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Getting use out of an old, cracked A (modifications)

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When I got my kit one of the things it came with was an old 15" vintage A (60's), with a big crack running through the stamp and about 3 inches towards the bell or so. The crack does not reach out to the edge, just a quarter inch past the stamp or so.

What I'm wondering is, since it's cracked and not really of resale value or all too playable the way it is (would work for a cymbal stack), what about getting it cut and modified? My first thought was making into to something like their newer "EFX" cymbals, since cutting out the crack and a couple other sections to match would make a pattern a lot like those.

The other possibility is to maybe just cut the cymbal down to smaller size, say 8 or 10 inches. I was reading about doing this (after seeing a Gavin Harrison vid where he has those chimes from cut down cymbals), and apparently a lot of other people have done the same with cracked cymbals and find they are great to use.

Any ideas on how this would work out? For cymbal cutting jobs like that, do people usually just do the cutting themselves or can you go to a drum shop or something of the sort and get it professionally done? I found the post Harrison made about how to go about making the cymbal chimes, but I wonder if it getting someone do it might be easier; I read something about shops that do fancy cutting work for cymbals (someone in an eBay cymbal thing said he had it cut in a shop by a machine or something to that effect >.<).

Any input or advice would be sweet, thanks!

Posted on 15 years ago
#1
Posts: 2628 Threads: 40
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[COLOR="DarkRed"]Amazing...you are in the East Bay ?

You GOTTA take it to Sam Adato's in SF. His machinist, a guy named Jack, works WONDERS with cracked cymbals. He can slice out the crack, making it like the EFX sorta thang. He can also drill 2 holes at each end of the crack, clean up the crack so it isn't vibrating on itself, and install 2 rivets in the holes. That will stop the crack permanently and make a nice sizzle cymbal. He can cut the entire cymbal down, perfectly round. Or he can cut a nice curvilinear notch in the cymbal, no sharp edges.

Bring it there, talk it over w/ Sam...he may have some other suggestions (he is not there on Weds and they are closed Sunday). He charges between $20-25 for each cymbal job.

IMHO, a cymbal can be cut down only so far until it becomes really nothing more than a clangy cymbal-bell. A 16" can be cut down to a 14" OK...an 18" can be cut to a 16", a 20" can be cut to an 18"...and they will still sound like a cymbal (they tend to dry out the sound). But when you start turning an 18" into a 14", etc...eh, you are really losing a lot. So for those cracks NOT on the edge but in the body, you gotta get creative.

Jack at Sam's does a lot of those open-slots-in-the-body sorta saves...he does them VERY well, too. Very Precise.

[/COLOR]

www.2ndending.com
Posted on 15 years ago
#2
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Sweet, and only 20-25 bucks?! Somehow I imagined it would cost much much more.

Anyway what Gavin Harrison does is cut them down so that they are chimes rather than cymbals, picking cymbals I guess sized anywhere from 14-17" with the "medium sized" bell and cutting them mostly so that only the bell is left.

You can hear them a bit in [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKCIUpW3q9s&feature=related]this vid,[/ame] especially around 2:25. He also has a couple inverted, larger cut cymbal chimes mounted in the middle.

They mostly sound good when used with each other, not sure how one would sound on its own or at least paired with a splash. An EFX crash would be equally cool though and definitely not something one could just make on their own... hope to go that shop sometime soon. Jump For Joy

Thanks :D

Posted on 15 years ago
#3
Posts: 5176 Threads: 188
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Man, I like that video. That's a very cool groove and he played very tastefully on it. I have his video on metric modulation. Thanks for posting!

"God is dead." -Nietzsche

"Nietzsche is dead." -God
Posted on 15 years ago
#4
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