I don't understand why Zildjian doesn't just start making old style K's again. They seem to be able to do everything else imaginable....but can't make an old K....wow. I mean...what if they did? Everyone would buy them. That's what.

The hammering on the first picture looks kinda good....until I realized there was that maltese cross pattern of holes of whatever they are. Do not like.

But I still love my old 70's A's and my Vintage rides and hi hats and crashes from the now-discontinued series from several years ago. I LOVED those.

All this other stuff just seems....goofy.

Yes goofy is indeed the operative word here. And you know why they don't try to start making an old K. type cymbal? Because it would cost them way too much. Not enough profit margin could be squeezed out of them. And because they would need an entire group of trainable hand hammering apprentices which they currently don't have, that would add even more to the cost of production. And you all saw what the EAK's were like right? Not like old K's in sound, nor in appearance. Hammered like old K's with approximately as much hammering? No, not at all. They had maybe maybe 1/4 as much as an old K. And the same hammering techniques and tools like they had back in the old days are long gone. And the artisans who developed their own unique methods along with their own unique tools such as hammers that were ground to satisfy their own personal taste are gone with them. And ditto that on the lathing techniques as well as those old cutting bits. All gone.

Another stupid Zildjian fad. Come on, Craigie, get a grip. Just make great cymbals.

Craigie just pays the bills and orders all the copper and tin.

It's Paul Francis that you want to give a piece of your mind to....I mean if you can even stand to be in his presence that is.

And just in case anybody wants to be the first one in their neighborhood to be privileged enough own one of these marvelous pieces of work, then here's the ad that originally inspired this thread. Be sure to get yours today before these actually become a regular production model:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zildjian-Prototype-K-Cluster-Sweet-15-Hats-Cymbals-Demo/283833043000?hash=item4215c48838:g:5BAAAOSwtcteVAfX

I've met Paul. You're right. He's a little nerd with an attitude. I came very close to a physical altercation with him at the factory in Quincy. It's a long story.

Ummm, silly question - how do they sound? Coffee Break2

No, not a silly question at all. Just listen to the soundfile that's included there. A value judgement about the sound is in the ear of the beholder.

I had knowledge of your confrontation with him, because you told me about it privately during the Cymbalholic days. And that is precisely why I knew I could word that just as I did. Clearly there's no love lost between the two of you; that's for sure.

"A little nerd with an attitude"...now I really like that.

If I may be permitted to add just one thing to your characterization of him, I would modify it only slightly. It would be this:

"A GREASY HEADED little nerd with an attitude". And that would "nerd" could readily be substituted with the word "geek" at any point as called for as far as I'm concerned.

But then he emerged as something of a folk hero to the Cymbalholic crowd after I was removed. That of course was after the mercenary Zildjian bots whom they'd hired finally succeeded in getting me "banned for life". Then afterward all those bots promptly and mysteriously disappeared from the site; seeing as how they'd finally completed the dirty work that they were hired by Zildjian to perform. Now do any of you really think that their sudden disappearance right after mine was all just strictly coincidental?

And I didn't think so either.

But seeing as how their mission for Zildjian was finally accomplished, there was clearly no need for any of them to remain, and seeing as how they were no longer on Zildjian's payroll, they all just disappeared in a New York second. Thanks again Zildjian!