Need some help identifying a vintage Yamaha kit *pics*

[camelian]

Hello!

I just picked up this nice vintage (i think?) Yamaha kit and wanted to see if anyone on here had any info on it. From my brief research, it seems to be the 7000 series drums (YD7000 according to the Japanese Yamaha site). I have no idea what that means though, as I'm a n00b and know nothing about older drums. At first I thought it was a lower end older kit but when I took off the batter head to look at the wood I was quite surprised. The wood looks to be a darker color with a slight finish, possibly stained? The wrap is red with a sparkle upon close inspection. I'll just list the information I have on it and post pictures and let you all post =)

Model ##

14"x24" BD-724GA
5.5"x14" SD-050MD (10 lug)
8"x12" TT-712GA
9"x13" TT-713GA
10"x14" TT-714GA
12"x15" TT-715GA
16"x16" FT-716GA
16"x18" FT-716GA









thanks in advance for any info!

[jklathem]

It looks like stained maple to me. Nice catch!

[mpthomson]

Yam 7000 drums were a mahogany (ie luan)/birch mix, rather similar to the mix of the Pearl DLX. I THINK it's the same shell construction as the 8000 series, but with the lower end hardware. Those huge stands are 9000 series.

[camelian]

Ah ok. So was I correct in identifying it as the "7000 series"? Is that its official name? Also, any ideas as to the market value for it? Thanks for the info!

[mpthomson]

It was, though think it also had a name in the same way that the 9000 was the Recording Custom. It may have been the Stage series (but i may be confusing this with the 5000 drums!)

To be honest it's worth what someone will pay for it but they are nice sounding drums.

[Russticles]

Holy crap, you have my drum kit!!!!! Same finish as well judging from the pics! I thought I was the only one that owned a kit like this. I got the same except not as many toms, I got a 12x8, 13x9, 16x16, 22x14, 14x5.5 aluminium snare.



They're from the late 70's/early 80's, they later became the (old) Tour Customs and they were of course a pre-cursor to the 9000 (recording custom). Great sounding drums, this is my first drum kit I got 2nd hand when I was 14, love it to bits

You sure you got the right sizes?? Looks like you have a 10 there... post more pictures!

[thismercifulfate]

The old Tour Customs were the 8000 series I believe. Not sure about the 7000 series, but that looks like high-quality mahagony, very nice!

[Russticles]

I often wondered that too but then I saw recently in a drum mag a Yamaha time line, and the 7000 series were a feature in the years 74-82 (I think) and it said it was later turned into the tour custom. It only listed the 5000 (stage custom), 7000 and 9000 (rec custom).

I know the 8000's exist (somewhere) but i'm not sure where they fit exactly, although apparently the 7000's were of higher quality. I think the 8000's used the same lugs as the 9000 drums too, I remember someone on here having one in a natural finish.

[mpthomson]

The order, in 1983/4 ish at any rate from the last catalogue I have was 5000, 7000, 8000 and 9000RC. They all co-existed but the 5 and 7 series drums disappeared shortly after this point.

7000 series drums are NOT a pre cursor to the 9000 series, the shells are different. 7000 shells are actually (from the catalogue) a wood called agathis ( a conifer from NZ. Used for guitar manufacturer as cheap but looked and sounded reasonably good) and Phillipine mahogany compared to the birch or birch/camelia mix of the contemporary 9000 drums and the two series co-existed for most of the 7000 series run. The 7000 was the semi-pro series of drums , though they still sound very good indeed.

All 5000/7000/9000 metal snares are/were steel rather than ally, you may want to check yours with a magnet.

8000 and 9000 lugs are completely different, the 8000 lugs being single as opposed to the 9000 hi tension lug. However some Yam endorsees had 9000 drums with 8000 lugs, Dave Mattacks had one and I think there are others too. Equally some endorsees, Andy Newmark for one and DM again often used 8000 drums in preference to the 9000 drums.

The Rock Tour Custom, which replaced the 9000 has a similar lug to the RC drums, but there are detail differences.

The 7000 & 8000 shells are similar, the 8000 just had better hardware and as I say the series did co-exist for a few years.

[Russticles]

Wow thanks mp. Don't suppose you could scan the catalogues?

[mpthomson]

I can give you a website that has scans of the 1981 catalogue (which has the 5/7/9 series drums and woods etc and also the 1986 catalogue.

www.drumarchive.com and click on 'Yamaha', obvously! Lol!

Be careful, you'll spend hours on it!!

[Russticles]

Oh man no way! I've wanted these catalogues for SO long! I've pestered Yamaha about my 7000 series for a while but they couldn't give me as much information as you just did, these catalogues will be an interesting read, thanks!!

[mpthomson]

You'll discover that fundamentally the 7000 became the 8000 in the end. Also worth pointing out that all Yam metal snares of this era, whether steel or brass, wwere seamless spun shells, and therefore a cut above many others. The brass drums are particularly reminiscent of a Black Beauty in tone.

[shockwave122]

i have a 12x8 tom in White wrap. it has the same shell and lugs as your new drum set.

ive tuned it and played with it a couple of times. and it sounds really good.

i want to find a bass drum and floor tom one day..

Nice set

[TJH]

USA Yamaha Drum identification ... Historical ... and some Stage Custom kit details....
In the USA Yamaha offered the following kits
Early 70s - USA
YD-700..
Late 70s - USA
YD-9000 (Birch shell) , with "tail light" dual lugs
YD-7000 camilla/meranti shell, different shell than the Japan YD-7000, but still an excellent sounding drum, these kits were no longer sold in the USA after 1980 as they were replaced by the Tour Series...

1970s - early 1990s all other countries besides the USA these kits were sold...
YD-9000 (later recording custom) same as USA
YD- 7000 (same as shell as the USA tour custom with YD-5000 lugs)
YD-6000 Long lugs and Meranti with birch inner ply later sold in the USA as the stage custom (started 1995-96)
YD-5000 sold in the USA as the Stage series in the 1980s and early 90s
YD-3000 which was never sold in the USA

Early 80s in the USA
Recording series = all Birch shell- Sold as the YD-9000 elsewhere in the world. also had the long high tension lugs
Tour Series = Birch & Meranti shell (the YD-7000 shells sold elsewhere in the world), plus the early YD-9000 tail light lugs
Stage series = Meranti shells - sold as the YD-5000 elsewhere in the world
The Recording was later named the Recording Custom, the Tour named the Tour custom and the Stage named the Stage custom. there were power series versions with deeper drum shells across all three kits.

Stage Custom Kits
1995-6 - Various sources within Yamaha quote those two dates, for release of the updated and now badged, Stage custom this release had high tension lugs and externally attached bass drum spurs. It sold in kits with 20 or 22 bass drums. The shells are now Meranti and falkata or falcata... This kit is the YD-6000 kit sold elsewhere in the world

2001 Stage Custom kit was later split into three versions
1-Stage Custom Standard now Birch Meranti and Falkata shells
2- Stage custom Advantage same shells as the standard, but dual low mass lugs
3- In the late 2000s the kit changed to dual lugs, with a fiber quick change lug kit, named Stage Custom Nouveau

In 2011 Yamaha released the Stage custom All birch shells, with 45 degree bearing edges and dual low mass lugs
in 2016, Yamaha modified the bearing edges by adding round over to the 45 degree edges, it was stated that the round over gave the drums a Fatter sound, and they added isolation (rubber) to all the hardware mounts and bass drum claws