Cracked Cymbals: What to do?

[AKCSTUDIO]

If i was the owner of Paiste cymbals company and you broke a cymbal i would ship you a new one for good customer service
What the hell service these days suck.

[joeq]

Originally Posted by AKCSTUDIO

If i was the owner of Paiste cymbals company and you broke a cymbal i would ship you a new one for good customer service
What the hell service these days suck.

this is not a 'service' issue

any cymbal can break

in my experience the drummer, how he hits the cymbal, and how the cymbal is fastened have more responsibility for this fact than the manufacturer

I cracked exactly one cymbal in my life, and I am fairly certain that mishandling in transportation did the original damage. I use Zildjian.

Does that mean Zildjians are 'made better'? Not at all, I know other drummers who will go through Zildjians the way some people will go through heads.

[CB_Photo]

It's difficult to imagine a cymbal not breaking when hit hard. Take a look at this video (at 4:48 into it) to see how a cymbal warps when hit. wow.

[ivmike]

This is to clear up confusion about Paiste (and a few other companies).

1. Cymbals are bronze, not brass (except some beginner lines).
2. Paiste outsources their bronze from a foundry in Europe; the foundry provides Paiste with round, flat discs of the bronze which Paiste than works through hammering and lathing. Please visit their website to see more.
3. Paiste uses three different alloys in their professional cymbals: Signature Alloy (B15) which is used in Signature, Dark Energy, Traditional; B20 Alloy which is used in the Twenty Series, and B8 which is used in the 2002, Giant Beat and Alpha Series. Another alloy, NS12, is used only to make their gongs.
4. Sabian and Zildjian both use a B20 alloy that is smelted and formed in their foundries (which are part of the cymbal factory).
5. All alloys are cast; some are cast as ingots, some are cast as discs, and some are cast and rolled into sheets.

I am a Paiste player and have been for 25 years; I've been drumming for 30 and a musician in general for 35. Having said that, I would never disparage another cymbal company; Zildjian and Sabian and the others make great stuff, it's just not the sound that I want.

As for breakage: I have not cracked a cymbal since 1996. I discovered that my stands were not allowing the cymbal to swing freely (the post was too thick). I also realised that I was leaving the cymbals too flat on the stands and risking edge-on hits. Prior to 1996, I'd cracked cymbals from all companies: Sabian, Zildjian, Meinl and Paiste. Once I'd worked on correcting the issues with the stands and incorporating a slight angle into how I've mounted them, I've never had another issue.

[CB_Photo]

Originally Posted by ivmike

2. Paiste outsources their bronze from a foundry in Europe; the foundry provides Paiste with round, flat discs of the bronze which Paiste than works through hammering and lathing. Please visit their website to see more.

This I didn't know. Thanks for the info, Tim.

[Toy Robot]

Originally Posted by joeq

this is not a 'service' issue

any cymbal can break

in my experience the drummer, how he hits the cymbal, and how the cymbal is fastened have more responsibility for this fact than the manufacturer

I cracked exactly one cymbal in my life, and I am fairly certain that mishandling in transportation did the original damage. I use Zildjian.

Does that mean Zildjians are 'made better'? Not at all, I know other drummers who will go through Zildjians the way some people will go through heads.

Absolutely. I'm still playing my 14" signature series hats from 1999 or 2000. No cracks because I take care of them. Come to think of it... I haven't broken a cymbal in ten years (since I began studying jazz in college) and even though for years after that I played heavy metal in Tampa.

It's how you treat them. Don't buy into the hype of people bashing quality products. Those are just opinions.

Paiste makes amazing cymbals.

[jordan s]

Originally Posted by joeq

this is not a 'service' issue
I know other drummers who will go through Zildjians the way some people will go through heads.

That is me, unfortunately. I'm not a walking wallet either. In my own defense, I buy all my cymbals used and I try to only use the really nice vintage ones at shows.

[joeq]

stumbled across this today . . .

Zildjian product communications manager John King -

Here's his response: "Zildjian does recycle any of the cymbal alloy that becomes scrap during the initial manufacturing process. This includes excess material that is cut away during the circle-shearing process as well as alloy that's cut during the lathing process. Cymbals that are deemed unacceptable during the testing process can also be considered acceptable scrap. This alloy is clean material that can be re-melted.

Cymbals that have been returned for any reason cannot be reintroduced into the melting process, for fear of contaminants such as rust, cleaning agents, or other foreign matter that might affect the quality of the alloy. Used and broken cymbals are always cut up and sold as scrap metal.

[CB_Photo]

Originally Posted by joeq

Cymbals that have been returned for any reason cannot be reintroduced into the melting process, for fear of contaminants such as rust, cleaning agents, or other foreign matter that might affect the quality of the alloy. Used and broken cymbals are always cut up and sold as scrap metal.

Wow. So Paiste isn't the only one to do this. Too bad they don't state this on their website somewhere.

And I thought the smelting process burned off all contaminants.

[ivmike]

It's likely done by many or most cymbal companies; in order to ensure that they get precisely the alloy that they seek; they all have high quality control standards.

I had mentioned that cymbal stands can have posts that are too thick, preventing the cymbal from swinging freely (especially in the case of crash, splash and china-types). Since we aren't made of money, an inexpensive and elegant solution is this:



The Cymbal Crown

These are inexpensive solutions and work really, really well. I've had a few of these for a number of years now.

[Kae]

Take the creative path: buy an X-Hat and stack those three mamas together, this way you have a thrashy flavor à la Mars Volta. The cracks will only add more dirt/sizzle. And given you have 3 cracked cymbals you have a lot of different combinations. Either the 3 together, or just 2. For example putting the 8" splash undeneath the 18" crash could give you a nice and airy sizzle ride sound.
Possiblities are endless (well they are, but I like the expression).

[Topfloorstudios]

We made lamps

[CB_Photo]

Originally Posted by Topfloorstudios

We made lamps.

This is a great idea. Thanks!