well with my rock bashing. Interestingly all of the tension rods come with a tiny rubber washer on the threaded portion and a nylon washer at the head. I chose to replace all of the stock washers with Hendrix sleeved nylon washers. Unlike the rest of the kit the bass drum did have a few problems. It came with mini-classic lugs making it very difficult to attach the hoops and claws. Lug splay is very noticeable and required me to put two thick nylon washers on each tension rod just to get them to fit. Recommendation: Ludwig needs to supply a much thicker gasket (1/8 - 1/4 inch) to make these work better on a bass drum. Suggest any Ludwig buyers look at specing their kits with the larger classic lugs on the bass drum.

Sound: I had a very difficult time dialing these toms in, right out of the box (with Clear Emperors over Clear Ambassadors) they sounded very dead. After several head changes I settled on Remo CS for the batter side and Clear Ambassador for the Resos. This got me the closest to the sound I had in my head. I was looking for something in between my early 70’s maple/poplar/maple 3-ply w/re-rings and my late 70’s 6-plys. I don’t know if this is the result of the fully rounded bearing edges or the Atlas mounts. I tried them on RIMS mounts to see if it would make any difference. The difference was negligible in my book and I went back to the Atlas mounts. The bass drum was a whole other story. Quite simply this is the best sounding bass drum I have ever owned and I’ve owned a lot. My bandmates jaws visibly slackened when I stomped on it at band practice. Punchy but still boomy it cut through the guitars without any sound reinforcement. With a PS-3 front and back, a Dave Weckl BD muffler against the batter head and an unported front head. Even with two toms sitting on top of it the drum just sang. I did a side by side with the Ludwig 6-ply (same size and heads) and the Classic Maple killed.

Overall: This is a classically gorgeous kit with excellent build quality. And despite the bass drum design flaws it sounds quite good. I’ve played it live severals times and have received many compliments both on its look and sound. These drums are generally very reasonably priced and I got a very good deal on these, which made them even more attractive.

Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute: 7x10 TT, 8x12 TT, 13x14 FT, 15x16 FT, 14x22 BD (Vintage Natural Finish)

Specs: Hokkaido Birch shells rom Northern Japan, the shells are 7-ply, 7mm thick for bass drums and 6-ply, 6mm for all other drums with standard factory bearing edges. All toms/floor toms have aluminum die-cast hoops, Absolute lugs and the YESS IIM tom mounts. BD has the through the shell Yamaha tom mount. Drums came equipped with Remo Clear Emperor batters over Clear Ambassador Resos. Bass drum came with a Remo Clear PS-3 and a Remo Black PS-3 Yamaha logo head for the front. These drums were NOS at Memphis Drum Shop and are the last of the Japanese made birch Yammies. They were spec’d out in the sizes and finish I was dreaming of. Thus, I was able to justify, if only to myself, buying a drum set I don’t really need.


Fit & Finish: The finish is Vintage Natural and though it had no visible blemishes and was well done it was considerably darker than what I was expecting. I have lusted after the early YD9000 in this finish for many years and I was pretty disappointed in mine. I might attribute this too the grain pattern on the birch being more pronounced or that they sat in the boxes for a long time speeding up the promised aging process. Each drum is a slightly different shade to include the BD hoops. Despite not being exactly what I envisioned they are still quite striking. These drums (sans BD) came completely assembled in five boxes sealed at the factory so I tuned them and played the hell out of them. I tried a few different heads on them but settled on the factory setup. The bearing edges were flawless and smooth to the touch. The shell interiors were extremely well done with same finish as the outside and all hardware was fixed tightly to the shells. The aluminum die-cast rims are very light and machined with incredible tolerances. They have a small hole for the tension rods to pass through thus reinforcing my belief that these drums were expertly put together with no slop at all in the lug placement. With sleeved washers installed the tension rods just fell into their respective lugs when I placed the rim on. Wow!!!. The bass drum was equally well put together with no visible flaws.

Sound: Wow!!! These drums just scream. I played them last week at band practice and the entire band accused me of cranking up the drums in their in-ears. I would describe them as sonorous. Not only are they loud but they have incredible tone and an unbelievably long decay. Whatever they’re doing over at Yamaha its working. I have read many a description on DW of these drums being pre-EQ’d. I don’t know if that’s how I would describe them but I can say that of the dozen or so high end drum kits that I have owned these are about as good as it gets.

Overall: This kit is a revelation. My tone searching is finally over. No more kits I promise!!! Aside from the questionable finish, these drums are simply incredible. The build quality is extraordinary (better than DW) and the sound is simply perfect (for me). In the words of the great modern day philosopher Ferris Bueller, “It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”
 

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.... This kit is a revelation. My tone searching is finally over. No more kits I promise!!...


We'll believe that when we see it - LOL

Good that you're liking them though. 3 kits in the last 6 months - how long have you had the Yamaha?
Sounds like you've had enough kits to know if it's a 'honeymoon' stage.

Seems like the stain on those somehow soaked deeper into the grain pattern.
They still look great though, and like scorch says, they'll probably even out in time.

I've got a thread recently about a Ludwig snare I looked at that showed the same type of lug splay that you describe on the bass drum.
Doesn't seem to affect the sound though, it sounded great.
 
Wow!... Eight kits!... And I thought I was bad with three!...lol...nice job on the reviews ... and both kits look great...regarding the vintage finish, they should even up over time...btw, the figure/grain pattern on your BCA looks stunning IMO ... I've got a cherrywood BCA, but I've always liked the vintage finish...congrats on both kits!
 
Congrats on the new tubs and nice review.
The Yamaha Vintage finish really darkens over time. You kit is gorgeous.
 
Not only are they loud but they have incredible tone and an unbelievably long decay. Whatever they’re doing over at Yamaha its working. I have read many a description on DW of these drums being pre-EQ’d. I don’t know if that’s how I would describe them but I can say that of the dozen or so high end drum kits that I have owned these are about as good as it gets.

...nice review...imho, yamaha hit the "sweet spot" with its birch absolute customs in the natural vintage finish, which seems to enhance the resonance and tone of the drums (yamaha's objective, as per its marketing literature), and seems particularly well-suited to the hokkaido birch wood plies (in addition to the use of thin shells, aluminum hoops and light-weight - tho "pot metal" -hardware)...
 
Excellent writeup.

I owned a yellow sparkle fade Birch Custom Absolute with a 20" kick, which I foolishly sold.This was the best sounding kit I have personally heard or owned, (Personal opinion) including a Mapex Saturn and Premier Signia .The pitch bend on the toms was unbelievable.

Yamaha QC and minimalist hardware are also excellent. Despite the many criticisms, I liked the nouveau hardware as well. I later owned the oaks with an 18" kick and they also were very well built and had great tone and bite.

Not to arouse hostilities, but I don't care for Ludwig hardware and find the lower line kits lacking in build quality. The weird thing is, they generally sound really good to me, despite those criticisms. Even the little break beat kit, which has no right to sound so good, is a little Jet Li.

I wish one of the rich guys in our community would do a blind test, with audio on the Yamaha Live Oak, Mapex saturn, Starclassic Bubinga and Sonor Ascent.

As long as I am wishing, go ahead and include a blind test on Byzance/ZildjianK/Bosphorus/TRX/Soultone or other dark cymbal choices so I can get it out of my system.

I didn't mean to hijack your thread Chris...
 
I Have the BCA Sea blue fade finish.....BY Far the best sounding well made kit ive ever owned.Your Yamaha kit is beautiful.
 
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