Good idea?

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John117

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Well, I have a cracked Meinl Classics cymbal, 17". I bought it with a crack in for £3.50 so I think it was a good buy. The crack isn't quite an inch in. Would it be a good idea, if I could work out how, to cut the last inch off? i.e. take a full inch off the cymbal, all the way around, turning it into a 16" crash? Would that work, how could I do it? Am I mental? :shock:

Thanks
 
Calling Coelacanth for some crack repair advice! I recommend repairing the cymbal at the point of the crack instead of cutting an inch from the entire diameter, which might change radically change the cymbal's sound.
 
Did I hear someone calling me? :)

Firstly, cutting off the entire outer 1" will result in a 15" cymbal, not 16"; because you're removing 1 inch from both sides (or all sides basically). That's a drastic change that I would only recommend if you had dozens of cracks, not just one.

I would drill out a triangular section that fully removes the crack. See how I did it with this cymbal, which had an almost 1" long crack just as you described.
 
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I too would agree that it would be better to just cut out the crack the way Marc shows. I visited with Mike Skiba once about a Paiste cymbal and cutting it down as you first suggested. He did not recommend it as it would also change the entire tonal quality of the cymbal.

The little cut out shouldn't affect the tone all that much.

For a second opinion contact member premierplayer via PM. He does a lot of cymbal repairs similar to that.

Just remember and I'm sure Marc covers it in his comments, HEAT is a bad thing.


Robb
 
I gave a couple cracked cymbals to a friend of mine awhile back.

He sent them to someone he knew with a lathe who smallered them down just far enough to get the cracks out. Then the guy tapered the thickness down at the edge of the bow since cutting it down made it too thick at the edge. The guy had no clue what he was doing really, not being a drummer himself. But what the hell, right?

I didn't know any of this was happening. And wouldn't have cared it I did - they were broken cymbals, and I certainly didn't ever expect to see any of them again.

But my buddy gave one back to me that I still have and use. It's a 16.5" Crash. It started life as a Zildjian something-or-other. But since it's been re-lathed across its entire face, there isn't even a stamp on it anymore.

Did I mention that it's one of my favorite cymbals?
 
Drumstyx7a said:
Just remember and I'm sure Marc covers it in his comments, HEAT is a bad thing.
Click to expand...
I don't remember if I mentioned heat in my linked topic, but avoiding heat with the rotary cutting disk is quite easy. Since you need to make 2 cuts to form opposite sides of the triangle, just do 5 - 6 seconds of cutting on one side, then the other, then back to the first, and so on until you reach the drill hole. Heat only builds up if you work at something in one place for a long time, not if you keep switching sides.
 
I do't really have the tools to do any of this... Just house hold stuff... I think that by the time I got the tools it would be cheaper to just buy a new symbal. I could get a brand new 18" Sabian XS20 for £76... Tools would cost at least that right?

That said I really enjoyed your post Coelacanth. Great read+vids, thanks ^_^
 
You're welcome John. A basic rotary tool kit such as a Dremel might cost from $50 to $100, but you'll use it for a ton of different things, not just cymbal repair. Of course, it wouldn't make sense to buy a rotary tool just to repair one cymbal; it's an investment in a tool that you'll use for many years to come, and cymbal repairs are just one of a million things you can do with it. ;)
 
Hmmmm...

Maybe, but being a 17 year old student, I'm not sure if I will use it for much other than one repair... I'm not saying I won't but I'll consider it. Also, as you pointed out, the repair doesn't make the cymbal sound better, it sounded pretty much the same before and after, the cymbal I'm considering repairing, sounds pretty bad with the crack in it and it sounds like it won't sound much better with the repair... Hmmm, pros and cons. I'll mull it over :) Thank you
 
I'm not trying to twist your arm, John, but the biggest reason for repairing the crack has nothing to do with the sound--it has to do with stopping the crack from getting worse. ;)
 
Yep, this is true. :0 Your the master! Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll buy my new cymbals first before I start killing myself with power tools!!! :D
 
Buy a Dremmel tool !

I bought a bunch of A Zildjian 16" and 18" cymbals from a throwaway bin at a local store and hock shops with 1/2" edge cracks.
I used the Dremmel and used cool water to cool the cymbal as I swooped in a gradual rounded pattern as suggested. {Please take your time and do a little at a time. IMHO }

By the way, it is amazing that a lot of no $$ repaired "classic" cymbals sound so much better than that big $$ B8 or budget cymbals. IMHO

All these cymbals now happily live in friends studios, and with "down on their luck" drummers I have befriended.

I can't hear any sonic degredation for the $10-25 waisted cymbal investment that "became again" musical instruments that sound very similar to their original "birth" sound. IMHO :cool:
 
Here's something to consider, John---does your dad have an electric drill? If so, you could go to a hardware store and pick up a small Dremel grinding wheel for the equivalent of a couple dollars. I've repaired cracks on a Paiste 3000 China that I sold to Gonzo here on the forum, and on my favorite crash, a Sabian AA 16 medium thin. I used a quarter as a template to mark the cymbal, and then took my time grinding out the marked area, wetting the grinding area to keep it cool and moving side to side as Marc suggested to keep from affecting the temper of the metal. Both turned out very nice, and had no discernable affect on the sound of either cymbal.
 
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