[COLOR="DarkRed"]'Hack, you are correct...for the CHERRY stuff...yeah...the auction can go on forever, but you know that it still may be only $8 until the last 30 seconds, and then end up $500.....
Mastro...interesting. I have found that as long as you get the info on the weight of the cymbal, then you have a pretty good shot at it being a solid cymbal. (In cases where the selelr says 'um, I don't have a scale"...I usually ask: "can you gently flex the edges of the cymbal and will they flex ?" Or: "When you ride it, is the edge of the cymbal wobbling at all ?" Or with a crash: "after you hit it pretty hard, how long does it take for the sound to disappear ?".
Then again, I dunno what kind of music you play or what kinda cymbal sound you go for...
I like a ride cymbal with balanced wash and stick, it's gotta have some good spread on the overtones of the wash, not narrow...I don't care too much for very a edgy, projecting, crisp, loud sound...I don't need that. But it needs to retain the stick while having a nice significant spread underneath. That's not everyone's prescription for a ride, I understand.
The crash needs to be full, not focused, and it needs to decay relatively quickly. Again, for me, volume is secondary.
And the 'hats have to have a good balance of chick and sizzle, maybe a tad of 'slosh' thrown in there for good measure. Again, loudness and brightness are secondary, or even tertiary.
Also, if all ink is gone and the hammering patterns look completely machine, and the stamp indicates so....I glean that the cymbal is getting into the late 70's-'80's and beyond, so I don't bite...because those weren't great by any means.
For me...pretty much any '60's-70's A which, say, land at these weights:
14 ~ between 650-900
15 ~ between 800-1050
16 ~ between 900-1200
18 ~ between 1200-1600
20 ~ between 1700-2100
22 ~ between 1900-2400
...ends up being worth it, most of the time. Again, remembering that really...a 16 crash currently sells for under $85...a 20 these days you can peg for under $120... a 22 for maybe $150.
I have had some disappointments granted...very little bottom, just a lotta midrange and highs, and not very responsive to the stick. But, as eFlay is always a potluck....these parameters narrow my targets and most of the time that has worked for me.
Granted there were dawgs...but in that era/decade-plus, I have found mostly not. [/COLOR]
