Edge dent - would you try to fix this? (Zilco)

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lossforgain

lossforgain

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I just got a sweet sounding old Zilco 20” cymbal, and I knew it had a dent and a keyhole. When I got it, the main dent was larger than I anticipated. The cymbal SOUNDS beautiful, and I don’t mind small damages to stuff I just want to sound good…but... The main dent is about 1” across and almost 1/8” out of true at its deepest part. I’ll show pictures below. There is a secondary dent about half the size. (All the pictures are of the main dent.)

I’m not an experienced cymbal hammerer, so do you think I should leave these alone or try to straighten them out?

6F08C745-B65A-49AB-B9D7-D4D67EC69A6A.jpeg
BE88FD01-7880-473D-ABC3-4F6C4C959F99.jpeg
0BE0DF62-E6A6-4455-9DF8-287D0F16ECA9.jpeg
 
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Agreed with above- if it's good, it's good.
 
You can try pushing on the area with your thumbs and probably get it a bit closer to straight. Maybe a soft mallet will get it a bit more in line, but overall that dent wont affect structural integrity and if it sounds good and you got a deal on it, just leave it as is.
 
That dent just “shapes” the sound but it doesn’t affect the integrity of the cymbal, think that the bow curvature of a cymbal is just a big dent in the sense that it’s produced by force (as the dent on your cymbal certainly was, just not from the factory).

Leave as it is if you like the sound, and if you want to feel better just take a look at some effect cymbals companies are producing nowadays...
 
I'd leave it alone.

I've attempted similar dents and far more often than not they come out worse if anything. If you can do it with your fingers that's probably ok.
But if you have to apply a mallet, wrench, pliers, etc.....it likely will get worse. And often evidence of one's attempts are left behind in "new" wrinkles, dents, or patina changes.

Is it the old Zilco or a an Azco 70's Zilco? 20's in the old Zilco's are very HARD to come by. And if it's an Azco, those usually are on the heavier side (2100+ gm). 1795 gm on an Azco would be unusual.
 
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Tama CW said:
I'd leave it alone.

I've attempted similar dents and far more often than not they come out worse if anything. If you can do it with your fingers that's probably ok.
But if you have to apply a mallet, wrech, pliers, etc.....it likely will get worse. And often evidence of one's attempts are left behind in "new" wrinkles, dents, or patina changes.

Is it the old Zilco or a an Azco 70's Zilco? 20's in the old Zilco's are very HARD to come by. And if it's an Azco, those usually are on the heavier side (2100+ gm). 1795 gm on an Azco would be unusual.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input! I definitely bought it for the weight. I’m not 100% sure which era it is, but I’ll dig into that and report back. I’ve only ever had 2 Zilco stamped cymbals before.
 
Tama CW said:
Is it the old Zilco or a an Azco 70's Zilco? 20's in the old Zilco's are very HARD to come by. And if it's an Azco, those usually are on the heavier side (2100+ gm). 1795 gm on an Azco would be unusual.
Click to expand...

Except that there are 70s AZCO cymbals which are just pressed into shape (no hammering) using the newfangled hydraulic press Robert Zildjian invented. Those tend to be thin and dark sounding.

early zilcos (USA)


Canadians


There are multiple versions of the trademarks. There was a recent thread (actually two) where a new one was mentioned, and you helped sort out whether it was an earlier USA one or a later Canadian one. Answer is here:

Zilco USA 3rd stamp style

I hadn't run across this stamp before. All I've seen the past few years are dozens of Zilco Trademarks, Zilco Constantinoples, and the Zilco by Azco's (made in Canada). Has the same font on ZILCO as the Azco Canada's. Maybe used for a brief period in the 1960's before this line was moved...
www.drumforum.org www.drumforum.org

That version isn't on my web site yet. It will be added when I get to the wiki version. Unless that takes so long I break down and update the existing site. I'm trying to hold off on any changes until the wiki version is happening, but it gets harder as the months tick over. *sigh*

So which one do you have Jeremy?
 
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lossforgain said:
Thanks for the input! I definitely bought it for the weight. I’m not 100% sure which era it is, but I’ll dig into that and report back. I’ve only ever had 2 Zilco stamped cymbals before.
Click to expand...

Azco are the last generation and it's stamped right on them. The Zilco Constantinople and Zilco Trademarks are the cool (earlier) ones imo. They tend to be med thin or lighter and sound every bit as good as regular Z's of the same period. I've yet to obtain the 2 earlier Zilco stamps in anything bigger than a 15" size.
 
I have a vintage zildj 18" a with a similar edge. Suspect it's been that way for a long while given the patina. Sounds great. I'd leave it. Makes it unique.
 
zenstat said:
There was a recent thread (actually two) where a new one was mentioned, and you helped sort out whether it was an earlier USA one or a later Canadian one. Answer is here:

Zilco USA 3rd stamp style

I hadn't run across this stamp before. All I've seen the past few years are dozens of Zilco Trademarks, Zilco Constantinoples, and the Zilco by Azco's (made in Canada). Has the same font on ZILCO as the Azco Canada's. Maybe used for a brief period in the 1960's before this line was moved...
www.drumforum.org www.drumforum.org

That version isn't on my web site yet. It will be added when I get to the wiki version…

So which one do you have Jeremy?
Click to expand...

I completely missed those earlier threads, but guess what I have? The newly christened “Transitional Zilco” stamp! Azco style lettering but only “MADE IN USA” underneath. The top portion is poorly pressed.

E5FE4884-20E4-4BD8-8F9E-D9B9DEE29E8A.jpeg


And this is a very similar cymbal to the one @Tama CW showed in the other thread - 20 inch, around 1800 grams.
 
That's nothing. Great advice above. Keep it, use your thumbs, a rubber mallet, or a real Hammer if you know what you're doing. Super easy to fix if you must!
 
Cool that you happened to run across a transition ZILCO. I've never held one so no real experience in their tone compared to the later and earlier ones. At under 1800 gms
it's probably pretty darn good.
 
I'm down with the crew: leave it as is.

As long as it sounds good, you're safe.

Those types of warps testify for the
character and age of the cymbal.
That cymbal is a nice plate of history.

The drum gods meant for you
to have it, just like Preda-King awarded
Danny Glover with an antique pistol
for his courage after defeating the
Predator warrior! :-D

:headbang:
 
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