How to stop customers from pawing cymbals?

JohnW

Silver Member
Any suggestions?

We have a great little drum shop that's less than 30 minutes from my house. Late yesterday afternoon, I stopped by while a family was there as their son was shopping for hi-hats. Everyone in the family was spinning and pawing the cymbals, just out of habit. They weren't rude or anything; it just didn't cross their minds that it might affect the finish.

I kind of cringed, but it really wasn't my place to say anything. After they left I spoke to the owner about it who asked if I had any suggestions. I thought maybe something humorous, but it's a fine line between funny and sarcastic. He wants to keep a warm, neighborhood drum store environment. He doesn't want to do things like bringing cymbals out of a vault one at a time with gloves or put up a sign like "DO NOT PAW THE CYMBALS!!!" But he also sells items online and if a cymbal in his store is covered in fingerprints after some time, it won't look new like the online picture anymore, so he has to take it down.

He gets the fact that people come in there to hit things. But more often than not, it goes beyond that.
 
saran wrap? I don't know, cymbals are tactile things.
You need a big barrel of sticks in the room and Maybe a sign that says: "cymbals only to be touched with sticks"
 
I guess the owner is right, why would the shop deprive itself from its main advantage over online shops?
I can think of one alternative, which is a sound proof room where the cymbals are, 5$ to enter and you get them back when you buy a cymbal :)
 
Cymbals get fingerprints. That's life. If he wants to provide a better experience than the online shops, he'll have to accept that it's gonna happen, IMO. As long as a cymbal isn't damaged, there is no harm. And if he really wants, he can keep a bit of Pledge all purpose cleaner on hand and wipe down the cymbal before it leaves the store.

Not a big deal.
 
I always paw my cymbals before I buy them. I pick em up, weigh the heft in my hand, tap em with my finger to hear the subtle stuff under the main sounds, run my hand over the lathing to check out the spacing and depth.

Then again, I always thought being anal about the surface of your cymbals was really silly, so I guess I'm just inconsiderate. I've got some really old cymbals and although they develop a nice dirty patina, finger prints have never lasted the test of time.
 
I always thought being anal about the surface of your cymbals was really silly, so I guess I'm just inconsiderate. I've got some really old cymbals and although they develop a nice dirty patina, finger prints have never lasted the test of time.

I live in this camp

in my mind cymbals are meant to be "pawed"
grabbed, felt , flicked, spun, ... whatever

nothing more unnatural , unattractive and awful looking to me than a perfectly lathed, shiny, cymbal with no fingerprints and stick marks

I never in my life understood why someone would clean their cymbals

if you have a good cymbal it is meant to age naturally like wine and will sound better with age and whatever the years lay upon it .

there is no better sounding cymbal than a well made one that spent years in smokey clubs

just one mans opinion

if it is not cracked, the stick stays on top, has a dark soul, has a nice wobble and wash ...i couldn't possibly care less what the finish looked like

I don't judge cymbals with my eyes..... I judge them with my ears
 
I live in this camp

in my mind cymbals are meant to be "pawed"
grabbed, felt , flicked, spun, ... whatever

nothing more unnatural , unattractive and awful looking to me than a perfectly lathed, shiny, cymbal with no fingerprints and stick marks

I never in my life understood why someone would clean their cymbals

if you have a good cymbal it is meant to age naturally like wine and will sound better with age and whatever the years lay upon it .

there is no better sounding cymbal than a well made one that spent years in smokey clubs

just one mans opinion

if it is not cracked, the stick stays on top, has a dark soul, has a nice wobble and wash ...i couldn't possibly care less what the finish looked like

I don't judge cymbals with my eyes..... I judge them with my ears

Totally agree. They aren't supposed to look pretty. They are supposed to sound pretty.

I am a cymbal paw-er as well......
 
Thats how you make drummers that subsequently buy your wares...

...let 'em handle equipment...entice them to...get them to play a pattern...show interest in what they do...give 'em flyers with lesson offers...

Before long they are regular customers....buying the stuff other sticky fingered kids admired - starting their own dream filled ride.

I like to think music equipment isn't a product...its the dream it inspires that should be sold.

Question is how to get MORE customers to paw the equipment!
 
To me it's fairly reasonable that in a shop where people are supposed to buy new cymbals
you don't touch them with your fingers. I wouldn't mind having a sign there saying exactly so.
I know the distributors here in Switzerland advices anybody who gets the chance to try
cymbals not to touch them in order to avoid fingerprints before them being sold.
 
I don't judge cymbals with my eyes..... I judge them with my ears

Same for me, but when I buy a "new" cymbal, I expect it to look like it's new. Once it's mine, it probably won't ever be wiped or polished.

Obviously, it's very difficult to keep new cymbals in a store from being touched, whether in the process of being tested, or someone just casually walking by. Sometimes, we have to tip the cymbal towards us and/or spin it just to see its imprint.

I like the idea of someone in the shop taking a few minutes during the day and wiping down a few cymbals at a time. It doesn't have to be a major polishing job, just a quick wipe to get ride of most of the prints.

Same with kits, and hardware. If the product is new, I expect it to look new. If I buy a kit, I expect the heads to be changed if they're played into submission (as many are in Guitar Center, for instance.) AND any obvious smudges on the chrome and finish should be wiped clean. It's just basic good service.

Bermuda
 
If one could guarantee that all 18 inch thin crashes sounded the same you could have 4 in the back room in plastic and one out front to bang on, but we know this isn't the case. Some folks are going to play
 
If I was to fork out cash for a new cymbal, and the shop owner would tell me not to touch the cymbal with my hands - no matter how politely - I would take my business elsewhere.

It's a hand made instrument in the first place. Probably seen it's share of blood, sweat and tears before leaving the cymbalsmith. And I'm not supposed to lay my hands on it and get the feel of it before making a decision?
Please.

If he wants to ship them out shiny, then he can just clean them up before shipping. What's the big deal?
 
I like the idea of someone in the shop taking a few minutes during the day and wiping down a few cymbals at a time. It doesn't have to be a major polishing job, just a quick wipe to get ride of most of the prints.

That would be about 0.1% of the workload of a worker in a clothing shop, I guess it's a fair request :)
 
What about a polite sign requesting that people try to only handle cymbals by their edges to prevent fingerprints? I've always handled cymbals by their edges like an LP, a practice I'm sure that came from dealing with my record collection.
 
I like the idea of someone in the shop taking a few minutes during the day and wiping down a few cymbals at a time. It doesn't have to be a major polishing job, just a quick wipe to get ride of most of the prints.
Bermuda

I wholeheartedly agree! I was the general manager of a chain of high end audio stores for almost twelve years. I found that it was human nature for people to touch the products on display (knobs, faceplates, plastic turntable dust covers, removing speaker grill covers, etc.). In fact, I believe that "tactile" experience did allow the customer to more easily connect with the equipment which made selling it to that customer easier.

On the other hand, I also thought it was important for the gear waiting to be touched to be as clean and new looking as possible so I was constantly instructing my employees to clean everything that needed it when they had any "down" time between customers.
 
Another option would be to buy a box of cotton gloves and ask customers to wear one or two when in the cymbal area. Then you just clean the dirty ones at night.
 
I would feel insulted if I were asked to do this by a sales man while looking at cymbals..

I remember reading about a very respected jazz drummer who would choose cymbals by picking them up, inspecting them and tapping them by hand to hear the tone of the cymbal.
If I remember correctly he didn't even lay a stick to the cymbal before choosing, because he didn't need to.


For real. You can keep your cotton gloves. I'm trying to connect with an instrument here, not to show off my jazz hands.
 

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I would feel insulted if I were asked to do this by a sales man while looking at cymbals..

I remember reading about a very respected jazz drummer who would choose cymbals by picking them up, inspecting them and tapping them by hand to hear the tone of the cymbal.
If I remember correctly he didn't even lay a stick to the cymbal before choosing, because he didn't need to.


For real. You can keep your cotton gloves. I'm trying to connect with an instrument here, not to show off my jazz hands.

I'm on the same page, just trying to help the OP. Fingerprints are natural and don't hurt anything. When I cymbal shop, I touch, paw, spin, bend, play, and do whatever else I need. If I can't, I won't buy. That simple.
Jazz hands are pretty cute though. :)
 
Well, that kind of depends on the pair of hands and who is waving them :)

To the OP, you should be able to please most customers if you just make sure that the cymbals are kept clean, for people to touch and try.
And always wipe them clean before shipping out.
Simple.
 
The people of Drummerworld have spoken. Jazz hands are out!

He’ll probably do what he usually does for new cymbals; wipe them down (not clean them) if they have excessive prints. Again, this is an issue for his online sales rather than in store purchases. The online items listed as new should more or less match the picture or video.

Thanks for the suggestions and perspectives.
 
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