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zenstat
Very well Known Member
This thread was created to cover a topic which grew way too large to be a few posts in a generic thread
www.drumforum.org
We began to ask questions like: when did the first A Zildjian HI HATS appear? What diameters and weights were they? Were the earliest ones just two cymbals paired up by the drummer? What kinds of ink designations appear on cymbals from these early days? What do they mean in terms of weight ranges and suggested usage for a particular designation? What entitles a cymbal to have FAST ink added? When did the first CRASH ink appear?
www.cymbal.wiki
Were drummers just pairing up two Splashes or Crashes? When did the first SPLASH ink appear?
The questions just flow.
Looking over all the old catalogs, ads, price lists flyers, etc which we know about the term HI-HAT is missing in the early 1930s. At that time there weren't even weight distinctions. Just different diameters which mimic what K Zildjian Istanbul were offering at the time.
Then the PAPER THIN designation/weight class was added by the mid 30s. In this 1935 dated Premier catalog they are called extra thin which you probably won't be able to read as the DFO software has its wicked way with the quality of the image.
In 1937 they get called PAPER THIN. What's in a name? It turns out that both names became weight class names with the thinnest being Extra Thin (usually seen Ex. THIN) which is thinner than PAPER THIN.
Here is an 11" at 255g showing the EX. THIN ink
The earliest example of HI-HAT ink I know about is on a cymbal with a T1 which also had the Avedis Zildjian company name under the bell. This version of the company name looks like a rubber ink stamp made to mimic the earlier one which was signed by a person. This cymbal is 13" and 576g. There could be something earlier and we haven't found it yet.
In terms of catalogs and price lists the earliest HI-HAT mention is 1949 when we have these types and weights in 9" to 26". There were also 1948 offerings but no specific HI-HATS.
There might be a document to fill in the gap between 1938 and 1948 which I haven't found yet. Or I found them and haven't fully reviewed them looking for a Hi-Hat designation. And of course Flange Hats came on the scene and we don't need ink to recognize them. The earliest Flange Hats ad seems to be around 1947-48.
Your latest cymbal purchase.....
I've bought couple of 20" and a 18" in the last months. The two 20" came together from an Ebay auction that I won some months ago. One is a Zildjian Avedis Small Stamp and the other has no mark or name on it. The old A is inked as "Crash Ride" and weights 1926g, it sounds really nice. The other...
www.drumforum.org
We began to ask questions like: when did the first A Zildjian HI HATS appear? What diameters and weights were they? Were the earliest ones just two cymbals paired up by the drummer? What kinds of ink designations appear on cymbals from these early days? What do they mean in terms of weight ranges and suggested usage for a particular designation? What entitles a cymbal to have FAST ink added? When did the first CRASH ink appear?
A Zildjian 1950s Crash ink - Cymbal
Were drummers just pairing up two Splashes or Crashes? When did the first SPLASH ink appear?
The questions just flow.
Looking over all the old catalogs, ads, price lists flyers, etc which we know about the term HI-HAT is missing in the early 1930s. At that time there weren't even weight distinctions. Just different diameters which mimic what K Zildjian Istanbul were offering at the time.
Then the PAPER THIN designation/weight class was added by the mid 30s. In this 1935 dated Premier catalog they are called extra thin which you probably won't be able to read as the DFO software has its wicked way with the quality of the image.
In 1937 they get called PAPER THIN. What's in a name? It turns out that both names became weight class names with the thinnest being Extra Thin (usually seen Ex. THIN) which is thinner than PAPER THIN.
Here is an 11" at 255g showing the EX. THIN ink
The earliest example of HI-HAT ink I know about is on a cymbal with a T1 which also had the Avedis Zildjian company name under the bell. This version of the company name looks like a rubber ink stamp made to mimic the earlier one which was signed by a person. This cymbal is 13" and 576g. There could be something earlier and we haven't found it yet.
In terms of catalogs and price lists the earliest HI-HAT mention is 1949 when we have these types and weights in 9" to 26". There were also 1948 offerings but no specific HI-HATS.
There might be a document to fill in the gap between 1938 and 1948 which I haven't found yet. Or I found them and haven't fully reviewed them looking for a Hi-Hat designation. And of course Flange Hats came on the scene and we don't need ink to recognize them. The earliest Flange Hats ad seems to be around 1947-48.
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but the stuff I knew I wanted to keep was backed up in text files...mostly. Those text files are not always well indexed so retrieval can be take lots of looking. I have many thousands of photos as well, but not everything of interest from Cymbalholic. Just what was of research interest at the time. 
Videos and Sound Files and some screen dumps are also stored in more recent times.
