that's cool. i looked on yamaha's website, but they didn't have the lime green like crown used in 2009. that's really what i'm looking for. however, i really did like the wood finish that the cadets had this year on their yamahas which is availiable to the public.

Any sort of custom finish from the manufacturers that isn't used takes anywhere from 6-8 months to finish especially if you are only buying one. The ones you see on Yamaha's site are available to the public but are considered custom finishes and come straight from Japan. You might get lucky and find a demo drum that somebody like Fork's or Steve Weiss bought and has for sale.

man, you really know your stuff. thanks for all the good info.

Adding to what was said. for Yamaha drums you can email them, they do have some snares, tenors available last time I saw the list there was some pretty decent stuff on their, Also some Yamaha corps will get to sell their drums. Cadets was one of them. You just have to keep and eye on their site if or when they get to sell them. either way any drum you saw this summer probably wont be available till next fall. Here is a resource for Yamaha. I am sure you can track down the list from this

http://yamahapercussion.wordpress.com/

@multi_Thomm thanks for the resource. i just sent an email about getting one of the cadets snares. i think they're probably trying to sell the drums as a line, put it doesn't hurt to ask. thanks again.

For the current list of available Yamaha DCI drums contact Doug Steinmetz at Yamaha. The email address is percussionquestionssnugglebunnyª^townsyamaha.com
That's who I bought mine from.

We also usually have some used drums available from corps or colleges.