Russ Miller leaves Yamaha- Yamaha moving to China?

[willyz]

...don't know much about this, but I've been reading/hearing various rumors about Yamaha moving production to China?

Also, Russ Miller has gone to Mapex (!)? Wonder if anyone else has left Yamaha?

[Richie Jarvis]

I was a taken back by the move from Russ, I have no plans on changing what so ever.

As far as Yamaha moving to china, news to me

[Matus]

That's no news at all, it can be seen in past catalogs that some low end series are produced in China.
As for moving to Mapex... Boy they'd have to offer something REALLY good for me to play that specific brand. Talk about low quality standards...

[moose]

Russ Miller's tweet announcing the change was ... interesting.

After over 2 years of testing and looking through 5 different brands in depth, I have switched to playing Mapex acoustic drums exclusively!

One could perhaps be tempted to read that as "I shopped around for a better deal for more than two years while still being supported by Yamaha."

Not very professional, I'd suggest.

[Julián Fernández]

[drum6282]

A lot of Yamaha artists are jumping ship - they make the Phoenix line and everyone bolts! haha

The first artists jumping ship could've been related to Joe Testa being let go. But, it's an ongoing trend and that was a couple of years ago now.

Rumors on other forums are saying the live customs are made in China and are replacing the Oak Custom line. I can't imagine Yamaha drums moving all production to China. In this economy, I'm sure sales are down - that's why it's hard to believe they released such a high end line like the Phoenix when the economy tanked. I'm sure replacing the Oak Customs with basically the same drums made in China will make them more affordable to working drummers.

I just hope the quality control is there to keep Yamaha's reputation. Gretsch and Ludwig suffered big time in quality control in the past and have since turned things around it seems. I'm proud to play the Yamaha Club Customs - I get nothing but compliments from sound guys and other musicians every time I play them.

[Paul Marangoni]

Sakae has been making Yamahas drums in Japan forever. They've now come out pretty strong using their own name/badge. Could it be because they feel that Yamaha is slowly phasing out of using them?

http://www.sakaedrums.com/

[Joe Nocella]

Why would anyone jump ship from Yamaha to go to Mapex? IMO, Mapex are the most generic sounding drums on the market. I couldn't pick out a Mapex drum from a line up if my life depended on it.

How do you go from playing a PHX, to saying, I got to have me some of that Mapex? I don't get it.

[Matus]

Maybe he's developed a taste for low quality hardware. You never know...

[sejuba]

That's no news at all, it can be seen in past catalogs that some low end series are produced in China.
As for moving to Mapex... Boy they'd have to offer something REALLY good for me to play that specific brand. Talk about low quality standards...

Juan, I honestly don't know that much about Mapex but thought that their Meridian line was quite good (I'm talking about the toms and bass drum). They
were really easy to tune and sounded great in the low tuning range. The hardware is shit though.

So I was just wondering if you were talking about sound or how the entire package is not worth the deal because of the hardware they include.