Yamaha Absolute Birch Nouveau Bass Drum
Birch is Yamaha’s heritage. The Yamaha Absolute Birch Noveau Tom has a low fundamental and warm tone, befitting Absolute Birch's status as the industry standard since its introduction. With the new YESS-IIM mounting system and hot new finishes, the bar has been raise once again.

Staggered Diagonal Seam/Air Seal System

The heart of any drum is the shell, and Yamaha's method of hand–crafting shells produces the strongest, most consistent drums available. Yamaha drums feature a staggered diagonal seam to ensure a shell that starts round, and stays round and will not require any putty filler in the bearing edges to fill voids between the plies. The Air Seal System of clamping the plies in the mold provides the same pressure 360° around the shell to make sure the glue is evenly distributed. This is key to the consistency of Yamaha shells.

Yamaha Absolute Birch series shells are crafted using Hokkaido birch from Northern Japan. Hokkaido birch has a low fundamental tone with a strong presence of midrange overtones. Our birch drums have warmth, with a good “punch” and a sound that is naturally EQ'd to produce an organic, natural tone and long sustain.

Lugs

The revolutionary design of the quick-release minimal-contact lug casings found on the Absolute Nouveau series are fixed to the drum shell by snapping onto a post that is anchored at the nodal point. This allows the drum to vibrate freely. They allow the heads to be changed in less time and reduce the risk of losing tension rods or washers. A special nylon insert prevents tension rods from becoming loose during play..

Vent holes

The number of, and placement of the vent hole plays an important role in the sound of a drum by affecting the attack, sustain, and tone. Through exhaustive research and testing of many prototypes, Yamaha has discovered the optimal number and placement of the vent hole in each drum. Snare drums and toms up to 12" have one hole, 13" toms have two, 14" and 16" toms have four, floor toms have six, 18" bass rums have eight, and bass drums from 20" to 24" have ten vent holes.

Bass drum spurs/floating bass drum system

The Absolute series bass drums have a heavier version of our classic spur that has been a favorite in the industry for years. The newer spurs are thicker for better stability under even the heaviest playing conditions. Our 18" bass drums include our floating bass drum lift that raises the batter side of the drum off the floor for a fuller sound, while eliminating the need to shorten the beater shaft to strike the center of the head.