Custom Classic Pro Birch Hybrid impressions..

pearlygates

Gold Member
Moved this thread over here from another forum section..

Here's a few preliminary photos...

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My first impressions before even setting assembling my new kit were that of a touch of disappointment.
I dragged all three cartons that the kit came in up the stairs leading to my apartment and began digging in.

Everything seemed to be carefully packaged, however there were baggies of tension rods - for the drums that required assembly,(which were all drums but the snare drum) that had ruptured during shipment and spewed pieces throughout the box.. annoying, but NOT the end of the world. I think that this could have been avoided in more carefully packing those pieces. I ended up short a t-rod for the 16" floor tom.
I contacted the retailer and problem is being rectified with regards to the missing rod.

The drums themselves looked to be expertly built, with nice sharp edges, beautiful grain, no indication of the use of any filler wood in the shell lay up.. just really really nice tight, round shells! Very impressed!
The finish (Sunset Burst) while having a few flaws ie; tiny air bubble (s) here an there, is.. in the grand scheme of things.. Breathtakingly beautiful! The chrome plating on the shell HW looked very good on my kit and the use of gaskets under lugs and other shell fixtures was a very nice touch as well! The bass drum claws are nicely made; cast and beautifully machined. The minor gripe I have is the fact that the machining of the lug insert nuts was not the greatest and required a dab of lubricant and additional care when installing t-rods., but everything went together nicely.
The kits come with a package containing 6 upgraded floor tom brackets and the hardware to attach them to the pre drilled floor tom shells...- more to assemble! Not a biggie. The upgraded leg brackets are very nicely machined and chromed. Chris Ward ( CC co-designer) mentioned that he was going to see that better accommodating packaging be used to eliminate having to assemble the leg brackets to the shells.

The hardware pack is amazing for the price!. I found that it is kinda hit or miss whether the factory uses grease where grease is needed. The standout piece for me is the HH500 highhat stand. This thing is HEAVY DUTY! The legs are heavy, double braced and have nice big rubber feet. the foot stabilizer plate is made of heavier gauge steel and everything is assembled and machined expertly! I didn't have a real op to play this stand yet, but from what I have seen so far, I like it.
There was concern voiced regarding the basket cinch nut and tilter mechanism on the snare drum stand being iffy. As I put my stand together, I noticed that the mechanism (titer) when tightened still seemed to wobble when tightened. Everything was dry and void of any lubricant. I took it upon myself to bust out my can of TriFlow (bicycle lubricant) and loosen up the tilter to close to the point of dis assembly and spray in some lube.. I did this to all the HW, wing nuts, pivots etc.. and let me tell you.. THAT was the ticket! My snare stand is a brick crap house.. no more wobbling, everything tightens up smoothly and rock solid! Even the basket cinch works great now! Don't loose hope on the snare drum stand.. It is very solid! The bass drum pedal looks to be of great quality as well. I don't know how much regular use it will see as I am favoring my Pearl dbl pedal for alot of what I do. I will however do a more comprehensive analysis of this set up including the performance of all the hardware. From what I have seen thus far, there is a lot to love about the CC Pro Birch Hybrid and only a few minor gripes.
More a little later..
 
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That's a delicious finish you have there. Being titled custom, I take it you had this made to your specifications. How did you decide on the various features of the kit (finish, lugs, edge style, etc). Congratulations on your stunning new baby!
 
That's a delicious finish you have there. Being titled custom, I take it you had this made to your specifications. How did you decide on the various features of the kit (finish, lugs, edge style, etc). Congratulations on your stunning new baby!
Thanks... These kits are sold pretty much as you see them in a few different lacquer finishes.
They are available through an online retailer and not really custom..or classic for that matter.
They are a "house brand" and represent an awesome value!

Pearly,

Beautiful kit!!!! Congrats!

Did the EC2's come stock or did you put those on yourself?
I bought the EC2 (SST) for tom batters.. This kit sounds pretty flippin nice!
 
Perfect is one thing but it seems you had a few too many "little" things for one drum set. The bubbles in the finish would really bother me since they have tendency to cause problems with age. The loose t-rods floating around in the boxes could have been a disaster scratching the finish as it shipped. Missing one t-rod, lug nuts that weren't machined well so that you spent time giving everything a lube job in order to get it assembled. It looks great, and I hope you sent or told the dealer all of your concerns. There were other reviews on this forum of one of their Jazz sets that seemed to be in great shape, so maybe you got a Monday morning set. Give us some more as you get use to them.
 
I wouldn't hold the loose bag of rods against the drumset. Whoever boxed it up needs their jaws boxed but that shouldn't take away from the set itself.

I know you will like it Pearly. I have been really happy with mine.
 
Perfect is one thing but it seems you had a few too many "little" things for one drum set. The bubbles in the finish would really bother me since they have tendency to cause problems with age. The loose t-rods floating around in the boxes could have been a disaster scratching the finish as it shipped. Missing one t-rod, lug nuts that weren't machined well so that you spent time giving everything a lube job in order to get it assembled. It looks great, and I hope you sent or told the dealer all of your concerns. There were other reviews on this forum of one of their Jazz sets that seemed to be in great shape, so maybe you got a Monday morning set. Give us some more as you get use to them.

Yeah.. I have seen some big name brand kits with some of the same issues.. Minor annoyances. Yeah the HW needed a little lubrication.. not a big deal. The finished product is a mighty sweet dance. For what I spent for this kit including HW.. the small imperfections are not an issue. You really have to be looking for them to see them.
I will mention the loose HW in the box to the brand owner. More to come..

I wouldn't hold the loose bag of rods against the drumset. Whoever boxed it up needs their jaws boxed but that shouldn't take away from the set itself.

I know you will like it Pearly. I have been really happy with mine.

The kit FLAT OUT sounds awesome! a lot of people will turn their noses at the fact that this kit is a Gretsch, Pearl, Tama label kit.. I understand that. I stepped out of the box and the payoff is sweet!

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Pearly---for a intermediate/lower priced kit, that is a beauty. I am becoming more attracted to long lugs lately and those look fantastic. The color would be my choice as well. I wouldn't worry too much about the minor flaws you mentioned. Consider it a mass produced kit and those things are going to happen on that scale. No deal breakers for me. One question though if you get back to this thread, are the lugs die cast quality or do you forsee any problems with them after years of tensioning and loosening heads? I could see me playing a double bass setup with those drums and being very content with it. OTOH, I recently wrote Sigler music and they were kind enough to respond pretty quickly. I asked about a second bass for the Gretsch Catalina Cherry kit and he stated that they were in the process of changing factories in China that builds the Cats and he was supposedly going over there soon to discuss some new features and concepts about the Custom Classic drum line. Should be interesting. We'll see what they come up with. But still, congrats on the purchase. Very nice looking kit. Here's hoping it holds up for you over the years.
 
Pearly---for a intermediate/lower priced kit, that is a beauty. I am becoming more attracted to long lugs lately and those look fantastic. The color would be my choice as well. I wouldn't worry too much about the minor flaws you mentioned. Consider it a mass produced kit and those things are going to happen on that scale. No deal breakers for me. One question though if you get back to this thread, are the lugs die cast quality or do you forsee any problems with them after years of tensioning and loosening heads? I could see me playing a double bass setup with those drums and being very content with it. OTOH, I recently wrote Sigler music and they were kind enough to respond pretty quickly. I asked about a second bass for the Gretsch Catalina Cherry kit and he stated that they were in the process of changing factories in China that builds the Cats and he was supposedly going over there soon to discuss some new features and concepts about the Custom Classic drum line. Should be interesting. We'll see what they come up with. But still, congrats on the purchase. Very nice looking kit. Here's hoping it holds up for you over the years.

Thanks man! So far so good!
 
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If I recall correctly, someone was saying on another forum that Jinbao makes shells for Yamaha. At least that is a rumor I heard a while ago. I don't recall if it was ALL of their shells or not, but I am thinking it was the higher end series. Anyone know if that is true? I always thought the Yamaha made their shells.
 
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