Zildjian QC has me totally bummed-

I bought a new zildjian ride from a reputable seller. It arrived today, but it was severely lopsided- It was very heavy on one side. I've never seen anything like this. It was so heavy, that when crashed, it immediately caught on the cymbal stand, giving it an unnatural movement. There was no place for the cymbal to travel. It's a shame, because it sounded nice. I'm returning it of course, because it probably would be a loser in resale value (would always bother me), and I fear that the heavy side would lead to a keyhole. Anyone ever hear of this?

I think a lot of cymbals are slightly that way, my rides are slanted slightly and always seam to be in same spot.I used to spin them and sooner or later they are in the same spot.I just play em.

pics or you need special glasses.....you know....

I agree with Zildjian. Many of my cymbals seem to favor a certain position. I don't use a ride, but I always rotate my crashes regularly if they have that problem. That may be less important with a ride, since it would tend to take less abuse than a crash.

AK

ALL rides, at least ones that have a remote resemblance to being hammered, have a certain spot with extra weight. This is why most rivet tutorials say to spin the cymbal on the stand, so you know where NOT to drill. Otherwise your stick would be hitting the rivets.

There's a molehill, i'm seeing some mountains...

Having played for 20 some years, I've had my experience with heavy spots rotating a cymbal. This is freakish. When I place the cymbal on a stand, it automatically goes to a 45 degree angle. There is no spinning this one. If I spin the cymbal, it stays at that same 45 all the way around.

I've never ever noticed that. I'll check mine all out tomorrow. Weird, but believable.

that's why a lot of used rides have that sweet spot look to them

All my cymbals have that slight heavy spot that it will rotate to after awhile. You're case seems extreme though. Never heard of that happening that bad before

I have noticed that on some crashes as well (winding up in the same spot all the time).

That comes from two things....

1. Your felts on your stands don't move much around the stand. So they get pushed down on in the same spot every time you play that cymbal. It mashes the felt down and miss-shapes it.

2. The the printing on your cymbals... like "Thin Crash" and "Zildjian". Well the Zildjian logo is always larger than the model logo right? So more ink is used and even though it's so little, it still is enough to spin the cymbal so the logo faces you while you play.

So it's not your cymbals, it's the felts and the print.

The hole

might be off center or not level or oval or trapezoidal.

hm, i've never even remotely noticed anything like this.

i wonder if my ride spins to a certain spot. imma look next rehearsal.

Both would be a perfect explanation if they were the issue, but they're not. I am using the Mapex rubber grommets, and none of the other cymbals (yes, even my other zildjians) this. And no, the grommets aren't warn, yes, they are flat.

I have a 22" K, a 20" k con, and several smaller zildjians, and none of them lean like this. I tried to balance it on my finger (as I did with all the others), and it tipped right off! Luckily I caught it. You can come up with as many excuses to say I'm wrong as you want. I've NEVER seen this kind of cymbal before.

Eh, all my pies do it to a comfortable degree but falling off a finger tip sounds like a reject to me. You may have success with a heavy aquarian spring, allowing you to clamp it down without choking it too much.

sounds reansoable with the felts, but your ink theory I don't know.On the flat K custom ,the K is the high side. The K has more ink.Not that big of a deal to me,gram or two at most causeing this.

I call crap on the ink theory. Cymbals are, as many have stated, not completely uniform all the way around. MANY will rotate to one spot. If his case is extreme, I'm sure he can get a replacement, but I wouldn't blame Zildjian's QC -- do you know how many cymbals they put on a stand every day? I don't either. But I bet it's enough not to notice one that's a little extra heavy on one side.

One of my favourite rides (Dream Bliss type iii crash/ride) Clearly has a heavier "sweet spot" and no matter what angle I use, or what cymbal stand, the one spot will always end at the bottom. I'm okay with this though, it puts the best sounding spots of the cymbal right in my reach!

Never have that problem with Paiste...

none of my 2002's do

Thats because Paiste is so danged consistent in the way they make cymbals!

Yup, Paistes are very predictable. However I don't prefer them -- the odd pie with a heavy spot doesn't really bother me either.

Perfect!

Now, if only I liked the way they sounded.

Ink? Eye-yi-yi.

And yes, felts deform. How this relates to the issue at hand is unclear.

As noted: most cymbals do this. (Maybe just cast cymbals? Sheet cymbals might have more consitent thickness.)

But it do sound excessive in this case.

This is weird, but kinda cool. I can see how it can be used to one's advantage (sweet spots, rivets, etc). I'm gonna check my cymbals for this.

The only thing I can't stand about Zildjian and Sabian is that they sound dull. I mean I know there are SOME really good ones that will prduce a musical boner when used, but, why bother when I can work with what Paiste has, and have consistency to the point where I can order blind and have them arrive with predictable and accurate results?

I should get Paiste to sponser me...I'm always plugging them.