I'm not terribly familiar with the YD series drums. Are they entry level? A word of warning about removing wrap from Yamaha drums...
I have a rack and floor tom from Yamaha 1980's 5000 series drums (bottom of their range at the time). They were really pretty damn good sounding drums, made in Japan from Luan (aka Phillipine mahogany) with an inner ply of beech. When I tried to remove the wrap on the 12" tom, I quickly discovered they were glued all the way around the shell (which is very uncommon for asian drums in general, and entry level drums in particular...but, those dang meticulous Japanese Yamaha craftsmen...). I used the heat gun, etc. and made a total mess of things. The Luan is so soft and splintery that no matter how hard I tried, pieces and splinters of the Luan came off with the glue. Lesson learned is that it's one thing to remove a fully glued-on wrap from quality hardwoods like maple or birch -- it's an entirely different thing to remove it from the softer woods often used in entry level drums. after my experience with the 12" tom, I did not even attempt to remove the wrap from the floor tom (want to buy a nice white 16x16 Yamaha floor tom?).
I hope yours are not glued all the way around...but you've been warned...
