what's up all, a friend of mine went to guitar center a couple of days ago and picked up a Yamaha kit, I'm not sure the model but he paid like $500. something for it. anyway, I came down to check it out and was like nice kit. the finish was a dark cherry lacquer which looked sweet, and then I noticed the lugs on the kit. for those of you that don't know or haven't saw them yet, the lugs were made of plastic. at first I was thinking "ahh that's cool" and then I proceeded to tune up the snare drum & as I'm tuning up the snare, one of them cheap ass lugs broke. then my friend told me it's cool and said it came with extra lugs, lol. long story short I tried 4 of them and broke every one and then told him to return this piece of crap. btw my friend don't play drums so he don't know much so I couldn't blame him, he just wanted a kit and the ass at guitar center told him that this kit was the best bang for the buck. I just couldn't understand Yamaha's thinking behind this kit, it has to be one of the worse idea's I ever saw on a set. anyone agree or think this a hot new option, lol.

That's probably a Yamaha Stage Custom Advantage or however it's phrased. The plastic lugs you're talking about are supposed to be some sort of way to quickly change heads and keep close to the same tuning...without retuning. I've never really played them, tuned them, or gave much thought to whether or not this feature works...but if you were tuning correctly and they were breaking, then I'd have to say that the feature would be a big mistake.

i dont think thats a stage custom advantage, cause my schools kit has a stage custom advantage, (just bought last year) and it definitely doesnt have plastic lugs.

MasterShake89 wrote:

i dont think thats a stage custom advantage, cause my schools kit has a stage custom advantage, (just bought last year) and it definitely doesnt have plastic lugs.

The Stage Custom Advantage has black plastic lugs. The Idea is they don't rattle like metal at low tunings... and yeah, it's easy to remove heads, but not to maintain the same tuning, just to make it easier to get the heads off.

I was at Guitar Center looking at one of these kits one day and the "salesperson" said... no, they are not plastic, they are "polycarbonate". I said "ummm... polycarbonate IS plastic..." he responded "not cheap regular plastic... it's aerospace plastic". I asked what MADE it aerospace plastic, and he said... "It's polycarbonate"... I said... so it's plastic... he said "Yes... It's plastic."

Being plastic doesn't make it bad, automatically. Plastic is probably better than cheap pot metal for many applcations. For drum lugs, let's face it... Bad Idea.

These drums are low-end crap, in my opinion, and they shove "features" at the buyers as an excuse for making them out of junk.

Honestly, these guys have the balls to say that Philipine Mahogany sounds "warm", when they really should be saying "It's Cheap... live with it".

What they call "Nouveau lug technology" is in some cases really cheap plastic, Not really hip aerospace plastic, but regular old garden variety cheap plastic that will break if you crank 'em up too tight.

It's OK, Yamaha makes a FINE Motor Scooter (but it's no Vespa)
They make a FINE Grand Piano, (But it's no Steinway)
They make a FINE V-Twin Motorcycle (But it's no Harley)
They make a FINE Saxaphone, (But it's no Selmer)

Get the picture?

They are in the business of "Good Enough" but not the best. Plastic fits right in to the marketing plan. If you want higher quality, don't be confused by "features" that you don't need being compared to QUALITY that you actualy want.

Yamah would rather sell you the GIZMOS than quality of the instrument because they KNOW they are just making "good enough" quailty goods.

As long as we keep buying the stuff they are pushing, the import drum manufacturers (like yamaha) will believe they can piss on us and convince us it's raining.

We should stop buying the stuff and show 'em who's the boss!








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Sounds to me like a Rydeen
We sell them at larry Morgan's for $475 or something (off the top of my head, don't hold me to that price)
The concept of having lugs that don't need to be completely taken off is an interesting one but unecessary for most of us who don't change heads until the head looks like the surface of the moon!
Pearl tried this concept back in the 80's(?)
They used metal lugs that snapped shut
I have seen timbales that work on a hook-like lug method where the tension rod goes into a threaded barrell that then fits snugly into a hook shapd lug mounted on the shell

The only reason I would consider such a system is for some of my resonant heads
In order to save space, I put drums inside of drums when I pack up
But, then again, my drums are all spray painted black and I don't use cases so you can see that I'm not that worried about looks








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You say irritant, I say catalyst

The Stage Custom Advantage Nouveau has the plastic lugs, the Advantage has metal lugs (and costs a little more). They only use plastic for the low end Nouveau lugs, once you get to the maple customs etc. they are metal.

The shells arent particularly warm.... they have a nice rounded tone to them, and I like it.








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Yamaha Stage Custom Advantage drums
Gibraltar 9600 hardware
Meinl Byzance cymbals
Pearl snare

I have never broken the lugs, and they drums sound good!

I was also told that the "replacement" lugs are Metal

The Stage Custom Advantage Nouveau

Thats the set with the plastic lugs. The Advantage has the standard yamaha metal lugs.


Nouveau is a new lug style that yamaha has, that enables you to quickly change the drumheads without completely unscrewing the tension rods. The stage custom nouveau has the plastic ones. The high-end kits such as the Absolute Nouveau series (Birch, beech, maple) All have a metal versions of that nouveau lug.

Its a very neat design. The Stage custom sets themselves also sound very nice. I would recommend a Tour Custom though. Its 100% maple and built a little better. The stage customs are falkata, birch and Philippine mahogany. All three woods are of medium quality. Keep in mind, there is a huge difference between African Mahogany and Philippine mahogany!

Cheers








_________________
The only thing that can prevent you from acheving even the furthest goal, is doubt. Stay dedicated.

Excuse me, but are the lugs plastic, or are the tension rods plastic?

andybfrank wrote:

Excuse me, but are the lugs plastic, or are the tension rods plastic?

Part of the lugs are plastic. The tension rods are metal. I'd imagin plastic tension rods wouldnt last too long.

Rob








_________________
The only thing that can prevent you from acheving even the furthest goal, is doubt. Stay dedicated.

ive played 1 of these and im now banned 4 life from my local music shop cuz of the lugz breakin due 2 the cheap quality and durablity when dropped








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METAL 4EVER!!!!
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I have the stage custom also. I don't know what you guys were doing, but I've broken 2 of mine when I first got it. That's when I was a noob and didn't know how to tune drums. Now, it's not a problem at all. Don't let the lugs prevent you from buying the stage custom. It's a great set.

h8eternal wrote:

what's up all, a friend of mine went to guitar center a couple of days ago and picked up a Yamaha kit, I'm not sure the model but he paid like $500. something for it. anyway, I came down to check it out and was like nice kit. the finish was a dark cherry lacquer which looked sweet, and then I noticed the lugs on the kit. for those of you that don't know or haven't saw them yet, the lugs were made of plastic. at first I was thinking "ahh that's cool" and then I proceeded to tune up the snare drum & as I'm tuning up the snare, one of them cheap ass lugs broke. then my friend told me it's cool and said it came with extra lugs, lol. long story short I tried 4 of them and broke every one and then told him to return this piece of crap. btw my friend don't play drums so he don't know much so I couldn't blame him, he just wanted a kit and the ass at guitar center told him that this kit was the best bang for the buck. I just couldn't understand Yamaha's thinking behind this kit, it has to be one of the worse idea's I ever saw on a set. anyone agree or think this a hot new option, lol.

I have this kit in that exact colour.

Yamaha stage custom advantage NOUVEAU

neavou meaning new as in new lugs

and they have been nothing but a dream for me. I havent snapped a lug yet, and i have had the kit for over a year. Apparently problems occur when the drum is tightened too much, which is a pain if you like high pitched drums, but for me with medium its great. As i dont have a milking hole in the front of my bass drum, its so easy at gigs to simply remove the front head in a few seconds for them to position the mic as they want.

The only problem that i have found is that its sometimes hard to get the correct and even tension on each tuning bolt, because the plastic on each lug is slightly different so is tighter on the tunning rod, which makes it seem like the bolt is finger tight when infact the head is loose. But with tonal tuning (ie hitting the drum where you tune it until u get an even tone eliminates this problem)

I think this kit is probably one of the best value for money kits on the market. It is perfect for those who wish to gig etc... but who dont have the money for the expensive kits. The hardware is amazing, and looks sleek and well made unlike some other companies, who sometimes have clunky looking hardware, such as the tom mounts on tamas.

All in all i love this kit. Its perfect for me, however i can see that the lugs could be an issuse.








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zen_drummer wrote:

MasterShake89 wrote:

i dont think thats a stage custom advantage, cause my schools kit has a stage custom advantage, (just bought last year) and it definitely doesnt have plastic lugs.

The Stage Custom Advantage has black plastic lugs. The Idea is they don't rattle like metal at low tunings... and yeah, it's easy to remove heads, but not to maintain the same tuning, just to make it easier to get the heads off.

I was at Guitar Center looking at one of these kits one day and the "salesperson" said... no, they are not plastic, they are "polycarbonate". I said "ummm... polycarbonate IS plastic..." he responded "not cheap regular plastic... it's aerospace plastic". I asked what MADE it aerospace plastic, and he said... "It's polycarbonate"... I said... so it's plastic... he said "Yes... It's plastic."

Being plastic doesn't make it bad, automatically. Plastic is probably better than cheap pot metal for many applcations. For drum lugs, let's face it... Bad Idea.

These drums are low-end crap, in my opinion, and they shove "features" at the buyers as an excuse for making them out of junk.

Honestly, these guys have the balls to say that Philipine Mahogany sounds "warm", when they really should be saying "It's Cheap... live with it".

What they call "Nouveau lug technology" is in some cases really cheap plastic, Not really hip aerospace plastic, but regular old garden variety cheap plastic that will break if you crank 'em up too tight.

It's OK, Yamaha makes a FINE Motor Scooter (but it's no Vespa)
They make a FINE Grand Piano, (But it's no Steinway)
They make a FINE V-Twin Motorcycle (But it's no Harley)
They make a FINE Saxaphone, (But it's no Selmer)

Get the picture?

They are in the business of "Good Enough" but not the best. Plastic fits right in to the marketing plan. If you want higher quality, don't be confused by "features" that you don't need being compared to QUALITY that you actualy want.

Yamah would rather sell you the GIZMOS than quality of the instrument because they KNOW they are just making "good enough" quailty goods.

As long as we keep buying the stuff they are pushing, the import drum manufacturers (like yamaha) will believe they can piss on us and convince us it's raining.

We should stop buying the stuff and show 'em who's the boss!

Well, If Yamaha isn't very good. Then how come it's good enough for Steve Gadd, Billy Cobham, ?uest love and Dave Weckl. I understand that this set might not be the best, but it's good for it's purpose, serving gigging musicians on a budget. I have this kit and have never broken a lug. If your going to bash it, then bash the product not the company. Yamaha makes great drums. I also hope you have played the kit, before writing such comments.

Peace and Love

stage custom

basically a jizzed up rydeen with posh finishes and plastic lugs that do something to make it sound better (its all a load of bollocks)








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Drumming is my passion.
Recording is a habit.