DIY Cymbal "Jingle Hat" project...

JohnnySomersett

Senior Member
Hey, not sure where you would put this thread so I thought I'd put it here as it might be of use to someone.

Last week I asked over in the Gear forum about whether or not to drill and install jingles into my Agop hats as I always play with a tambourine draped over (which dramatically affected how they played and the weight!). With a resounding "NO" about drilling them I was forced to put on my thinking cap and come up with a solution!

So, here's what I did tonight....




It's 3 sets of jingles draped over attached to some rubber.

Up close:

Top



Bottom



On clutch




The materials list is:

8" x 8" Square of 1/8" Neoprene Rubber (200mm x 200mm x 3mm) -eBay is good for this
6x Jingles from a Tambourine
3x 3/16" x 5/8" Pan Headed Machine Screws (zinc plated or stainless) (M4 x 16mm)
3x 5/32" Nylon Lock Nut (M4)
3x 3/16" Captive Nut (M4)
6x 3/16" Flat Washer (M4)

Drill bits to suit, screwdriver, SHARP cutting knife (exacto or similar), pencil and cutting board - DON'T DO THIS ON YOUR MUMS KITCHEN SURFACES!!

For those who can't work it out the bolt lines going through are in this order:

Machine Screw > 2x Jingles > Lock Nut > Washer > RUBBER > Washer > Captive Nut


So, basically you just draw out your shape on the rubber as carefully as you care to (I measured a LOT), cut it out carefully, drill the holes and install the jingles. The lock nuts keep the rubber away from the jingles and the overall height keeps the rubber off the cymbal. My original design had 5 sets of jingles but this choked the cymbal too much so I cut off the outer one on each side and tried again - and it works!! There's still a little bit of resonance taken out of the hat, but not a lot... and not enough to really notice with normal hihat work.

So, about £7 in cost ($10) and I've solved the problem without drilling my hats!
 
Sound samples? Looks like a pretty cool setup...nice thinking, good follow-through.
 
Sound samples? Looks like a pretty cool setup...nice thinking, good follow-through.


Thanks man. Looking at it now, if I wanted to I could make it out of a nice piece of leather which would lighten it up even more. It's quite subtle on the hats themselves but you notice it more when you take it away again. Just a slight change of 'color' to the sound.

I've just uploaded a HD video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzxvSbJsWho





*** Apologies for the average sound and shaky camera - mobile phone shot (although, this new HTC One has really quite fantastic sound for a smartphone as can be witnessed here in a vid of my band writing a new song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41lJ3VAJyZg ) ***
 
im glad you didn't drill!! The device looks very conventional - you should patent this :D
 
wow that band video was awesome! I loved that tune! Great playing and very smooth. I loved the sound of your guitarist. A very beautiful piece of music.
 
wow that band video was awesome! I loved that tune! Great playing and very smooth. I loved the sound of your guitarist. A very beautiful piece of music.

Wow, thank you man! That song is only about a week old so far from polished as well! Laura has a very personal style on her guitar and it counters mine and the bassists more noisy moments hahaha.

If you fancy it, the link in my signature below takes you to our bandcamp site where you can download our mini-album on a "pay what you like" basis - which can be nothing if you want, we're just happy to have people enjoy it!
 
Simply brilliant! I'm definitely gonna try my hand at making something like this in the near future; that recording is pretty awesome, and I really like the results. Thanks for the inspiration!
 
That's a great idea!

Now you just need to sit back and watch someone steal the idea and make lots of money lol!
 
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