Used Yamaha Kit - Should I Buy?

Disco Stu

Senior Member
I came across a kit for sale in my area. It's a used Yamaha recording custom kit (9000RA) from the early 80s.

Sizes:

12x8 TT
13x9 TT
16x16 FT
22x14 BD
14x6.5 SD

The kit comes with hardware, cases, 2 ride cymbals and a set of hi-hats. Owner is asking $1100.

I looked at the kit in person. The drums themselves are in really good shape. The finish is OK, if a little boring (flat black) with some minor scratches here and there. And I'm not real crazy about lugs that extend all the way across the shell. The cymbals are nice too. One is a K Custom ride. But I have no idea what the second ride and hats are. The logos are long gone, and there is no stamped/engraved ID. They sound nice, but I don't really have a need for them, and it would be hard to resell unknown cymbals. The hardware (tom mounts, cymbal stands, hi-hat stand, kick pedal) is ok, but not great. I would probably want to get rid of most of it.

So, I am on the fence about this. I have zero experience with Yamaha drums, but I know the RCs are good. Any thoughts?
 
RC's are top of the line! Have been for decades and incredible drum. Though it sounds like you want to scrap just about everything. I'd have a hard time paying that kind of cash knowing I'm not real happy with the hardware and don't need some of the cymbals. Also you're not wild about the lug design so I'd say save your cash and get exactly what you like. If you buy them you won't be sorry, they are incredible drums but in the end it's your money and if you have all those doubts I wouldn't do it.
 
Unless they look like they have been through a wood chipper, buy them.

If he's scrapping everything but the shells and one cymbal I can't say that it would make sense. RC's are top end no doubt however in that price range he can get a kit with hardware and cymbals he likes for the same price.
 
I vote no. Love Yamaha,but the economy is still looking like the Titanic. We may be able to buy new DW's for $500 by summer.
tracer
 
There are good deals out there every day. This is one of them, but there will be more...and the next one might be a kit, hardware, and cymbals that you like.

My favorite color is purple, and a while ago, I decided that I want a Mapex Pro M. Turns out they used to make a purple-to-white fade kit, which I just fell in love with. I started looking at Craigs List and eBay, and there were a ton of good deals on Pro Ms, but I kept waiting, and sure enough, after a few months, BOOM, there it was...the purple fade kit that I wanted, at the same price as some of the other ones were, in colors I didn't want. Now, I love that kit very much, as opposed to just having a kit to have a kit.
 
Good points being made here. Thanks for the input. Still haven't made a decision yet. Trying to think if I might use some of the unwanted hardware for gigging. And having 3 rides and 2 sets of hats in total would be kind of a luxury, and would give me sound choices. But I've done pretty well with just one ride and one set of hats for my entire drumming life.
 
I owned a set of Yamaha RC's, and I loved them. Reason I sold them. They're easy to replace. The oldest running (30+ years) drum series. You don't sound real excited about the deal, so I'd pass. No sense spending $1.1K just on-a-count-of-because. More deals will come your way. Having "more than 1 hat/ride combo is wonderful. I have 2. One set...Istanbul Mehmet Turk 15" hats/20" ride. The other set Paiste Red ColorSound 5 14" hats/20" ride. Just switching hats/ride will give your kit a whole new sound. Along those lines, I have 2 kicks. A 22x14 and a 26x14. And again, switching out the kick gives the kit a whole new personality. So, that's another way to "get more bang" for your dollar.
 
Yeah, I think I'm going to hold off. Plus, I just saw another kit I'm interested in. Just waiting for the guy to get back to me. Thanks for the advice everyone.
 
I vote no. Love Yamaha,but the economy is still looking like the Titanic. We may be able to buy new DW's for $500 by summer.
tracer

I don't know about that--prices are lower for some goods, but drum prices seem to be going up, actually--especially custom shops or foreign drums. Example? Early summer a Sonor Delite brass snare, top of the line, was going for $630 at a local specialty shop in my neck of the woods. Now? It's around $795! Sonor has raised its prices rather high. So, I'm not so sure we'll be seeing top quality kits for cheap prices any time soon. More likely, we'll all be selling our kits to buy food.

On the Yamaha question, the RCs are cool, but the only drawback for me on the 9000/older series is the tom mounts--they attach directly to the drum shell a la the old Pearl kits, and thereby choke drum resonance. At least the new RCs have the updated YESS system that only attaches to the shell at two points, allowing some room for resonance/drum "shakability" when you strike it.

Also, you can get a brand new RC kit for (20, 14, 12, 10 setup) for a little under $2K, so another way of looking at this question is why pay $1100 when for $700 or so more yours could be spanking brand new with better hardware?
 
On the Yamaha question, the RCs are cool, but the only drawback for me on the 9000/older series is the tom mounts--they attach directly to the drum shell a la the old Pearl kits, and thereby choke drum resonance. At least the new RCs have the updated YESS system that only attaches to the shell at two points, allowing some room for resonance/drum "shakability" when you strike it.


You could always add the RIMS System to the RC's
 
I have the same mounting system on my yamaha's I just run tom out to the end of the mount so virtually nothing is inside the shell, opened the drum sound tremendously!
 
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