Yamaha Golden Temple

When, in 1887, enterprising watchmaker Torakusu Yamaha chose to build reed organs rather than timepieces, he couldn't possibly have imagined that his efforts would flourish into a truly global enterprise. However, it wasn't until 1967 that Yamaha began to roll the drums out of their factory in Shinzu, Hamamatsu. Today, Yamaha produce a range of ground-breaking electronic kits such as the DTXtreme and DTXplorer, as well as some stunning, hand-crafted acoustic drums like the fabulous Maple Custom, Stage Custom and, of course, the Recording Custom. Yamaha now celebrate their 40th anniversary with three limited-edition kits, based around the highly successful Recording Custom series.

Two of the celebratory kits (the third being the Washi set) pay tribute to Japan's most revered and sacred Temples in Kyoto — Kinkakuji (The Golden Pavilion) and Ginkaku-ji (Temple of the Silver Pavilion) — with the aptly named Golden Temple and Silver Temple kits. These anniversary models are reissues of the original 9000 Recording Custom, which are said to be "the most recorded drums in history". These kits were all manufactured during 2007, and are now only available in the UK in limited numbers — so limited, in fact, that Yamaha say the only stock available is that which is currently out there in the drum shops.

For review this month I have the striking Golden Temple example, in a six-drum configuration. This comprises a 22 x 18-inch bass drum, a 14 x 5.5-inch snare, 10 x 7.5-inch and 12 x 8-inch hanging toms, and 14 x 14-inch and 16 x 16-inch floor toms. There are two basic kit options available for the Golden Temple — the first being the same as the review set, and the second featuring a smaller, 20 x 16-inch bass drum and a single 14 x 14-inch floor tom. The Silver Temple also comes in two kit configurations — one model with a 22 x 18-inch bass drum and similar-sized drums as in this review kit, and the second option, which features a much bigger all-round setup, including a 24 x 18-inch bass drum and an 18 x 16-inch floor tom.

Each of the Temple shells is constructed from 100-percent birch plies — this wood is indigenous to the island of Hokkaido, the second largest of Japan's islands. In a process known as 'Kachikomi', the individual plies are cut diagonally and joined together in round moulds. Each staggered seam section is then glued and squeezed tightly together under pressure, utilising Yamaha's proprietary air-seal system — a system developed by Yamaha and employed on all of their kits since 1967.

The shells are then trimmed to their individual depths, and the bearing edges precision-cut by machine. Unusually, these are cut at an angle of 60 degrees (the original Recording Customs were actually 45 degrees) and, instead of the familiar, razor-sharp 'peak', the profile has been smoothly rounded off on these examples. This means that there is greater shell contact around the outer perimeter of the drum head, which will have the effect of slightly reducing the available decay. However, it will also produce a stronger fundamental and deeper tone — Yamaha refer to these as "naturally EQ'd drums", and claim that they are ideal for recording.

The external finish is exceptional, but unlike the actual Golden Pavilion, this set isn't covered in pure gold leaf (unfortunately!) However, it is beautifully hand-sprayed in golden metallic paint, and hand-buffed to a shimmering lustre. All of the drums here feature a tasteful, commemorative, gold metal 40th Anniversary badge, with the dates 1967 - 2007. Many of the original features are preserved from the 1976 version of the Recording Custom, such as the one-piece, spring-less, high-tension lugs and the black-stained interior finish, which is applied by hand to the inside of each of the shells and has just the right opacity to be able to view the beautiful, undulating birch grain beneath.

Included with the shell pack is the excellent TH940 tom mount, which features a pair of resin ball tom clamps used for hanging the two suspended toms on their YESS (Yamaha Enhanced Sustain System) mounts. These rock-hard, resin ball clamps allow 360-degree rotation and any angular adjustment — even the most finicky and fussy drummer will be able get their toms locked into position within seconds. With both toms in position there is still enough room for an additional cymbal arm (not included with the shell pack). An additional advantage over the usual rim-type mounts is that, should the heads need changing, the toms can remain attached to their mounts.

Much of the Yamaha hardware is actually designed and manufactured in their motorcycle factories, and while this is not the lightest available, it is certainly proven to be extremely durable and very roadworthy. Each cymbal stand comes complete with interchangeable tube sections, and the snare and hi-hat stands, tom mounts etc, feature nylon and hardened-steel inserts.

The snare throw-off mechanism is pretty much identical to that of the original Recording Custom kit.

Designed for a deep low-end tone, this large 22 x 18-inch bass drum has seven plies of birch (one more ply than on the snare and toms), and features colour-matched birch rims together with a mass of shiny, chrome, one-piece tuning lugs. These high-tension models stretch the full 18 inches across this example, giving it a retro-chic appearance reminiscent of the style of some kits from the early '70s. This drum is drilled for the tom mount and has been fitted with a rubber isolation gasket, to prevent indentation into the lacquer. I think that the 20 pressed-steel bass-drum claws would also have benefited from some form of gasket, though, as I don't think it will be too long before the claws manage to dig their way into the surface of the birch rims.

This substantial bass drum features 10 one-piece, high-tension tuning lugs that stretch right across the shell's 18-inch depth.

Both of the supplied heads are USA-manufactured, Yamaha-badged Remos, with a Pinstripe ready to go for the beater side, while to the front, I have a shiny, ebony, single-ply model. The front head features a mass of silk-screened images in silver ink, including tasteful Japanese artwork and the Yamaha moniker, together with the famous 'tuning fork' logo. Now, I certainly wouldn't want to cut a hole in the front head for a mic port — instead I would have to buy a new head and put this example away! Anchoring the bass drum are two extremely tough steel spurs, providing more than ample resistance against the possible onslaught of the bass-pedal beaters. The design is simple, but very effective, with an angle preset at around 45 degrees for a quick setup. Should the rubber-tipped legs prove inadequate for some surfaces, each leg has a retractable, spring-loaded spike — tough enough to dig nicely into any wooden stage!

This 14 x 5.5-inch model features triple-flanged, chromed-steel counter hoops and 10 lugs per side. The heads are pretty much bog-standard stuff here, with a Yamaha-badged, single-ply, coated white Remo head employed for the batter and a clear, single-ply head on the snare side. Yamaha have included a small damping ring to help with those possible spurious overtones, and a drum key in its own little plastic wallet. Again we see one-piece, high-tension lugs, but these look quite normal on the snare when compared to the massive lugs of the bass drum. Little has changed in the design or overall operation of the snare strainer and its accompanied adjusters, which are located at both ends. This particular strainer mechanism has given smooth and fault-free operation on Yamaha snare drums for many years.

A small piece of cork on the side of each of the hanging toms prevents the mount from scratching the shell's surface.

All of the toms also feature USA-manufactured, Yamaha-badged Remo heads (a Pinstripe for the batter and a single-ply for the lower or resonant side). Chromed, triple-flanged counter hoops are fitted to each drum, with the 14- and 16-inch toms having eight lugs per head, and the two smaller examples having six. Both suspended toms are mounted with the Yamaha Enhanced Sustain System — this very basically comprises two bolts fixing the mount directly into the side of the shell, at the node or nodal point just below the rim of each tom, where it is less likely to impede any shell vibration. However, since there is a plethora of steel works with the one-piece lugs around each tom, I can't imagine shell vibration would necessarily be affected anyway. The 8cm-diameter, hexagonal steel point of the resin ball clamp slots directly into the suspended tom, and a small piece of cork attached to the side of the shell avoids the end of the point hitting and damaging the shell surface.

Each one of the floor toms features minimal-contact mounting brackets too, but these are fixed around the lower part of each of the toms, again by two bolts, and supported vertically by the very familiar chromed and knurled steel legs. Once the desired height is reached, a single winged bolt butts up and bites directly into the knurled portion of the leg. This will give maximum grip for the type of clamp/bolt employed (while there is still some thread available), but if you bear in mind the excellent design of the suspended tom mounts, these seem quite archaic in comparison.

I fitted both heads to the bass drum, and bedded in and tuned them. The batter head presented no trouble as this was stretched in and tightened up just past the wrinkly stage. As the front head was attached, however, I found myself mumbling about the lack of in-built damping, and was sorely tempted to place something inside like a cushion, pillow, 11.5-tog quilt (anything!), but with great willpower, I resisted this temptation and continued to tighten the 10 lugs up in turn. It took a good deal of experimenting (with the aid of a drummer friend to strike the drum, while I listened out front) with a variety of tensions, but once both of these heads settled down, what I heard from the front was a thumping great bass-drum sound with plenty of sustain — enough for this example to be felt from quite a distance away.

As is always the case, the snare drum took some careful adjustment, but the thoughtfully supplied dampening ring proved useful, and really did help keep a tight leash on those overtones. Even though I left the snare for a few seconds, I could hear the cracking of the head as it stretched and bedded into that rounded bearing edge. This needed some considerable cranking up before it offered its birch bite. As the crackling began to fade, and the batter head was tuned up just a notch or two, I got a hint as to its capabilities.

Although this was a brand-new, fresh-out-of-the-box kit, surprisingly, each and every one of the four toms had their batter and resonant heads pretty much in tune with each other. Even more surprising, they were also as near as dammit pitched to third intervals! Just the smallest of tweaks was necessary on the 12-inch model, just to lower the pitch a gnat's, and all four toms were ready to rock & roll! I usually have the batter head slightly lower in pitch than the resonant (to get the downward pitch bend) but, as these were quite fortuitously tuned up, I just went with the flow. This is the first time I've ever reviewed a kit where the toms have been virtually gig ready — I am not sure if this is luck or judgement on Yamaha's part (or mine) but, as I am the first person to play on this kit, this must be a big firm thumbs up to the kit builders.

And things just got better when I had this Temple kit going in full flow — this cocktail of wood and metal delivers a very musical and highly focused overall sound. The 16-inch tom is very rich, with lashings of bottom end, sending bursts of sound waves through the air and flapping the lower part of my jeans! Although the tensions are probably a tad higher than I would normally choose, this set kicks out and my sticks glide almost effortlessly across each of the batters around the kit — pure joy!

I have to admit that from the word 'go' I really liked the sound of this kit, and hopefully that is pretty evident by my sense of excitement in this review. I don't particularly like the colour scheme, though — the metallic gold in contrast with the chromed metal works but, and of course this is completely personal, I think it would have been worthwhile of Yamaha to use some form of gold or brass plating, as I feel that would have given a greater sense of something particularly special. However, I am sure this won't put off any potential purchaser or indeed a collector, since a limited-edition kit of this stature, with its exceptional standard of build quality and sound, should be high on any serious collector's wish list. 0

Yamaha Golden Temple

Drum kit