About the metals scarcity - that doesn't happen from day to day and all over Europe. The cymbal could've been made earlier. The war oficially started in september 1939 by Germany attacking Poland, but I think Italy didn't join any actual fighting until spring of 1940, in France. And AFAIK, UFIP was quite state-subsidized in the fascist era. So it's not all so simple.
Your assessment that it's not simple is echoed in the Luca Luciano book. He suggests that there were shortages at the beginning of the war which were later remedied because the Italian Government decreed that cymbals were important for the war effort and should get their tin and copper. I simplified the account because I was just mentioning what Luca had to say about the time close to 1939. Apologies for over simplifying or quoting too short a passage.
