About Drum Sets

Yamaha currently offers several series of acoustic drums. The following will outline the sound characteristics, suitable genres of music, etc., for each material.

The first series is the birch shell models, which have been in production for over 25 years. With its characteristic sharp, hard high tones with fully sustained mids and lows, birch shell drum sets are particularly popular among jazz fusion musicians.

The next series uses North American maple. The bright sound with full sustain, and the sensitive response which only maple can deliver are praised by musicians across a broad range of genres.

The last series uses oak, a material for drums first adopted by Yamaha. Oak means white oak to most Japanese people, but these drum models use Japanese oak, which is classified in the same oak family as white oak in Europe and the United States. Similar to the white oak which is used to make Japanese drums, Japanese oak is also a very hard wood. Because oak creates powerful sound with a solid core, oak shell models are favoured by rock and fusion musicians.

When you purchase a drum set, you should take your time and pay a visit to a store which has sales staff specialising in drums. It is important for you to specifically tell the sales staff your favourite bands and the kind of music you want to play and listen to their explanations until you are fully satisfied. It is also important to actually play the drums. You need to take your time and play different types of sets, maybe over several days. Even if you are a novice drummer, you should be able to find a set you feel right with.