Ayotte are back and had a booth at NAMM. Their drums sounded as great as ever. You could try contacting them with your question.

Try contacting Ayotte. I had an endorsement with them back in the late 90's thru the ealy 2000's and they kept records of the serial #'s on the custom kits... so you could order drums with a matching finish. Dont know if they still do that. The earlier kits had collerlock BD legs and tom mounts before they designed their own. I had the new design in 98'. So if you have the black collerlock style mounts with rims, your drums pre-date 1998.

This is my old kit from 99". On the Tim McGraw Tour playing with the Dixie Chicks.

I owned a 1995 Ayotte Custom kit in Cherry Lacquer.

My kit had DW block style mounts on RIMS for the toms, and the same block style mounts with gull wing spurs for the BD. I changed the tom mount to Ayottes Suspension system, and later replaced the floor tom Rims Cradle to DW chrome mounts on the shell. I had this kit for ten years and always hated the 12 inch tom that was 10 inches deep.

Pic.........

[IMG]http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/uu169/ThePloughman/PA130120a_zps7d80bb34.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks for your answers, guys! Sorry it took me a few days to reply, I'm not on this forum every day... and anyway - I thought I would be notified when someone replied..?! Nevermind

My drums have serial numbers in the 5000's and are all square sizes: 8x8, 10x10 and 12x12. The bass drum was 20x20, before I had it professionally "beheaded" to a manageable 20x14. The toms were all hanging, but the same customizer who did my bass also put nice floor tom legs on the 12". Too bad the 14" (that once may have belonged to this kit) got lost. Still, with the 12" on legs, I get a nice, warm jazz kind of low out of it. I have managed to find a 16x16, which is flawless, of a much later era (serial no 10K something...) - but the sound doesn't come close to the other drums in terms of sustain, punch and warmth. I should have known better, I much prefer 14" FTs to 16" ones - but I think 14" ayotte FTs are the proverbial needle in the hay stack!