Why aren't Recording Customs popular today?

pognoot

Junior Member
Yamaha does very little marketing for them. I see very few drummers playing them anymore. Practically nobody stocks them in their retail stores. And yet, everyone says they are the "most recorded drum in history"

Have these drums fallen out of flavor? Is the design "dated" and no longer cool?

What gives with these famous drums?
 
I recently bought a 2012 recording custom kit in the reissued antique sunburst 20, 10 , 12, 14 and I absolutely love them!! I actually favor them over my starclassics and dw collectors series. I HIGHLY recommend them for any genre. Plus they look really nice with the long lugs and stained interiors. And the sound is just perfect!
 

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Yamaha RC's, the longest production run in drum history. Yamaha figures everybody with the cash to splash on these tubs knows what they are ..... what they sound like .... and how much they cost. They never were all that popular, as stage drums. Yamaha Maple Customs are way more common, in live applications. You have to figure, these drums don't get torn up and abused too much, so there's lots of kits around. I've owned 3, with my current kit a 22, 12&13(rack), 14&16(floors). In vintage natural.​
My first kit was in the Tobacco Sunburst (sweet drums, DW.....), in 22, 13, 16. Before they re-issued them. After 2 years of looking for add-on drums, I sold 'em ..... to a guy who owned the matching snare (but no kit). I needed some cash to jump into electronics, and I knew I could always score another set of RC's.​
 

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Yamaha RC's, the longest production run in drum history. Yamaha figures everybody with the cash to splash on these tubs knows what they are ..... what they sound like .... and how much they cost. They never were all that popular, as stage drums. Yamaha Maple Customs are way more common, in live applications.​

This doesn't make sense to me. What makes a drum a "stage drum" versus not? A drum is a drum, right? Perhaps, due to their cost, drummers decided not to take them out gigging, but that doesn't make them any less of a "live" drum.
 
This doesn't make sense to me. What makes a drum a "stage drum" versus not? A drum is a drum, right? Perhaps, due to their cost, drummers decided not to take them out gigging, but that doesn't make them any less of a "live" drum.


Shell construction and the type of wood used makes a difference in projection and volume. "Stage" drums are typically louder.
 
Ah, the drums that sorta defined the 80s before Drum Workshop took off. I had a set and they sounded wonderful. But I feared becoming a clone at the time ;)

Great drums. It's nice that they're still being made. If it was Tama, they would've been re-designed about seven times by now.
 
I had my RCs since 1987. I often thought of getting new drums, but these drums have a unique color and sound great. I have played countless gigs with these and they have never let me down.
 

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What makes a drum a "stage drum" versus not?
Just a basic observation of all the Yamaha artists who play out. And all the Yamaha's I've seen, on stage. Lots of Yamaha Maples out there in the spotlight. Some RC's, sure .... but a lot more maples.
A drum is a drum, right?
If that was the case, we'd have a lot more Sunlite players here.​
 
Never seen a set but the lugs look just like my Tama Rockstars... which I love. I agree that they are undermarketed but I think thats true of all Yamaha drums.
 
Shell construction and the type of wood used makes a difference in projection and volume. "Stage" drums are typically louder.


No way. "Stage drums are typically louder." Ridiculous.

Explain the difference between the shell construction and type of wood used in a recording drum and the shell construction and type of wood used in a stage drum that make a stage drum louder than a recording drum.
 
So.. general consensus. Yamaha RCs are suburb sounding, legendary drums that nobody buys anymore because:

1. Yamaha does a lousy job marketing and promoting them.

2. Very few retailers will stock them. National chains like Guitar Center won't, yet they WILL stock DW Collector's Series which are every bit as expensive at RCs.

3. The design has remained unchanged since the 1980s and the finishes by today's standards look "dated". NOTE: Recording Customs are offered in ultra high gloss black with chrome lugs. Gloss black with chrome accents can be found on many of today's high end atomobiles like Lexus, Audi, and Mercedes Benz, yet apparently this look is dated when applied to drum finishes.

4. They are considered to be better for "studio versus live performance", even though this concept is ridiculous.


Anything else I may have missed?
 
Yamaha destroyed Rogers

for that I could never forgive

I've heard this before but its just business. A shame Rogers went away but Failing companies, buyouts, takeovers all part of the biz. Sure they got Rogers and marketed it as something else, but why was Rogers in such bad shape in the 1st place, so bad that somebody had to buy them? Blame Yamaha?
Nobody poops on Gibson or Gretsch for buying out Slingerland, or DW and Tama for dicing up Camco.
 
So.. general consensus. Yamaha RCs are suburb sounding, legendary drums that nobody buys anymore because:

1. Yamaha does a lousy job marketing and promoting them.

2. Very few retailers will stock them. National chains like Guitar Center won't, yet they WILL stock DW Collector's Series which are every bit as expensive at RCs.

3. The design has remained unchanged since the 1980s and the finishes by today's standards look "dated". NOTE: Recording Customs are offered in ultra high gloss black with chrome lugs. Gloss black with chrome accents can be found on many of today's high end atomobiles like Lexus, Audi, and Mercedes Benz, yet apparently this look is dated when applied to drum finishes.

4. They are considered to be better for "studio versus live performance", even though this concept is ridiculous.


Anything else I may have missed?

I think it's basically 1 and 2. Yamaha Recording Custom had its time, and like all kinds of fashion, there are newer more exciting things out there to be sold. That doesn't mean it doesn't sell and people don't seek it out. Look at Ludwig's Supraphonic. That drum has been around for ages, Ludwig doesn't advertise it anymore, but it still sells. You could argue that Yamaha is doing a great job at reserving the Recording Custom line for an exclusive crowd and type of player. But times have changed, and when everyone went maple maple maple, birch sort of fell out of favor for a while. We should be lucky that haven't discontinued the line altogether, which means people are still buying them - we just don't know who ;)
 
As soon as the landscaping is all done, the next project I'm saving for is a full line of RC shells in the new/old sunburst: 8", 10", 12", 14". 15", 16", and 18", 20", and 22" kicks. So I have singlehandedly disproved the theory that they don't sell. (chuckle)
 
Things always start out 'trendy'.
If marketing, promotion, and word of mouth produce sales that continue long enough, they become 'classic'.
There usually are more people who want 'trendy' though.
 
I've heard this before but its just business. A shame Rogers went away but Failing companies, buyouts, takeovers all part of the biz. Sure they got Rogers and marketed it as something else, but why was Rogers in such bad shape in the 1st place, so bad that somebody had to buy them? Blame Yamaha?
Nobody poops on Gibson or Gretsch for buying out Slingerland, or DW and Tama for dicing up Camco.

The Rogers name was acquired by Yamaha Music USA in the aftermath of the Brook Mays bankruptcy (Brook Mays had owned the Rogers name and had gone under owing Yamaha a sum that I have heard to be somewhere between $500k and $1M). Yamaha Japan told Yamaha USA to get the money back and the cheap-o Rogers badged drums was how they were doing it.

Brook Mays was at least using the old beaver tail lug hardware and making some quality drums

when they were acquired by Yamaha as part of the settlement Yamaha proceeded to produce complete crap and slap the Rogers name on it

so yeah I blame Yamaha

they could have kept the name alive and put out some really nice drums having the rights to one of the most respected names in drum manufacturing

but they chose to release complete crap
 
The Rogers name was acquired by Yamaha Music USA in the aftermath of the Brook Mays bankruptcy

so yeah I blame Yamaha

they could have kept the name alive and put out some really nice drums having the rights to one of the most respected names in drum manufacturing

but they chose to release complete crap

Ok sure, I've read that history too. You are right to point out Rogers was owned by somebody else and THEY went bankrupt. My point was, its the biz, unfortunately, money and names. Nobody points out that DW or Tama could have kept the 'Camco name' alive to, yet chose not too. So Camco died, but nobody has ill feeling to DW or Tama in this regard. All the same, Rogers and Camco remain some of the most well-respected names in drums.

But back to the OP, RC's are beautiful drums, like many Yamaha's. I've come close to buying used Yamaha's many times, but then decide I don't want a kit that so many others have.
 
Ok sure, I've read that history too. You are right to point out Rogers was owned by somebody else and THEY went bankrupt. My point was, its the biz, unfortunately, money and names. Nobody points out that DW or Tama could have kept the 'Camco name' alive to, yet chose not too. So Camco died, but nobody has ill feeling to DW or Tama in this regard. All the same, Rogers and Camco remain some of the most well-respected names in drums.

But back to the OP, RC's are beautiful drums, like many Yamaha's. I've come close to buying used Yamaha's many times, but then decide I don't want a kit that so many others have.

DW never put out crap and slapped Camco on it
 
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