you will get a faster answer if you cross post this to all the categories in the forum. especially the ones that do not apply to the actual subject matter

Have you used your connections with Yamaha to find the best person in the organization to answer your question? They have people who know more about drums than I ever will. If you get some good advice from them let us know.

I have found in my experience that tone comes more from the heads, tuning and the way the drummer hits. Not saying the shells don"t play a big role. I own a stage custom and it has been a very versatile drum set. I also change the heads for different styles. The most important thing IMO is tuning, tuning, tuning. Get a drum dial! will save the day more times then you think. A lot of times drummers come in and I tell them to tune their drums up and they say, "i want really deep toms and snare". They do not take my tuning advice then they ask why the drums are muddy in the mix. More often then not, toms will sound deeper in a recording then in a room. Sorry for the rant and in short the stage custom has worked well for me in all types of styles.

Cheers,

Thank you!

Birch and Maple are similar... but not the same.

After 45 years of playing, I can tell you that heads are important, but only equal to the shells, rims and hardware.

My recording custom's sound much better and are more versatile than my tour customs... for any type of music. That's maybe why they call em' RECORDING Customs....