TamaRockstarCustomFusion or Yamaha Rick Marotta HipGig

[rustyfingers]

TamaRockstarCustomFusion (Camel Fade) for 859 (No Cymbals)

or Yamaha Rick Marotta HipGig (Cherry Wood) 1000 (No Cymbals)

The Tamas are brand new and the Yamahas are new old store stock

My arthritic hands can no longer handle piano or guitar so I gotta' punt and find something else. I'm thinking drums because it doesn't require as much finger dexterity as piano.

I can't just quit so I'm gonna try out the drums.

Thanks
Dennis

[Jblount]

You do have to have a little finger dexterity, although, if your wrists are up to it, you should be fine. As far as the kits, between the two, and I assume that you are playing fusion music, I personally think the Yamaha hipgig kit sounds the best.

[Rimshot]

I'm a big fan of Yamaha drums. I think that for the money,their higher end drums are just about the best out there (That's the set I'm saving for, a Yamaha Custom Recording set 6 piece). I like their hardware and the shells. That being said, I don't like their hipgig sets. They don't have the full rich sound of the other Yamaha sets (even their lower end sets have great sound). The hipgig sets are made for ease of transport and I think they've sacrificed sound for transportability. Kind of like that little Martin Guitar called the "Backpacker" or "Stick" doesn't measure up to the Martin sound.

Tama makes a real good drum set. I own one and it is not too expensive and you get plenty of bang for the buck. The Rockstar Custom is a higher middle of the road set for them but they give you the full depth sizes on your toms and they sound and wear well. Their hardware is real good. I prefer Yamaha, Pearl or DW hardware, but Tama is quite good. If you're looking for just one kit to play with a lot of different styles of music, Of those two, I'd choose the Tama.

When you say "fusion" , you're talking about a fusion "size" kit, right? 22" x 16" kick, 14" x 5.5" snare, 12" x 10" rack, 13" x 11"rack, 16" x 14" floor tom, right?

[PsyCoNo]

I was looking at similar setups... I splurged and went for Tama Starclassics... if you can spare the extra I would recommend you go for them... they are amazing.