Celebration of 40 years of Yamaha Drums

posted on 14th Mar 2008

To celebrate the 40th birthday of Yamaha Drums, Yamaha have designed and released a beautiful Ltd edition range drum kits, modelled on the famous original RC 9000 drum shell.

The 40th Anniversary drum kit's are based on the original birch shell specification to the legendary RC 9000 drum kits which later become know as the Recording Custom. First released in 1976, the Recording Custom was the first kit to be made out of 100% Birch and changed the drumming industry with innovative features including lacquered finishing, air seal production for total roundness, fusion sizing and our ball mount tom holder. Famously designed in partnership with Steve Gadd, the Recording Custom is the most recorded drum kit in history due to it's clear musical tone, tuning range and depth of sound. The original 9000 and the most collectable is with 60 degree rounded bearing edges which produces a lot of the shell's natural tone, it is with this specification that the re issue's are made from.

The washi kit (Pictured) takes this birch shell and finishes it with very traditional Japanese paper called Washi Paper. New to drum production, this very thin paper is decorated with a very traditional painting called :The Tale of Heike'. This is a very famous in Japan depicting scenes from the Gempei war with themes of courage, elegance and loyalty spread across the whole drum kit. Maple Vintage hoops are added for a very unique sound and beautiful look. With only 4 kits arriving in the UK the ‘Washi' kit will be much sought after.

The Washi kit is joined by a ‘Temple' model. Using the same RC 9000 shell but with timeless steel hoops and beautiful lacquered finish in a choice of Temple Gold and Temple Silver. There is a 22BD/10TT/12TT/14FT/16FT and 14x6 Snare Drum in both colours, 20BD/10TT/12TT/14FT and 14x5.5" Snare Drum in Temple Gold and 24BD/13TT/16FT/18FT and 14x7 Snare in Temple Silver. Only 20 Anniversary Temple kits are available in the UK.

After being beautifully crafted by hand in Japan last year the drums have been delivered into the UK, These Anniversary drums are without doubt going to be a collectors item and have helped celebrate the 40th Anniversary in a very fitting and beautiful way.