Very cool. Thanks for posting that.

So did these cut-outs actually improve the sound, or, rather, make it the way Mel Lewis wanted it to be, or did the cymbal sound great even DESPITE the cut-outs? Because they don't look like cut-outs you make because the cymbal cracked. They seem to wide to me.

Mel Lewis “Modern Drummer, February 85”

And everybody wants to have an old K. There’s a reason for that. I’ve been playing original K. Zildjian cymbals practically all my life. The early hand-me-downs from my father were all K.’s, because that’s what he used. Then I bought my first A., which I still have to this day. That’s the famous one with the pieces cut out. Buddy Rich says it’s probably the greatest ride of all time. I feel the same way about it. Everybody seems to know that cymbal. Of course, it’s reached a point in its life where I can only use it occasionally, so just use it for small-group recordings now, because it’s starting to crack again, but it still has its flavor. That would have been considered a bad A. in its time and it would be considered a horrible A. today because it was low pitch and a real medium weight, but that came from my K. ears. Later on, when I came to New York, I used A.’s for a while. All my A.’s were really considered by most people as not very good. They were all low pitched, but they had definition. Bandleaders I worked for were always complaining about them-that they spread too much and so on-but that was what I liked. You either took me as I was or that was that. When I joined the Kenton band, I needed to use A.’s because they are louder and I needed the volume. So I stayed with the A.’s there for a while. One of my ride cymbals was that famous one, with two rivets in it, which is my trademark. To this day, I’ve been using two rivets in my ride cymbal. Of course, as soon as I left the Kenton band I switched to K.’s completely. That was the end of ’56. With my small-group playing, actually, I was using K.’s all along, but I became a permanent K. player from ’56 on. Now, they’ve become collector’s items. I have a fine collection, although some of my best ones have been stolen. Things like that happen, but I still have some great K.’s. I thought, “Well, I hope these are going to last me for the rest of my life.”

Hard to imagine the sell price of that, but hey, '59 sunburst Les Pauls are $250 K and they sold new for $250 dollars. My tastes are in a different direction, but I do have several old A's. My best one was a 19" ride. My son cracked it playing friggin' blast beat. My fault for letting him use it, but oh well.

I'm a 2002 guy.

When your name is Charlie Watts, $35 K. is just chump change.

I know its an awesome cymbal. I know it Mel Lewis. But $35,000?

Yes, but you see, he "needed" it to compliment thes Mel Lewis Gretsch kit that he bought a few years back:

[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/drumaholic/kzildjianhistorical/mk_DSC1102.jpg[/img]

That cymbal is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. And so the quest begins.

I listened to all the recordings,...sounds really cool,..but I was wondering, He doesn`t hit them very hard, at least in these video`s,..So, How`d it crack ?

Got it from a MetalHead,who tightened it down as hard as he could,then hit it with 3S sticks for all he was worth.