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Zildjians breaking


pconn171

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I don't really have any zildjian cymbals other than my hi-hats, but I seemed to notice that a lot of people mention that their drummer breaks his cymbals or people I know telling me that they're breaking their cymbals. The one thing that they all have in common is that they're zildjians. I play sabians and have not had any signs of failures and I don't play very lightly. Is this something that is coincidence or do others notice this pattern too with the zildjians breaking frequently?

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Originally posted by stapes2260

sounds to me like the people you are asking are dumbasses. You shouldn't be breaking cymbals if you use proper technique.

 

 

I've broken 3 Zildjian cymbals...I suppose I'm a dumb ass?

 

The Zildjian K series and the brilliant finishes seem to go more. I have cymbals which are 20 years old without a problem. Then again, I've broken cymbals which are only a few years old. Just luck of the draw.

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Originally posted by stapes2260

sounds to me like the people you are asking are dumbasses. You shouldn't be breaking cymbals if you use proper technique.

 

 

I know some pretty damn good drummers that occasionally break cymbals. Eventually, something is gonna go wrong if you hit fairly hard...especially during a live show.

 

Regarding the bent cymbal in the earlier post, that was probably a sheet metal cymbal.

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Originally posted by El Caballo

I think it's because Zildjians are the most common cymbal by a gigantic margin. The more are out there, the more will get broken.

 

 

Exactly. If Paiste or Sabian sold more cymbals, they'd have more broken cymbals than the other brands.

 

I'm sure that certain TYPES of cymbals break more than others (thin crashes and splashes moreso than rides, for example) but that's a different story.

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Originally posted by stapes2260

sounds to me like the people you are asking are dumbasses. You shouldn't be breaking cymbals if you use proper technique.

 

 

manu katche and carter beauford break their splashes regularly - do they have bad technique? - if that's bad - I can't imagine them with good technique

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You can break anything- I broke a stand at the hinge that holds the cymbal topper. (That was a cheap mapex stand) but given the right circumstance anything can break.

 

All my cymbals are zildjian I havn't broke one yet.(notice the word yet) but I do know that it is possible.

 

Everything and I mean everything can break! Thats just a rule of thumb...

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Originally posted by fritzgog13

You can break anything- I broke a stand at the hinge that holds the cymbal topper. (That was a cheap mapex stand) but given the right circumstance anything can break.


All my cymbals are zildjian I havn't broke one yet.(notice the word yet) but I do know that it is possible.


Everything and I mean everything can break! Thats just a rule of thumb...

 

 

The flipside of that argument is that if properly played and maintained, cymbals can last a lifetime. While guys like Carter Beauford might break a cymbal now and then, the odds are that they play a whole lot more than you and I do. In addition to the "high mileage" they put on gear, they also know that they don't have to pay for new stuff. So if Carter likes the sound of a really thin cymbal, but also likes to bash it, it's no biggie because he'll get a new one for free. In that case, you could just as easily make the argument that he's not buying gear that's appropriate to his playing style because the gear he's selecting doesn't match how hard he plays.

 

My personal guess (and it's just a guess) is that the vast majority of amatuers who post at places like this, who are playing in garage bands and local bars, who are cymbal breakers either have technique problems or don't set up properly. That doesn't mean that cymbals can't break under normal wear and tear...they can...but it's really not a common problem. Hell, I have a 20+ year old ride that is just now starting to show some very minor keyholing. I'm sure it would have happened sooner if I hadn't been careful about how I mounted it for the past 2 decades, and I imagine that in 20 more years the keyhole will be more pronounced.

 

Anyway, if you regularly break cymbals, it's almost always the case that you're playing them too hard. That's why you need to take into your playing style when selecting cymbals. Then again, if you have money to burn (or a contract with a cymbal company) hit 'em as hard as you want to. Just don't blame the manufacturer for a problem that is most likely a result of your playing style rather than an inferior product.

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Old Steve-

I completely agree with you, I should reiterate that under the right circumstances; stress, mounting incorrectly, playing style ect. anything can break.(not just zildjian cymbals)

 

I may have a poor view of a situation due to the fact that I'm in the Auto Service Industry and have been for 15years. If things diddn't break I (and all my technicians) wouldn't have jobs. Granted a car is more likely to break than other things. But after explaining to customers year after year about things breaking on thier $45,000 Grand Cherokee, I just understand things break({censored}e happens).

 

But I do not think zildjian makes poor quality cymblas (I use them)

 

anyway thus is life!

-take care

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I think it is real simple... if you are breaking cymbals it is because you are using the wrong playing techique or using the wrong cymbal!

 

that's all there is to it!

 

yes, if you are freaking wailing on a zildjian "paper thin" crash... it may break.

 

either play differently or get your self a hevier weight cymbal... i.e. a "heavy" crash or a zildjian "z custom" or something

 

i have never broken a cymbal... most of my cymbals are more than 10 years old (and should last forever)

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Originally posted by fritzgog13

Old Steve-

I completely agree with you, I should reiterate that under the right circumstances; stress, mounting incorrectly, playing style ect. anything can break.(not just zildjian cymbals)


I may have a poor view of a situation due to the fact that I'm in the Auto Service Industry and have been for 15years. If things diddn't break I (and all my technicians) wouldn't have jobs. Granted a car is more likely to break than other things. But after explaining to customers year after year about things breaking on thier $45,000 Grand Cherokee, I just understand things break({censored}e happens).


But I do not think zildjian makes poor quality cymblas (I use them)


anyway thus is life!

-take care

 

Agree totally, and from your professional perspective, sometimes there is no good explanation for why something fails. Of course, if a customer came in and wondered why their car broke and they'd been driving around town with no oil in the engine, that might hasten the process a little bit. ;)

 

Along the same lines, I'm sure that all of the major cymbal companies produce the occasional dud cymbal that breaks unexpectedly. That's why they have warranties for them. To the original point of the post, however, I've never heard of any of the major brands having a bigger problem than the others in this area.

 

On an unrelated topic, I knew a guy who worked at one of the major car magazines selling advertising, and he was meeting with the Rolls Royce people about something. Anyway, he found out that a Rolls never comes in for "repair" or "service", but instead it's always referred to as "adjustment". So even if you smashed your Rolls into a tree, plugged the carberator full of marshmallow fluff, and driven it on the rims for a few hundred miles, it would only need "adjustment". Might want to keep that one in mind next time you tell some poor sap that the trasmission that he left back on the highway will cost him a few grand to "adjust".

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Originally posted by Old Steve





On an unrelated topic, I knew a guy who worked at one of the major car magazines selling advertising, and he was meeting with the Rolls Royce people about something. Anyway, he found out that a Rolls never comes in for "repair" or "service", but instead it's always referred to as "adjustment". So even if you smashed your Rolls into a tree, plugged the carberator full of marshmallow fluff, and driven it on the rims for a few hundred miles, it would only need "adjustment". Might want to keep that one in mind next time you tell some poor sap that the trasmission that he left back on the highway will cost him a few grand to "adjust".

 

I'll have to remeber that!:D

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The only cymbals I've ever broke have been splash cymbals. One was a Sabian and the other was a Paiste. I'm a Zildjian loyalist, but I bet I could break a Zildjian splash as well. Which is why I don't buy splash cymbals. I've never broke any other type of cymbal.

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