Your latest cymbal purchase.....

[Brushup]

Cymbal craftsman 23 patina finish, 2700 grams.
Adding to my current obsession with Paul’s work.
Lovely.

 

[bbunks]

It’s been a cymbal buying year:

All Paiste
20” Masters Flat Ride
14” Masters Dark Hihats
17” Masters Dark Crash
21” Dark Energy Light Dark Ride
14” Dark Energy Hihats

 

[vt.joeyd]

I,like most, miss my cymbalholics.com fix. so here is a small attempt to connect to some of the stuff we had over there. so tell me what you got most recently cymbal wise....

I slipped up on a nice jewel recently. I bought a 60's avedis 24". seller mentioned that it was around 3400 grams. a little heavier than my dream cymbal but still thought I would give a try. I had just bought a new digital scale and had it ready for the arrival of the 24. when it arrived, I could tell right away it was thinner than that because ive had one 2800 and 3200. I was pleasantly pleased when it weighed in at 2976 grams. its a jewel. has a ton of different sounds as a ride cymbal. it crashes well and the bell is full and musical. I so wish that it had rivets though. I have really come to enjoy them on cymbals over they years...

has some beautiful dark green patina right at the bottom. I picture some old jazz cat clasping it there while laying down some nice patterns...

so....what did ya get lately???

mike

12" UFiP FX Hyper Stax

 

[MAJN]

With a couple of cymbals on consignment, the incoming tariffs and my drum fund in a good place, I decided to squeak in a cymbal order for a T-Cymbals 21" Swing King Ride. A weekend break on sales tax in my state and a retailer willing to make a deal made it $249.95 out the door for a new, handmade Turkish cymbal, which works for me. All of the videos I've seen of the Swing Kings have me intrigued, so I'm looking forward to getting it and seeing what T-Cymbals has to offer.

 

[zenstat]

It’s been a cymbal buying year:

All Paiste
20” Masters Flat Ride
14” Masters Dark Hihats
17” Masters Dark Crash
21” Dark Energy Light Ride
14” Dark Energy Hihats

I'm curious. What is this 21" Dark Energy Light Ride of which you speak? Some sort of special prototype?

I've got one of these which I really like

Paiste New Signature 21" Light Dark Ride Mark I - Cymbal

cymbal.wiki

but the rest of the lineup doesn't have a Light Ride. The Signature Traditionals do have Light Rides, but only in 20" and 22"

 

[bbunks]

I'm curious. What is this 21" Dark Energy Light Ride of which you speak? Some sort of special prototype?

I've got one of these which I really like

Paiste New Signature 21" Light Dark Ride Mark I - Cymbal

cymbal.wiki

but the rest of the lineup doesn't have a Light Ride. The Signature Traditionals do have Light Rides, but only in 20" and 22"

Same cymbal you have…for whatever reason I always thought it was a DE not a Signature. Lovely cymbal. Thanks for the correction.

 

[1988fxlr]

I’m a sucker for oddballs and oversized cymbals so I took a gamble on this 24” Beverley. An old owner marked it under the bell as 2560 grams and that seems right. Definitely the lightest 24” I’ve played and it wobbles with every hit. My best guess is thats its nickel silver.

Also the wildest packing job I’ve seen yet for a cymbal from Guitar Center Fort Worth. They fully wrapped it in bubble wrap and sent it in the full size box from a large keyboard amp packed with paper. This one would have survived a tornado en route

 

[zenstat]

Same cymbal you have…for whatever reason I always thought it was a DE not a Signature. Lovely cymbal. Thanks for the correction.

Welcome to the club There are a few of us DFO denizens who are fans of the Light Darks.

The historical taxonomy is a little complicated. When your cymbal was made it was in a series called New Signature. Once upon a time there were Signatures (1989) then Traditionals (1996) then New Signatures (2004). New Signatures included the Dark Energies plus a few other models (Light Dark Ride and Hats, Dry Dark). Those other 3 models were discontinued in 2012. Then in further renaming the three series became

Signature
Signature Dark Energy (because there were only Dark Energy models left)
Signature Traditionals (because they wanted to emphasize the alloy?)

I'm guessing they they put Signature in front of Dark Energy and Traditionals to emphasize the alloy used but I'm no mind reader as far as marketing goes. The wiki uses the modern Signature Dark Energy series name on the Series page

Paiste Series - Cymbal

www.cymbal.wiki

but when you click on the link, you go to the New Signature page (to preserve the historical info)

Paiste New Signature - Cymbal

www.cymbal.wiki

Lest you think Paiste are particularly problematic in discontinuing models and/or moving some models to a different series, and/or redoing an established taxonomy I see the same things happening with Avedis Zildjian and Sabian, where the wiki similarly needs to keep up with changes while preserving the past. Meinl may do this also but I don't know because I'm kept busy with other things. And on a smaller scale (because they are smaller companies not that they don't make taxonomy changes) so do the myriad cymbal companies based in Türkiye, and UFIP, and Dream (that I know of because I happened to be watching at the time).

And since this is the latest purchase thread not just history lessons, I just bought myself an A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride as part of an effort to finally sort out another taxonomic muddle

A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride - Cymbal

www.cymbal.wiki

which at present is just a footnote on that page

A tale of two models: Rock21 and Rock Ride 21"

The early Rock cymbals had two models in 21 inches. The Rock21 with a larger bell (the large cup) and the 21" Rock Ride with the special cup.

The confusion turns out to be a legacy of several factors which have been hard to untangle, and which make the Paiste New Signature to Dark Energy renaming seem like nothing special. It is a tale of secular trend in weights, the legacy of the mistaken belief "60s stamp = 1960 - 1969", and lack of good quality data (particularly weights, but also bells) in cymbals which sellers/collectors seem to see as "post 1970s" and therefore unworthy of proper documentation.

My 21" Rock Ride wears the short version of the 60s stamp, and weighs a svelte 2548g. This sort of weight was common when these first came out in late 1972/73. We know mine is the 21" Rock Ride model because it has the Special Cup rather than the Large Cup. But I've finally got enough data (including cymbals with model ink) to show that the Rock 21 (with the Large Cup) was also relatively svelte in the early days when they rolled out of the shiny new Norwell factory. I've seen cymbals like mine sold as 1960s 21" Medium Rides (if they wear a 60s short stamp), and even 1950s Large Stamp Medium Rides because the ones with the 1.5" version of the 60s stamp get misidentified as a 1950s Large Stamp. This is still happening on a monthly basis. *sigh*

 

[amosguy]

West Coast Drum Shop had a Zildjian rep in the shop yesterday for a special event. Talked me into a 22" Z Custom ride. Wanted something with less wash than my 21" Sweet Ride. Off to the practice space to give it a ride around a set list.

 

[patrickwitherow]

Have two incoming…
22” Istanbul Agop Traditional Jazz Ride and a 22” Traditional Dark crash.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

20" Spizzichino 1742g

 

[karlcrafton]

For the last year or so, I have been finding that with my band, my Zildjian A cymbals have just been working "better" than others I have.

Now, I used to be of the thought that I wouldn't buy without hearing the cymbal, but I've found that for what I wanted/needed, I didn't need to worry about subtle nuances with regards to a slight pitch difference or, maybe a slightly pingy-er bell.... I've already got THAT stuff.
If I come across a nice A from the 70's-mid-90's at a nice price I have sometimes snagged it up.
Yesterday, I found a nice condition 19" A Medium crash from the 80's-90's at a nice price.
Actually pretty darn clean for it's age.

 

[patrickwitherow]

Istanbul Agop 22" Jazz Ride and 22” Traditional Dark Crash. The Jazz Ride has some very nice hammering reminding me of my 30th Anniversary ride.

 

[311Club]

24" PreSerial 602 Medium. Some sort of perfection! To the right is my 23" Medium from 74. Also a GREAT cymbal, a wee bit too much build up for my liking though.

 

[GiveMeYourSmallestSticks!]

1950's SS A Zildjian 20" sizzle ride (1984g) just arrived. Very smoky with some trash in the wash, and a very defined and wooden stick sound over that complex wash and four remaining original rivets. It compliments my other A's beautifully, and will serve as a left side ride.

 

[alparrott]

I'm just joining the forum, so neither of my latest cymbal acquisitions are actually that new, but I think they're worth sharing.

I'm nuts about mixing and matching cymbals to make hi-hats. (Possibly to a fault.) A few years ago I picked up a pair of 14" A Custom Mastersounds. I loved the bottom cymbal and how it made for a very good strong chick sound, but the top cymbal felt a bit heavy and bright for me. So I picked up a much lighter Bosphorus Traditionals top cymbal for the pair. The marking inside this cymbal puts it at about 890 grams, compared with the very beefy Mastersound bottom. I feel like I've created a modern version of a K/Z pair here.

The more recent purchase was a total fluke. I've owned a 19" LP Rancan China cymbal since the mid-90s. Amazing trashy sound, these were the precursors to Wuhan branded Chinas, but to my ears they sound so much better. I was always amazed at how well it has stood the test of time, considering how thin it is. Well, at a gig last year, it finally cracked, after over 30 years of faithful breakdown service. So this past spring I was amazed to see a friend of mine put up an 18" LP Rancan on FB Marketplace. He was gracious enough to swap a crash cymbal I didn't need, and the right side of my kit is once again complete.

 

[rsq911]

18” Wuhan china, one of Carmine’s. The stories this thing could tell… But the sound is amazing!

 

[GiveMeYourSmallestSticks!]

1950's SS A Zildjian 20" sizzle ride (1984g) just arrived. Very smoky with some trash in the wash, and a very defined and wooden stick sound over that complex wash and four remaining original rivets. It compliments my other A's beautifully, and will serve as a left side ride.

View attachment 742749View attachment 742751

Been messing around with this cymbal for a day or two, and have a conflict only members of DFO could possibly care about: The cymbal has four original rivets, but they do seem to mute the cymbal somewhat (can't imagine what all 12 would have done). I'd like to remove one or two, but this would destroy them and there's no going back once I do it. I care more about playability than collectibility, but wonder what you folks would advise before I get out the pliers.

 

[TPC]

Been messing around with this cymbal for a day or two, and have a conflict only members of DFO could possibly care about: The cymbal has four original rivets, but they do seem to mute the cymbal somewhat (can't imagine what all 12 would have done). I'd like to remove one or two, but this would destroy them and there's no going back once I do it. I care more about playability than collectibility, but wonder what you folks would advise before I get out the pliers.

I'm also a "player" not a "collector", and couldn't care less about originality of rivets. Pull 'em!

 

[cdwillis]

Maybe there's some stickler collector that would want the original rivets. You can replace them later. Personally, I don't like the sound of rivets in cymbals so to me it would be a no brainer.