Members theDan Posted March 5, 2007 Members Share Posted March 5, 2007 Am I the only one confused/baffled by the prices on Starclassic Maples vs. Starclassic Birches? There's like a 1k price difference just for a difference in wood, (both of which are pro grade wood materials) Other companies charge the same or near the same for birch vs maple. Is there something I'm missing? Do the Maples come with a Fountain of Youth so you can play drums forever?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted March 5, 2007 Members Share Posted March 5, 2007 There's a retail concept that goes by the alias VALUE PRICING. As best I can figguh it's whatever is more. If that doesn't seem to correlate check out the corporation's bank account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SyntheticTubs Posted March 5, 2007 Members Share Posted March 5, 2007 Tama's are actually priced hundreds below other high end drums. I consider them one of the better deals. Birch is less expensive than maple. But both drums are great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Old Steve Posted March 5, 2007 Members Share Posted March 5, 2007 Yep, birch costs less. Probably more of it is available (supply / demand) than maple. If you want to verify it, I'm sure you could google the price of lumber somewhere. I'm betting that board-foot for board-foot, birch is significantly cheaper than maple. But you're right. Both are top quality drum woods. Maple isn't necessarily "better" than birch or vice versa. It just depends on what you like better. If/when I buy my next kit, I'll probably end up with a pro-level birch kit. I like the sound of it (not that I don't like maple, I like it too), and I'm more than happy to save the cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Walt Disney Posted March 5, 2007 Members Share Posted March 5, 2007 Yep. Maple is more expensive because it's harder and so more resonant than Birch. Not so much the "Chinese" Maple though. Birch trees grow faster and so Birch is available in greater quantitys for less money. Birch is as far as i know the most flexible wood existing. Here's my idea accumulated from some reading here and there: Both kinds of shells sound great. Birch is slightly less resonant and delivers more low-end, than maple. Maple is preferable for an "open", resonant sound with a more balanced frequency range. I haven't played a Birch kit myself yet, so don't quote me on this. But my idea is that both sound great on different levels. For instance, the pronounced lows from Birch shell should be great for rock/metal drummers, who may even preffer them over maple. But still, i wouldn't stress the differences tomuch. Tuned well, both should sound crazy good. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Old Steve Posted March 5, 2007 Members Share Posted March 5, 2007 Not an expert either, but if birch has better lows, you could, in theory, get away with smaller drums and still get deep tones. So instead of a 12, 13, 16 tom setup in maple, in theory you may be able to approach the same sound with a 10, 12, 14 tom setup in birch. Anyway, there are obviously plenty of other variables. Go listen to both kits and decide if the maple one actually sounds $1000 better. Nobody can help you there....that is truly a personal decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gcdrummer Posted March 5, 2007 Members Share Posted March 5, 2007 It's funny that birch is less than maple in the brand name drums, but birch is more if you buy keller shells. There is a big discussion about this on the Tama forum. Most there say that the maples don't really sound any different and to get the birch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ermghoti II Posted March 5, 2007 Members Share Posted March 5, 2007 Birch is grown domestically in Asia, "real" maple has to be imported from North America. Therefore, maple is more expensive. The more expensive wood carries exclusivity with it, so the Japanese use it on their best drums, which get the best hardware, finishes, and attention to detail. Since the Japanese produce the lion's share of pro drums, maple kits have been the most commonly seen pro/elite kits. Ergo, the consumer has grown to believe maple=pro. European and US manufacturers benefit because they can slap a premium on maple drums that don't cost them any more than birch. The Japanese can get Asian maple, which isn't quite as nice as N. American, and offer affordable "maple" mid-range kits, which appear to be a tremendous value. Personally, I like birch, and I like saving $100's on a kit even more, so it's win/win for me. Realistically, any structurally sound piece of wood will make a decent drum, if it is round and has a properly cut bearing edge. The different woods will have different core sounds or sonic characteristics, but heads will make much more difference. Hell, there are great sounding drums that aren't made of wood at all. Buy a good kit with good hardware, and learn to tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gcdrummer Posted March 5, 2007 Members Share Posted March 5, 2007 This could very well be one of the best, most lucent answers to any question I've seen here. Birch is grown domestically in Asia, "real" maple has to be imported from North America. Therefore, maple is more expensive. The more expensive wood carries exclusivity with it, so the Japanese use it on their best drums, which get the best hardware, finishes, and attention to detail. Since the Japanese produce the lion's share of pro drums, maple kits have been the most commonly seen pro/elite kits. Ergo, the consumer has grown to believe maple=pro. European and US manufacturers benefit because they can slap a premium on maple drums that don't cost them any more than birch.The Japanese can get Asian maple, which isn't quite as nice as N. American, and offer affordable "maple" mid-range kits, which appear to be a tremendous value.Personally, I like birch, and I like saving $100's on a kit even more, so it's win/win for me.Realistically, any structurally sound piece of wood will make a decent drum, if it is round and has a properly cut bearing edge. The different woods will have different core sounds or sonic characteristics, but heads will make much more difference. Hell, there are great sounding drums that aren't made of wood at all. Buy a good kit with good hardware, and learn to tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Old Steve Posted March 5, 2007 Members Share Posted March 5, 2007 This could very well be one of the best, most lucent answers to any question I've seen here. +1. Very good post. I also went and did a little research and found this site with wholesale lumber pricing: http://www.woodweb.com/Resources/RSLumberBuyingGuideEastern.html As you can see, "yellow birch" goes for $2.35 per board foot (2350/thousand feet), and "hard maple" goes for $2.52 per board foot. So there's a difference of $0.17 per foot, or about a 7% increase to go from birch to maple. So if this were the ONLY difference (which ermghoti so eloquently points out isn't the only difference) a birch kit that costs $1000 would cost $70 more if it were made out of maple. As for the Keller thing, my guess is that it's more of an anomoly than anything else. They've been making maple shells forever, and only started branching out into other materials in the past few years. As a result, if they're still doing the majority of their business in maple, and less in birch, it's quite possible that they're buying much more maple than birch, and are getting a bigger volume discount on the maple, offsetting the costs. What does this all mean? To quote emoghoti (because I can't improve on what he said), "Buy a good kit with good hardware, and learn to tune." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Majoria Posted March 5, 2007 Members Share Posted March 5, 2007 I almost bought a birch Starclassic but instead went with the birch Pacific. I love the sound and as I play completely unmic'd it works very well. Responds well to tuning also. Absolutely nothing wrong with a birch Starclassic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SyntheticTubs Posted March 6, 2007 Members Share Posted March 6, 2007 The starclassic EFX (birch) costs less. The full SC birch sounded better to my ears than some of the cheaper, Asian birch kits made in China. The tonality was drier, and there was more low end. (Some of the cheaper birch kits sound brittle to me) The sc maple had a nice fat, warm tone to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ermghoti II Posted March 6, 2007 Members Share Posted March 6, 2007 In the interest of full dislosure, parts of my post were conjecture. emoghoti You bastard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Old Steve Posted March 6, 2007 Members Share Posted March 6, 2007 In the interest of full dislosure, parts of my post were conjecture. You bastard! Oh god! I'm sorry, it was a totally unintentional typo on my part, I swear. Even on a good day, I can't come up with stuff that funny if I'm trying to. Sorry, man. LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gootch Posted March 9, 2007 Members Share Posted March 9, 2007 yeah Ive played both and maple is def. worth the extra grand... that is if you are playing live shows or with other people.. or even just with yourself..the only reason I would go with a birch kit is if I was recording. Birch is a much warmer, controlled sound..usually what is desired in recording.Ive played both and you can't compare to maple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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