Catchagato's drum kit

[catchagato]

Specifications
Vintage Yamaha Birch
14 x 20" Bass Drum
5 x 14" Snare Drum
12 x 8" Rack Tom
14 x 14" Floor Tom

Cymbals
14" Istanbul Mehmet Light Hi-Hats
20" Istanbul Mehmet Original Ride
22" Istanbul Nostalgia Crash/Ride
20" Zildjian K Custom Dark Ride

Heads
Remo Fiberskyn FA on bass drum resonant and toms batter
Remo Clear Powerstroke 3 on bass drum batter
Remo Clear Ambassadors on toms resonant
Remo Coated Ambassador on snare drum batter
Remo Hazy Ambassador on snare drum resonant

Hardware
All Yamaha
HS-740 (hi-hat stand)
CS-745 (cymbal stand)
SS-740 (snare stand)
FP-9310 (bass drum pedal)

[TopCat]

Beautiful. That is one classy finish, I half expected to see a smaller bass drum with those fiberskyns and rides.

[tamadrummer132]

nice kit. i really like the finish. did you re-finish them or is it a factory finish?

how do you like your fiberskyns? i may get some to replace my ec2's

[catchagato]

This is the factory finish. I really like the Fiberskyns, though I feel they may not be for everyone. I had to play around with the tunings of my bass drum and toms to get the right tone I wanted out of them. My advice based on my experiences with them is that they will sound much better when you tune them tighter. Since the Fiberskyns are a little thicker with the synthetic material, you really need to tune them tighter than just past the wrinkle stage. I found this out through my rack tom. At first, I tuned it just past the wrinkle stage, and maybe 1/2 to 1 full turn on each lug after the wrinkle stage. It sounded okay, but there it sounded thuddy and "papery." So I tried tuning them even tighter (about 1 1/2 to 2 more full turns on each lug) and I hit it with my drumstick. Man, did that tom sing so beautifully! haha. So yeah, I really love the fiberskyns even more than before now that I know how to tune them. Hope this helped...

[Ozzy Biz]

Great kit, love the Istanbuls; I'm a Bos man myself but they're pretty damn similar.

Biz

[drozzy]

So you virginised the bass drum yourself?

Looks great.

[Talon]

Those are some niiiice cymbals, man.

Everything's all tight and compact. I love it.

[Drummer Karl]

This is one awesome looking kit! I`m also very curious about the Fyberskin heads, never tried them on a kit yet. I`ve heard they sound very traditional and great with brushes...

Also a good cymbal choice....I prefer Instanbul Agop though. but what is a the exact difference between Mehmet and Agop? Are these two different Families like Sabian and Zildjian?

Karl

[macmarkus]

very, very nice ... i love natural finishes and think i wanna have your k custom dark ride.
do you like to sell?

[gringo998]

thatss beautifullllllllllllllllllllllllllll

[bonzo49]

Cool kit, esp the finish.

[catchagato]

To me, I think they're almost similar in lots of ways. In ways that both companies were part of just one Istanbul company until Agop pasted away and so their family broke off the company and started the Agops. I haven't looked much into the Agop cymbals. I don't know if it's just me, but I've also realized that Agop does a lot more promoting and advertising than Mehmet. I rarely see any ads in drum magazines from Mehmet, and also it's more rare to find Mehmet cymbals online I think. Other than that, I'm not really sure what the difference is. I've heard people mention that Agop cymbals are more darker and trashier than Mehmets. But I'm also curious, does anyone know what the real difference is between Agop and Mehmet?

[Drummer Karl]

I've heard people mention that Agop cymbals are more darker and trashier than Mehmets.

Yes, I also noticed that, that is why I prefer them. They also sound much softer than the Mehmet...I personally love them...thinking about buying a signature 20" Flat Ride or a Mel Lewis model with rivets...

Karl

[catchagato]

Yeah, I bought these Mehmet's about a year ago and to be honest, I had no idea what the real difference was between Agop and Mehmet. But I knew Istanbuls were great cymbals to begin with. I decided to go with Mehmet's because I didn't even really know about Agop! I went online to search for some Istanbul cymbals, and the ones I found were only from Mehmet, and so I listened to some sound samples and purchases those. If only I knew about Agop from the beginning, I would definately get those instead. I'm not saying I don't like Mehmet cymbals, but like Karl said, I also prefer darker and trashier cymbals...I'm actually thinking about this right now. I might sell some of my Istanbuls in the near future and purchase some Agops :)