I think the ply color difference is due to the grain orientation. I'd want it in hand to be certain but I am not aware of other woods used on the early kits. Mahagony (Luan) was used later.

I assume the ply seam is at a slight angle, not perpendicular. These are the grandfather of the recording custom line.

Coated ambassadors are what I have on my D20 and black kit (top and bottom) but on the blue kit I run pin stripe top and clear ambassador on the bottom. These are great drums and will work well with any quality head choice.

Thanks Jim. I finished polishing the 13" up yesterday and slapped on a crappy Dixon batter head (waiting for Ambassador - local music store is out of stock) - all I can say is WOW!!! I did not even fine tune that drum but the tone is unbelievable - even with the crappy head on. It is punchier than my 13" 71 Ludwig maple-poplar-maple tom and I think it will project better as well. I love the sound of that drum - will sort floor tom out today. Those drums were (the equivalent of) $50 very well spent. I am really impressedJump For JoyJump For Joy

Yeah, I sort of lucked into my RC kit in the 90's. I wanted standard depth toms and the choices were very limited at that point in time (for new drums), plus I also wanted birch rather than Maple (which is all that DW was doing then).

So I got them, have been continually blown away by how good they sound, but also how versatile they are. I was doing progressive rock with the pinstripe/clear ambassador set up, but getting back to my "jazz roots" (YEARS of private lessons) I threw coated ambassadors top and bottom on the bop kit and it totally performs. Generally, all the RC fans I have come across are RC fans for life.

It was (at the time) a budgetary restriction that the blue kit would be "my last drum kit" but honestly, a RC (or 9000, D20/D22 kit for vintage) can easily be a final drum purchase.

If anyone is wondering: "Yes, they sound good for that style of music." Whatever that style of music may be.

EDIT=> Consider a RIMS mount for the 13. I did that for my D20 kit and it is spectacular.

Hi Jim - I set the 13 and 16" up next to the Luddy 13 and 16, the 13" Yamaha tuned higher than the 13" Ludwig and the 16" Yamaha lower than the 16" Ludwig - the 16" absolutely sings - even tuned as low as I have tuned it, it has a lot of balls - it's still got a very solid deep and relatively resonant thud despite the low tuning - its not a "flap" but a "thud" if you know what I mean. I am blown away by these drums and now I am out to find a needle in a haystack, especially for South Africa ---- to find a D22 kick drum.

That is probably atributable to the wood. With similar plies and construction, birch has a lower fundamental than maple. Also a wider Tuning range, rather than the typical "sweet spot" Tuning of maple. (In general)

You can imagine what my 18" RC floor Tom sounds like...