hello all, ive been playing on pearl drums since i was 13 years old and i know what people round here think of their hardware however i have taken my circa 1990 exports on the road and played several hundred shows w them and have never broken a single piece of hardware on them. to me it seems indestructible. that being said when i chose to upgrade i knew i wanted something with the same hardware and no mounting holes drilled in the toms. hence the session customs. i have been very happy with the sound and finish on my new kit. they are sold as "all maple shell" but a friend who is a drum tech for a arena touring band informed me that these shells while being all maple are actually only a few plys solid maple and the rest are a sort of maple based composite. or chip board if you will. i haven't been able to confirm or deny this and was hoping someone could shed some light on this. thanks,ryan