I was just visiting the Yamaha drum website for USA, and I noticed that they are listing "Absolute Maple" and "Maple Custom Absolute," "Absolute Birch" and "Birch Custom Absolute," and lastly "Beech Custom Absolute."
So, a few questions:
1. Has Yamaha brought back the beech shell?
2. Is the only difference between the "Absolute Maple or Birch" and the "Maple or Birch Custom Absolute" the type of YESS mount used? According to the website images, it looks like the "Absolute" kits sport the YESS II mounts that cover the full shell and attach at 3 or 4 nodal points, while the "____ Custom Absolute" kits are going back to the original recipe of the two-point nodal mounted YESS (like what you still find on the RCs).
The other interesting note: the beech shells use different thickness construction: the 8 and 10 toms are 6-ply/6 mm, the 12 and up shells are 6-ply/7.5 mm, and the bass drums are 8-ply/10 mm.
So, a few questions:
1. Has Yamaha brought back the beech shell?
2. Is the only difference between the "Absolute Maple or Birch" and the "Maple or Birch Custom Absolute" the type of YESS mount used? According to the website images, it looks like the "Absolute" kits sport the YESS II mounts that cover the full shell and attach at 3 or 4 nodal points, while the "____ Custom Absolute" kits are going back to the original recipe of the two-point nodal mounted YESS (like what you still find on the RCs).
The other interesting note: the beech shells use different thickness construction: the 8 and 10 toms are 6-ply/6 mm, the 12 and up shells are 6-ply/7.5 mm, and the bass drums are 8-ply/10 mm.