Alternative uses for old cymbals?

They may be awful but at some point in the future you might find yourself wanting an 'awful' sound. Sometimes I have cymbals that don't sound great and use them in very specific applications. I have a 17" Crash that was reasonably acceptable but after upgrading I riveted it and did some extra work on the cymbal. Now it's a trashy powerhouse!
 
You could make clocks out of them, but then again I wouldn't want a trashy looking cymbal clock either, lol. Now maybe a Constantinople.

Dennis
 
Low tech - break out the power tools and whip up some new designs.

High tech - have them laser cut with the design of your choice.
 
My two cents, which in Canada will soon be rounded down to zero cents due to outmotion of the penny, is to first try making stacks or x-hats.

Example of stacks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8bNe_lhZqo

Obviously you don't need to have $1000 worth of cymbals to do it but it shows you what's possible. Try different ones on top and bottom, flip them upside down, use two, use three, tighten and loosen the wingnut, basically there are no rules except to quote Bob Gatzen; "If it sounds good to you, then it sounds good.". Right now I have a keyholed (not by me) 8" B8 splash over 14" AAX mini china over busted (again, not by me) 16" AAX stage crash. The sound is somewhere between a very short and quick china and a less 'jingly' chopper.

Example of x-hats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZn6s3rj_TA

Here they sell them as a set but you can make x-hats out of any cymbal you want. Since your cymbals are somewhat disposable you can just jam them on a stand or arm without worrying about keyholing them. Again, try different ones on top and bottom. I was toying around with the 14" china under 14" AAX stage hat top for regular high hats, sounded neat.

If none of these options strike your fancy, like wildbill said, break out the power tools.

Ozone cymbals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSrCZuuNEvU

A drill and a good hole saw FOR METAL will take care of that for you, along with a file/sandpaper. Boy howdy, cymbals are sharp if the edges are left raw.

A drill and some rivets will give you this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x5JQf-hxj4

It's not all necessarily 'original' but it's a good starting place.
 
That's not an old cymbal, that's just an actual saw blade.


I'm looking for a place that can melt down all the pieces of cymbal I have and cast a snare drum shell.
 
I was at a guy's house one time that had taken an old cymbal, treated it up with some weird staining stuff that made it almost steam-punky and made a ceiling medallion out of it that held the light fixture. It was pretty cool.
 
When I was 17 (1974), I cut the bells out of two broken cymbals, drilled holes close to the edges, and then sewed them onto a black bra. Our percussion section presented this item to our band director (female, of course) at our end-of -year banquet. My invention was a symbolic protective device for the well-endowed cymbal players. During band camp the previous summer, our band director was attempting to demonstrate the proper method of crashing hand-held cymbals and ...OOPS!! We actually had a clever name for our metal-clad bra, but due to the possibility of offending someone, I'll omit it. Sorry, no pictures. In 1974, very few people carried cameras with them the way we do today on every device we own !!
 
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I've been occasionally buying up really cheap, trashy cymbals on Ebay to convert to E-cymbals for my E-kit. Install a piezo transducer, stick on some damping material (on top to muffle the stick sound, on bottom if you want the brass bounce feel and don't care about a little extra volume), mount them up on an Aquarian cymbal spring to stop them from rotating, and viola'! An otherwise useless crummy old cymbal takes on a a new E-kit life...

They provide the look of a real cymbal, but no sound. And this is a lot cheaper than buying Alesis or Hart E-cymbals. Do-it-yourself rocks hard here...
 
jornthedrummer said:
Bretton for that a mould is required that will cost you thousands of dollars.
Click to expand...

You can sand cast it. there's a company in England that does just that http://www.provenancedrums.com/ usually using aluminum aircraft parts, or engine parts, but the same principal applies. I inquired about sending them a large brass artillery shell I have to be cast into a snare, and they were all for it, but shipping that from Canada to England would be ridiculous.

I contacted my old high school, and their foundry is down right now, should be up and running in the fall, and we're going to give it a try there.
 
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