Yamaha Stage Custom Birch ShellSet, Stage, Natural Wood #NW

Very happy with the Stage Custom drum shells, nothing but praise. Starting with the finish (Natural Wood - subtle, slightly yellow glossy lacquer), to the very good quality hardware on the shells and most important with the sound (defined, resonant, good separation of tone between toms). A bit surprised with the long bass note of the kick drum, as I wasn't used to unported bass drums so far. At times it sounds as singing along with the bass guitar. The batter drum head is now an Evans EMAD coated fitted with the thinner foam ring and the resonator was left the original with Yamaha logo. The toms were fitted from start with Remo Ambassador coated (10 mil), while the snare remained with the original Remo UT coated head, as it seems to be identical with Ambassador coated on the toms. The coating on the snare shows already signs of fine chipping after only 2 days, despite the very soft touch and brand new sticks. The coating on the toms looks a bit better, but shows signs of usage too. My previous experience was with Aquarian single ply coated (the same 10 mil), which seems to be more durable after 2 years of service.
Useful sound from the snare drum, less ringing than what I assumed it will have. The snare tension mechanism is a bit stiff, but usable. The snare wires are sensitive enough. Very good finish of the hoops and other chromed parts, as well as the lacquer on birch plywood.
Very happy with the careful packaging of the drums, everything was intact despite some piercing of the cardboard box during shipping. This is where the happy part ends.
Now to the part that most likely will be deleted by the reviewers of this review:
That leads me to the less than happy subjects: the communication with Musicstore was a complete mess (let's blame the close to Easter moment!) and the service of UPS (at least here in Romania) is truly bad with the only phone call would be "I'm at your street but I don't have your address number exactly". No previous SMS in the morning of the delivery day, no phone call and no driver phone number available. You have to lose an entire day to make sure you will be at the proper moment in the right place.

Love these shells, great sound from the Birch. Use them for a variety of music from punk to some ska and reggae and am always happy with the sound i can get from these drums