26" Ride!

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DaveCollingwood

Senior Member
Anyone ever played a 26" ride? I haven't, but I soon will - here's one I'm currently working on. It's a beast, I kept the bell small for a mellow-yet-huge vibe. Still plenty more to do, let's see how it turns out!

26ride.jpg
 
Wow! That's impressive :) I played a 26" ride a few years back, & loved it, but it had a huge bell, so pretty gong like in it's delivery. I like the idea of the small bell on such a monster. I'm imagining the roar / wash now - holy crap!!!
 
Hi Dave, not a 26” but I have a 24” Sabian HH Medium Heavy from 83 with a small bell. It’s warm and what I like to call a brown color-sounding cymbal. Very good stick definition and not a lot of over tones to it. People still come up and look at the 24. Can’t imagine what they are going to say about yours.
 
I have a 26" Agop Special Edition Jazz Ride. It too has a smallish Bell and it sounds absolutely amazing. I never play it though because it is much quieter than the rest of my cymbals so it doesn't mesh well. I should sell it. I want to get a 26" Giant Beat. Paiste just started offering them this year.
 
Yeah I'm not imagining this is going to be loud in the cutting sense, but the swell should be pretty cool. I'm hoping to end up with something quite dynamic, so I guess softer overall with the option for some nice punctuation and wash!

I've made several 24"s, this one (see link below) is one of the first cymbals I ever made and it turned out beautifully! I really like dynamic, expressive bits of bronze!

https://youtu.be/GYsR-Dpveq8
 
You'll have to have the edge of the cymbal under your armpit to play the bell. It is huge.
 
I've got a nice '60s Zildjian ride, and late '70s Constantinople, beasts! But very cool!

Bermuda
 
I'm looking at getting the new 26 GB ride for xmas. My arms will never reach the bell.
That appears to be an interesting cymbal you've come up with Dave. Can you post a sound file when you've completed it, I'd love to hear it.
I bet it wabbles when lightly crashed. Mmmmmm......wabble..........
 
GRUNTERSDAD said:
You'll have to have the edge of the cymbal under your armpit to play the bell. It is huge.
Click to expand...

A 24"s bell is tricky enough to manage sometimes, 26" would be a bit of a stretch. I bet it'd be worth it for the sound though.

I love massive cymbals, they're like big tortilla shells that encompass the rest of your set to make the ultimate burrito.
 
I usually play 24's and learned to set it up a little closer to me so that the bell is closer. I never try to play on the bow in toward myself, I play over to the side. That way the bell and the bow are the same distance away, so you don't have to change your reach, you just move your ride hand side to side. This would work for a 26 too, you just have to get used to the edge closest to you hanging over your floor tom a bit.
 
I had a 24", that's a bit too big for me. Back in the day, Peter Erskine used a 26" ride when he played for Stan Kenton - Mr. Kenton was big on the giant sound of big cymbals and I think it was a requirement. Billy Cobham also used large cymbals - at one point he had both 26" rides AND swish - now that swish was an awesome sound!
 
DaveCollingwood said:
Anyone ever played a 26" ride? I haven't, but I soon will - here's one I'm currently working on. It's a beast, I kept the bell small for a mellow-yet-huge vibe. Still plenty more to do, let's see how it turns out!

26ride.jpg
Click to expand...

That's pretty dang cool.
I use 24's mainly, and a 26 wouldn't be out of the question to me at all.
A CASE large enough to carry it might be an issue though haha!

Your 24 sound really nice too.
 
I have a 26" Agop Sig that I love. Years ago I went into the Agop booth at a NAMM show and found myself surrounded by 26 inch cymbals. It was a formative experience, to say the least. I wanted to live there forever.
 
KarlCrafton said:
A CASE large enough to carry it might be an issue though haha!
Click to expand...

Right on! That'll be the challenge, I have a couple of studios interested which would make life a bit easier, but I'd love to see these out there getting played! Time will tell.

I'd say this one is nearly finished now, raised the profile a little and tightened things up to define the sticking. Still nice & low with quite some wobble, I think I'll take it a bit further and leave it as a a low, dark, brooding monster. The other 26" (which I haven't started hammering yet) will perhaps become a high-profiled, complex & defined ride.
 
A CASE large enough to carry it might be an issue though haha!

That's actually the easy part. I bought a racing bike wheel bag (didn't even know they made such things). It's actually better than most cymbal bags I've seen, and much much cheaper.
 
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