Pawn Shop STEAL vintage A Zildjian ride

alparrott

Diamond Member
Looks like a 70s or 80s A brilliant medium or ping ride with a Constantinople stamp. No cracks, chips or keyholes, $60 out the door.

This never happens to me.
 

Attachments

  • 20180108_163458~01.jpg
    20180108_163458~01.jpg
    101 KB · Views: 510
Holy crap Al, that’s one heck of a pawn shop find! Beautiful cymbal!
 
Got it home and ran a stick over it. Bright, not much wash. Killer bell. According to most of the histories I read, this is a brilliant line that ran from '73 to '87 with heavier weights than the rest of the cymbals made at the time - which would have made this a rock drummer's dream back then. It sounds a lot like a ping ride. It's a 20" (I sized it up against a B8 18" that was there in the pawn shop too). I am debating whether to take it to my gig on Friday in the local punk bar.

Here's a closeup of the stamp. How one of these got into podunk central Washington, who knows.

EDIT: Soundfile of a similar cymbal here.
 

Attachments

  • A Con Ride Stamp crop.jpg
    A Con Ride Stamp crop.jpg
    780.1 KB · Views: 457
Last edited:
Al, you must have been excited about your new prize to take a picture of it in the back seat of your car!! :)
 
Al, you must have been excited about your new prize to take a picture of it in the back seat of your car!! :)

Dude, I looked it up right there in the shop - I was STUNNED. The moment I saw the stamp I thought there had to be some sort of mistake! I RAN not walked to the register (and was flush with cash from my NYE gig)!
 
Man that's great. The last time I visited the shops in my area, they wanted almost as much as I could purchase cymbals new for at Midwest Percussion or GC. I guess it really pays off to stop in once in a while.
 
You beat me three times over!

Pure luck, bro. She didn't even advertise the name of the cymbal. I saw the picture and it looked OK, so I drove out to her house and saw that it was a vintage Zildjian A. Snag!!! Thank you very much.
 
A real steal and the Constantinoples almost always sound great. One of the few lines you could buy without hearing (on ebay for example) and not be disappointed. Congrats!

Bermuda
 
Pure luck, bro. She didn't even advertise the name of the cymbal. I saw the picture and it looked OK, so I drove out to her house and saw that it was a vintage Zildjian A. Snag!!! Thank you very much.

This was pure luck too. I stopped into this pawn shop looking for a stereo amplifier to replace the one in my home office. I saw this in among a stack of B8s and ZBTs up against a wall. The guy at the counter saw me grinning from ear to ear after looking on my phone and probably sensed they'd screwed up somehow...
 
A real steal and the Constantinoples almost always sound great. One of the few lines you could buy without hearing (on ebay for example) and not be disappointed. Congrats!

Bermuda

Have you got any in that infamous quiver of yours?
 
This was pure luck too. I stopped into this pawn shop looking for a stereo amplifier to replace the one in my home office. I saw this in among a stack of B8s and ZBTs up against a wall. The guy at the counter saw me grinning from ear to ear after looking on my phone and probably sensed they'd screwed up somehow...
Yup, sometimes the stars align and it's time for some good luck!

One time I stopped at an old music store that I saw was going out of business. I went in and spied an old Speedking pedal that wouldn't even work, and a set of great condition 14" New Beats (with the block letters). I ended up getting the New Beats for $110, and the Speedking he gave to me for $25. I still use the New Beats for my gigs, and the Speedking I refurbished to work good again, then sold it for $50 on CL. (Lucky bastard that bought it....)
 
Have you got any in that infamous quiver of yours?

I have more than a dozen Constantinople crashes and rides (up to 26") plus a delicious pair of 15" hats!
 
Man, that's a fantastic deal!! So different from the kind of thing I see at our local pawnshops, where they want $149-$199 for a run of the mill A Zildjian ride. Sweet!!
 
You can get really good deals on the vintage stuff through craigslist too. Most I ever paid for any of my 60's - 80's A's was like 110. My giant 60's ride was only $70 and it's my favorite ever.
 
I don't wanna be a downer, but in my experience those vintage A Zildjians are a lot more hit or miss compared to the newer (since the 90's) ones. A lot of those cymbals were total duds, since apparently, proper QC hadn't been invented yet. I've played New Beats that Zildjian would be embarassed to put ZBT ink on today...

But if your particular cymbal is a winner, then indeed you are the winner!
 
I don't wanna be a downer, but in my experience those vintage A Zildjians are a lot more hit or miss compared to the newer (since the 90's) ones. A lot of those cymbals were total duds, since apparently, proper QC hadn't been invented yet. I've played New Beats that Zildjian would be embarassed to put ZBT ink on today...

But if your particular cymbal is a winner, then indeed you are the winner!

I normally play on an original K Custom, a heavy unlathed ride. This is actually a bit lighter by a couple hundred grams, has a little lower tone and a bit more wash, especially at the edge. I think it'll work for me.

And as Bermuda says, the 70's & Cie Constantinoples were so consistently good, he's bought them sight unseen!
 
Al,
I really like the ping you can get out of these 70’s A and Cie rides, how much do you think an average price for one would be on something like Reverb.com?
 
Back
Top