why no cymbal felts?

[reddrummer90]

lately ive seen alot of people not using top cymbal felts and no wing nut, any reason for this? more convientient?

[goughy]

I use no felts so I get the absolute most ring out of my cymbals. I've seen some people who tighten them down as much as they can. But I don't want to restrict them at all.

It'd probably make no difference with the top felts on and the wingnut on loose, but now I guess it's one less thing to have to screw on and off my set.

[frank0072]

I have not felt and screw on my ride so I can get the full potential from the bell.
I don't think there are people that don't put felts on their crashes and splashes, because those would probably fall from the stand if they aren't restricted in some way...

[T.Underhill]

The plastic wingnuts I use keep the cymbals safe and I get enough movement. For cymbals I want to tighten down (china) I use two or more felts.

[Class A Drummer]

I use felt, just because im worried about damaging the cymbal. Some of the cymbals at school dont use felt, and so far no cracks, but i feel someday they might.

[fourstringdrums]

You won't damage the cymbal if you don't have a top felt. The felt doesn't actually protect the cymbal from anything. The cymbal is protected by the bottom felt and the nylon sleeve. The felt is just there to help you adjust the movement of the cymbal and very slightly, the ring of the cymbal.

Most people who don't use them do it for the old school look, more access to the bell and what small difference it makes it how much the cymbal rings.

[Rickk]

I cut my top felts down very thin, to give them room to move and have a pure sound, I did not remove the felts because I don't want the wing nut to damage the cymbal when crashing.

[fourstringdrums]

I cut my top felts down very thin, to give them room to move and have a pure sound, I did not remove the felts because I don't want the wing nut to damage the cymbal when crashing.

That's pretty unlikely. The wing nuts are 1/2" to an 1" above the bell of the cymbal on most stands. Even if the cymbal did hit the wing nut, it's not a hard enough blow to do any damage compared to the force you're putting on the cymbals with the sticks.

[Rickk]

Fourstringdrums, your right. I just took a close look at them and they don't touch except for my inverted China, but they are too close for comfort, plus I like the way felts look so I'm sticking with it.

[spartacus1989]

For bigger, lighter trash cymbals, it just gives a lot more ring and freedom to vibrate.

[Cymbalrider]

Well the cymbal isn't going to fly away, so why put it there. I like to use the big felts on rides as you can have control over the sound. Tighten the felt and you get a drier ride. My kit at home has those stands with the Mapex rubber things that take the place of felts. These work the same essentially and they will never wear out, great idea.

[LayinDown]

Well the cymbal isn't going to fly away, so why put it there.

I disagree. While most cymbals probably won't "fly away" without a felt and wingnut, a splash cymbal just might. Whenever I experiment with my 8" splash and don't use a top felt and wingnut, it indeed does fly like a bird. I think it really depends on the cymbal and playing style (and no, i am not a basher).

[NUTHA JASON]

i don't use them on my ride so i can get access to myentire bell

j

[ULTIMATEDRUMMER]

i don't use them on my ride so i can get access to myentire bell

j

Same hear just on the ride cym.
for that reason

[Deathmetalconga]

I disagree. While most cymbals probably won't "fly away" without a felt and wingnut, a splash cymbal just might. Whenever I experiment with my 8" splash and don't use a top felt and wingnut, it indeed does fly like a bird. I think it really depends on the cymbal and playing style (and no, i am not a basher).

You might be able to get away with no felts and wingnut for a ride cymbal, but for any type of splash or crash, it will surely fly away when hit.

I use www.slicknut.com on all my cymbals. After you fine-tune them, they stay put just as strongly as a wing nut, except you can back them off the cymbal like 1/8 of an inch to give the cymbal plenty of play, yet the Slicknut will stay put and won't loosen any more. Plus, they're a breeze to put on and off.

[Skitch]

I use no felt on top of my ride cymbal. I saw Manu Katche do this and he is my favorite drummer - so there.

Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com

http://www.youtube.com/drummermikemccraw
http://www.myspace.com/drummermikemccraw

[razorx]

i dont use felts on top of my cymbals but i use them on the bottoms. i noticed that with out them on the tops that they move around a whole lot better. i always use top felts especially with thin cymbals

[fourstringdrums]

I actually just took my top felts off for no reason other than the old school look. I still have the wing nuts on though.

[aydee]

for more ring.Less damping.

[Just Drums]

Those Mapex cymbal accentuators are pretty cool and a great idea. In fact, they patented the concept. It's basically a plastic washer and sleeve (as one piece) and then you have essentially 2 rubber balls that slide over the sleeve. The rubber balls don't wear out or flatten on any one side like a standard felt does.

We had one school come in and buy about a dozen of them for their marching equipment (percussion pit). What they did was glued the washer and bottom washer-ball to the stand itself so it would never fall off. This allowed them to very quickly set up the cym stands in the pit and place the cymbals on the stands in seconds flat. They didn't need to mess with taking off top felts or wing nuts. And when they broke down, the washers/sleeve and bottom ball never fell off and got lost.

http://www.justdrumsonline.com/store/pc-1517-218-mapex-cymbal-accentuators.aspx

[da cheese walks]

lately ive seen alot of people not using top cymbal felts and no wing nut, any reason for this? more convientient?

because i lost mine....

[KarlCrafton]

I use top felts, but about 15-16 years ago I didn't.

Here's what I did, & it gets rid of the wing nut situation too.

I took threaded cymbal sleeves, and cut the base off and screwed them on top of the other one.
That way, there's no metal threads above the sleeve/felt the cymbal sits on.

It looks beter, and you can pop the cymbal on and off super quick & easy.

And, since it's treaded on, and you can tighten it down & it isn't going anywhere.

This also solves the splash cymbal flying off problem. Had one then, used this, it works.

I got the idea from those old Zildjian silver cymbal stand tops Buddy Rich and those guy's used to have.
They haven't made them in many years, so I just used the cymbal sleeves to do the same thing.

I haven't seen anyone else do this, but it's a good idea & works great.

....no charge. :)

[MykeyInChains]

I prefer my cymbals to give more when I hit them. I play pretty hard and i'm hard on my cymbals so its cheap breakage insurance. I never really liked cymbal felts because they do not have a strong rebound of the cymbal, meaning the cymbal doesnt quickly return to its original position. The best solution I have found is using Mapex cymbal accentuators. They are rubber and do not effect the sustain of your cymbals at all and keep them where you want em. Good, cheap product.

http://usa.mapexdrums.com/hardware/accessories/2007acc/OScymbalaccent.jpg

[DingerJunkie]

The Mapex cymbal accentuators look very similar to my favorite solution...Cymbal Crowns. Basically, it is a screw-on sleeve with a rubber base. The "sleeve" section includes a split mushroom-cap top that will keep a cymbal from coming off until the drummer pinches the pieces together.

Very fast setup/teardown, very little (no) cymbal dampening/restriction and a guarantee of no keyholing, as the cymbal crown is "sacrificial"...wearing away instead of damaging the cymbal.