2007
After three years the Black Panther family gets quite a big refresh, with the introduction of several new lines and changes to the available shell sizes and finish of some existing ones. The Seamless Solid Steel appears for the first time, the Blonde Birdseye Maple for the only time, and the third of the stainless steel special editions arrives - the Kung Fu.
As a quick overview:
- All the piccolo models are gone, never to be replaced in the Black Panther series (they still exist in other series however).
- The Stainless Steel series with flat shells replaces the Steel series that had the shell banding.
- The Blonde Birdseye Maple is shown in the 2007 catalogue with an incorrect size and catalogue number. It should be 13"x6" and the catalogue number is BPPE3605XN, as shown in the advert from Modern Drummer.
- The Black Lacquered Maple series replaces the previous Traditonal Maple (both Flat Black and High Gloss) with all black hardware rather than 24K gold.
- The Natural Maple series swaps out the 13" x 5.5" for a deeper 13" x 6". The series is available in either Wax Natural (called "Traditional Maple" in the International catalogue) or High Gloss (called "Natural Maple" in the USA catalogue) depending on territory. Basically they are the same shell with a slightly different finish. Confusingly, the 2007 "Natural Maple" is not same model as the "Natural Maple" model shown in the 2006 catalogue, which had the Wax Natural finish.
- The Deep Forest branding is dropped from the catalogues but Mapex continued to badge the Cherry and Walnut models with it, at least for a while. Both the series exist with both Premium Series and Deep Forest Badges.
- The Cherry series has similar territory specific finishes to the Natural Maple series. The Wax Natural version is in the 2007 International catalogue, whereas the 2007 International catalogue features the Gloss Natural version; the latter continues in the next few catalogues. Same shell, slightly different finish, but with two separate catalogue numbers.
- The new Walnut series in "Brown Sugar Burst” finish has a thicker shell than the Deep Forest Walnut series it replaced; 8.5mm vs 5.1mm.
- The Hammered Brass series now features all-black hardware rather than 24k Gold
- The Hammered Steel series is reduced to just the 14" x 5.5" model.
- The Premium Brass range now has a Natural Polished Brass finish instead of black.