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Cymbal problems


Davey_sc

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I was wondering if anyone could help me here. I have a crack in my crash cymbal' date=' and I've been told that if you drill a hole in it, it will prevent the crack from increasing. However, the cymbal rattles, and sounds like it's sizzling, when I it. Does anyone know how to prevent this? Thanks.[/quote']

Stop twatting the thing so hard! :rockon:

Best bet is definitely to buy a new one. Cracks will only get worse over time....and as you've found out, cymbals sound shit when you start drilling holes in them.

I've also heard of people who have had the cymbal lathed all the way around to remove cracks, but this is probably expensive to have done, leaves you with a much smaller cymbal, and I doubt it would sound any good anyway.

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drilling a hole might stop the crack increasing' date=' but its by no means a guarantee. to my knowledge, the sizzle isnt fixable. if the cymbal's less than a year old, take it back to the shop and get it returned, most cymbal companies will have no problem doing this.[/quote']

Only if it's down to a defective cymbal.....if it's obviously just been clubbed into submission by someone, then you'd be lucky to get a replacement.

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Guest bluesxman

Dunno about the drilling thing, I split one of my cymbals once and removed the offending part once it had run far enough across, as i'd seen bands playing with bits missing off cymbals. Sounded shit afterwards, sound totally changed for the worst, didn't buzz any more but had a flat sound, no ring to it, which I guess makes sense as the sound derives from the shape.

I would get saving and buy a new one.

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Only if it's down to a defective cymbal.....if it's obviously just been clubbed into submission by someone' date=' then you'd be lucky to get a replacement.[/quote']

to be honest a lot of the time the cymbal companies won't really inspect the cymbal too closely, and generally replacements are forthcoming. i know people that have bought broken cymbals off ebay and sent them back to the company direct with no proof of purchase and have successfully gotten replacements. of course if you've still got bits of your carbon/metal drum stick stuck in the crack, they're generally not so helpful.

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I've been drumming for almost 2 years now, and I've never had this problem, and I hope I never do, but I probably will. But anyway, I've seen remedies for this sort of thing being mentioned on various forums, etc. but will all obviously affect the way your cymbal sounds, meaning that it's just better to buy a whole new cymbal.

(Unless of course you want your cymbals to sound crap, but I doubt anyone does) =p

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It all depends on the crack. If it's a tiny one near the edge you can hack saw off the crack plus a few mm extra and file the edge. You can cut a small triangular slice out of it and yet again file the edge, or you can drill. When drilling it you should always drill a fair bit away from both ends of the crack; the eye cannot see the ends of it, and drilling that bit further along will make sure you've got the end.

If it's fucked you might as well give one of these a shot to see how it goes.

You could always turn it into part of a stack or something.

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If it's really small, then go with the sawing off a length from the end and filing or the triangle method you suggested. I'd be weary of filling it with an unknown glue, it's probably just kill the resonance.

On a sidenote, I noticed at the gig I saw you play you had a very nice Sound Formula Dark ride of some-sort. Where did you come by that?

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*thread steal*

Question - What about cracks around the inner ring of the cymbal? NOne as yet' date=' but incase it happens...[/quote']

Since the bell is the thickest part of the cymbal, cracks in the middle are less likely to spread........also, since there is less vibration at the centre than at the edge, these cracks are less likely to cause the cymbal to sound crap. They're usually caused by poor housekeeping, rather than hitting the edge too hard eg. not using nylon sleeves on the cymbal stands.

Most rehearsal studios regularly have the odd stand without nylon sleeves, so be aware of this if you ever take your own cymbals to such places.

Overall, these are far less serious than cracks on the edge....still not ideal though.

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