drumman, your new Yamahas are here!

Yamaha Oak Custom Series.

http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/drums/yamaha-live-custom-kit-581862

God bless Jim Hailer for giving it the old college try, but you can't sell an inferior product
and make it sound wonderful, when it is just a Chinese made Oak kit, it just doesn't work.

Yamaha Drums still has a long way to go, why push Oak shells, are they easier to make?

What happened to maple and birch, that is what they are known for.
Why can't they just pick up where they left off with the Maple Custom and Recording Custom series?
Producing top notch professional drums that don't cost as much as the Phoenix series.

Keep trying Yamaha Drums...you have a long way to go........

drumman, besides fooling around on Billy's kit, I've never
played Yamahas so I can't make a call as to their quality.
But what is it you know about this model that makes you
deem them as inferior drums?

I can say this, When he tapped them with the stick, they
sounded wonderful. Dave Weckl is pushing the series as
well. I'm not trying to stick up for them. As I said earlier
I don't know anything about Yamaha drums in general, much
less this model.

But it seems to me you're making a judgement call on a product
that I'm guessing you really know nothing about. A call that seems
to be based only on the assumption that they're not building what
YOU want to see.

Kind of unfair wouldn't you say?

I have owned a Yamaha kit since 1996, I have the original Maple Custom
series (thicker shell) and a Maple Custom Absolute kit (thinner shells)

I just view the Live Oak series as a temporary solution to Yamaha's drum line problem, I have seen them at Sam Ash, but never played them.
They look ok, but not up to the standards of the Maple and Birch series they just discontinued.

Ultimately it's up to the individual to make the final decision.
You are the one paying for it, I am happy with what I have now,
in the future if Yamaha starts making the Maple Custom series again, I will certainly check them out and maybe upgrade.

They look ok, but not up to the standards of the Maple and Birch series they just discontinued.

But, drumman, that's my point...  On what knowledge do you make that statement?

I'm not trying to debate you here, I'm just saying that if you're going to be offering
information in absolute form, ("but not up to the standards of the Maple and Birch series
they just discontinued.") it's a good practice to have some sort of factual evidence to back
up your claim.

Remember that the "Live Oak Customs" are different from the "Oak Custom series" developed
a decade ago.

So because they're not the standard maple or birch, what is it about this, that makes them
inferior in your view?

D., you should have been a lawyer, your questions are relentless...Lol.

The Live Customs are made in China for one thing, not Japan...the quality will not be the same.
I am sure they work fine for live work and even some recording.

If I showed up somewhere and had to play a Live Custom kit, it would work fine and sound great, I am sure.
I just would not pay for them, they don't even look like a Yamaha kit, except for the mounting hardware.

Yamaha already had the Oak Custom, which I thought were solidly built drums, Boomer made them sound wonderful.
I have yet to see Boomer use a Live Custom kit, currently he is playing a Maple Custom Absolute kit on tour.

Yamaha doesn't even make a good wood snare anymore, scary!

As I said, it's up to the individual to make the right choice of what sounds good to them.

Well, drumman,

The proof as always will be in the pudding.
If they're not falling apart and they sound
good, what else can a player ask for? I
guess we'll just have to wait and see.

There's some good stuff coming out of china.

According to Billy, names like Mapex, Tama,
Pearl and some others are all coming from the
same basic place in the orient. I have a Tama,
Mapex and Pearl kits and I can't complain.

80-90% of everything we use today seems to come from China. I hate that, especially, renovating houses and getting things at the big box DIY stores, seeing the faulty workmanship in products we have to open every box to inspect before heading to the check out counter.

Of course, there are dirt floor factories in China, and super-complex, hi-tech factories, where 250,000 people live and work. All under the same roof. It's mind boggling. Everybody on the planet is going to China to manufacture because China is simple. What do you want, here's what we do, money exchanged, done. No rules, regulations, and a thousand hoops to jump through like here in America, killing manufacturing.

Personally, I would inspect every element of a drum set from China before I accepted them. You think Yamaha would make sure product from China was top notch. In the beginning your prototypes might be fine, but after that you never know. China cranks things out very fast, which is a huge problem. They are literally drowning in money from the west, building cities so quickly it makes the head spin. Some are totally uninhabited at this point. But speed and quality do not always finish the same. I have seen that in dozens of examples of Chinese products I have purchased. Everything from electronics and tools to the boxes and packaging it all comes in.

I believe it is so tragic, if not destructive to economies, that so many nations are working with a brutal and persecuting nation to manufacture their goods. But such is the way of a world loving money - the root of all evil.

It is actually surprising to me to see Japanese companies having their goods made in China, all things considered, politically and culturally, but ... follow the money.

I have to agree with you, Asaph but I must say that
I have never had any major issues with any of my
drum gear.  There are some quality control issues
with my Mapex but nothing to write home about.

There were complaints and boycotts because the
steel that the new eastern span of the San Francisco
Oakland Bay Bridge is built from was imported from....  
You guessed it, China!  

Then there were some major delays because a shipload
of bolts were discovered faulty, AFTER installation and
had to be removed and replaced.

Yeah it's really too bad that it's this way.  But this is what
happens when everybody is trying to "get theirs" instead
of working together for a lasting, common goal that helps
everyone.  This is something we can learn from the Asian
community.  

They make these ads that encourage us to "buy American".
I will as soon as America stops outsourcing everything.
Somehow, I get the feeling I won't be "buying American"
anytime soon.