Overview
As with it's shallower brother, there's very little information about this model, although it harks back to a much earlier Maple Deluxe with a similar shell/hardware setup.
This example appeared on a Facebook Marketplace listing in late February 2023 from Ashley Powell. He was kind enough to put up with my overexcited questions, agreed to let me use his photos and told me he'd bought it years ago of a guy who had a full DW set up with top of the range everything. I hope his DW gear was able to keep up with the snare 😉
Going by the production date of the 5.5" version it will have been made in 2007, around the time where the previous incarnation with gold hardware was being retired and the later Black Lacquered model entered the lineup. Anthony Johns said that he bought his example of the 5.5" model from PMT in 2007 (edit - turns out to have been in 2008) and remembered the salesman saying at the time that it was a UK exclusive/limited edition which definitely sounds plausible for both these models. There's nothing in the catalogues or any website I can find from the time. I'm extrapolating the catalogue number from the information received from Anthony where you can see the catalogue number for the 5.5" version is marked up as BPML4550FB or possibly BPML4550B FB on the original box.
One more rarity for the the archive then. Just when you think you've seen all the combinations of shell and hardware...
As per usual, if you happen to know more about this model, do please get in touch and we can fill in the back story of the two siblings.
Photos courtesy of Ashley Powell. Cheers Ashley!
