Drummers: broken cymbals?

[botus99]

I've been a drummer for 12 years now, and my pile of broken cymbals isn't getting any smaller. I know stick technique has much to do with the life of your cymbals among other things... but those things aside, what I really want to know is:

What do you (or should you do) with broken cymbals?

EDIT: meant to put this in the Equipment section. Sorry!

 

[shred101]

LOL I once used an angle grinder to trim off the slack from one of my drummers old broken cymbals hahaha didnt sound too good afterwards

 

[C_F_H_13]

throw em in the garbage/give em to someone who can't afford good cymbals. Once they are cracked they just sound like total shit IMHO. I generally go to a music school here in town and teacher makes sure that the kids who can't afford stuff gets at least something they can hit.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Cracked cymbals for some reason or another piss me off . Because it seems (usually) to be indicative of someone who never bothered to learn what the fuck they are doing.

No offense inteded to the OP, just speaking my mind.

 

[brianhood]

guitar center usually sucks, but they do offer an extended warranty for an extra $20 or $30 for their cymbals. On tour, i always cracked my cymbals in less than a year or two, so the warranty always benefited me. The way it worked back then was if you cracked the cymbal while still on the manufacturer warranty, the guitar center warranty group would send you a box to put the cymbal in with pre paid shipping to the manufacturer(there is your $20 right there). You would still have your extended warranty through guitar center after this. You would then get a brand new cymbal from the manufacturer.
Now if you crack a cymbal after the manufacturer warranty is up, your 1 year extended warranty with GC came into effect. I've heard of them doing it different ways, but generally they mail you a box, and you put the broken cymbal in it. Then they mail you a guitar center check for the full price you paid for the cymbal(minus tax). Then you can just go to GC, buy another cymbal, and only pay tax and for a new warranty. Easy peasy lemon squeezy


now this was a couple of years ago, so things may have changed

 

[updog]

Today, I left a pile of like 5 broken cymbals outside our band's rehearsal place, and someone had took them a while later I heard him testing them out in some other room... I actually had found all of them before, but they just didn't have any sustain whatsoever so I dumped them.

If the cymbals have cracked from the side, you can cut the cracked part out and then use sandpaper on the newly cut edges.

I haven't broken many cymbals, but I only recently noticed that I've cracked my Wuhan china. It has two small cracks in the middle parts, kinda weird. The sustain has suffered, but it still almost works. I'm gonna buy another one, but a 20" instead of a 18"

 

[Damian B]

I haven't broken many cymbals, but I only recently noticed that I've cracked my Wuhan china. It has two small cracks in the middle parts, kinda weird. The sustain has suffered, but it still almost works. I'm gonna buy another one, but a 20" instead of a 18"

If the crack is small you can often drill out the ends with a drill press. That will prevent it from getting any larger.

 

[Exocaster]

I've encountered using a cracked cymbal as an effect before precisely because of how it sounds. The same principle as using a really cheap, shitty sounding cymbal, really; it's a noisemaker and a trashy, fucked-up sound. There's a place for that.

I see them on people's beater/practice kits pretty regularly, too. The one person I know who broke cymbals regularly was actually an Istanbul endorsee, and I have no idea what he did with his.

 

[Norris-wf]

I remember going to a studio a few years back and the studio kit had cracks in the cymbals. Boy were we livid when we were told not to bring our own cymbals!

 

[AudioPhile777]

I've been a drummer for 12 years now, and my pile of broken cymbals isn't getting any smaller. I know stick technique has much to do with the life of your cymbals among other things... but those things aside, what I really want to know is:

What do you (or should you do) with broken cymbals?

EDIT: meant to put this in the Equipment section. Sorry!

Combine them into weird hybrid/stacked cymbals...

 

[Ionei]

Send your broken cymbals to me!
for I am lacking cymbals.

Or you can cut them down with tin snips.
Did it with my AA Med Ride and my friend did it with his AAX china.
Good results.
The china is abit less ringy and the ride nearly has no difference.

 

[everybody's x]

cut them into guitar picks

 

[Suicide_As_Alibi]

Cracked cymbals for some reason or another piss me off . Because it seems (usually) to be indicative of someone who never bothered to learn what the fuck they are doing.

No offense inteded to the OP, just speaking my mind.

Lots of people seem to think that, but it's just nonsense. Hitting on the edge of a cymbal causes stress in any weak areas - normally around the base of the bell where the metal has been worked more. If you have your cymbals tight it's worse, as the energy doesn't get to dissipate through the movement of the cymbal - it gets focused through the centre into the stand instead, which puts even more stress on the edge of the bell.

Any piece of equipment that is constantly exposed to stress and vibration will fail eventually - if your drummer hits hard and uses his cymbals a lot, they'll break more quickly. It's got very little to do with "poor technique" etc. You're hitting a piece of metal with a wooden stick; there's only so much technique involved. If a guitarist breaks lots of strings no one moans about poor technique, they go "fuck yeah, he must play really hard!"

Steve

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Lots of people seem to think that, but it's just nonsense. Hitting on the edge of a cymbal causes stress in any weak areas - normally around the base of the bell where the metal has been worked more. If you have your cymbals tight it's worse, as the energy doesn't get to dissipate through the movement of the cymbal - it gets focused through the centre into the stand instead, which puts even more stress on the edge of the bell.

Any piece of equipment that is constantly exposed to stress and vibration will fail eventually - if your drummer hits hard and uses his cymbals a lot, they'll break more quickly. It's got very little to do with "poor technique" etc. You're hitting a piece of metal with a wooden stick; there's only so much technique involved. If a guitarist breaks lots of strings no one moans about poor technique, they go "fuck yeah, he must play really hard!"

Steve

Actually, quite opposite actually. If a guitarist breaks a lot of strings that is shitty technique (with the exceptions of burs happening on Gibson style bridges). Yeah, drummers break cymbals, if it's happening a lot then it's shitty playing. If it happens once every other year it's shitty cymbals.

 

[greyskull]

use the broken ones for practice.
use the good ones for gigs/recording.

 

[soundsunderground]

1. Use good cymbals. All the cheap sheet bronze stuff (B8, B8pro, zbt, etc) WILL crack. It's just a matter of time. Cast and rolled cymbals are less prone to breakage. If you're a basher and you're using thin cymbals...well that's just obvious. Thicker cymbals like Z customs will last.

2. Use good technique. Get in the habit of a swiping motion coming down on the cymbal. If your cymbals are higher than eye level, chances are that you are striking the edges and not coming down on the cymbal.

3. Use good felts with plastic sleeves that protect the hole in the cymbal. If you have cheap stands there is metal to metal contact with the cymbal and the stand, it will cause wear around the hole.

I haven't cracked a cymbal in 10 years after following these.

 

[VWAS2009]

Use them to make a cymbal stack that will have a real short sustain thats what my band does take a cracked cymbal put it underneath a good cymbal and when you hit it, it cuts of real quick...

 

[updog]

If the crack is small you can often drill out the ends with a drill press. That will prevent it from getting any larger.

Good call, but I don't know if I can get my hands on one.

Thankfully the Wuhan lasted me like 3 years and was literally cheap as fuck... some of their chinas are better than any other chinas I've ever heard, but I had to go choose one that's right for me since they're all different

Some good tips here to prevent your cymbals from cracking - there's nothing else really to it. The Wuhan is pretty much the only cymbal I've had that's cracked on me, but on the other hand, I've only actually bought just a few cymbals in my life.

I'm thinking of fixing that though - I'll be getting some nice Zildjian A's when I'll have enough cash to spend! Don't think those would crack easily anyway.

 

[PhilR]

Since rejoining a band on drums I've managed to crack both my Paiste crashes (both Innovations series, so not budget crap). I caught the cracks at the 5mm stage so I was able to trim them away using a dremel but god damn, it's so depressing. I'm in another band (on bass) looking to get some serious gigging/recording/merch done this summer and I really can't afford this shit.

I don't try to hit all that hard but I've always adopted a strong stick swinging motion so I'm hitting hard as fuck but not actually putting that much force behind the swing. I keep my cymbals angled towards me and they have plenty of swing on the stand but they still went. In my defense I did buy them used from a guy that used to gig them regularly so I've no idea how old they actually are.

 

[updog]

FWIW, I've heard Paiste cymbals seem to crack a bit easier than some other brands - don't quote me on that though

What do you mean by plenty of swing? What size are those cymbals? If they're 16" or smaller and you're constantly hitting them when they're swinging back at your direction (kind of difficult to explain but I hope you understand) that usually breaks the cymbals.