Fascinating raw/uncut vid of Turkish craftsmen making Bosphorus cymbal

IBitePrettyHard

Senior Member
Mesmerizing. Every hammer blow, all the lathing.....it's all there.

See just how many hammer blows (thousands) and repeated trips to the lathe it takes.

I wish Zildjian and Sabian would do raw videos like this instead of the 2 minute, highly edited commercials that show almost none of the cymbal making process.

You don't have to watch the entire thing, (it's 50 min long).....just scrub through it like I did.

Definitely worth a watch!

 
Wow! I get the cost now...although these guys are probably being paid peanuts. Imagine the cost of labour in North America!
 
That did not look like "the art of cymbal making". It looked like McDonalds for cymbalburgers.
 
Sabian has much more art, science, and control. Why buy Bosphorus? Maybe price and an accidental good cymbal.
Well, while I didn't have any Bosphorus .... I did fall madly in love with Istanbul Mehmet for a while. So I can understand the attraction to the hand hammered Turks. I also had a few Soultones, Istanbul Agops, and a Buzin.

But then, about 10 years of that .... and I got turned on to some really cool Sabians ..... which made me want to explore Sabian more ...... since what I was doing musically had morphed as well ..... and Sabian just seemed like a good fix. I think I sold about 22 cymbals and re-invested in Sabian.
 
Why are Bosphorus and Istanbul cymbals so expensive? Their cost for making cymbals has gotta be a TINY FRACTION of what it costs to make cymbals in the US.

I did some cursory napkin math, and the cost of labor in America looks to be about quadruple that of Turkey. Not to mention the much higher cost of doing business in America (regulations, healthcare, OSHA, HR Departments/compliance officers, TPS Reports, etc)

If only Bosphorus and Istanbul would pass along all the money they saved - on super cheap labor and 3rd world working conditions - to the customer.

They could drop the price of every cymbal by $100 to be more competitive.

Seriously, Istanbul Agops cost just as much as Zildjian Constaninoples. Bosphorus cymbals are a little cheaper, but still...they're making a killing!

Am I missing something? Maybe I'm missing something.
 
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Why are Bosphorus and Istanbul cymbals so expensive? Their cost for making cymbals has gotta be a TINY FRACTION of what it costs to make cymbals in the US.

I did some cursory napkin math, and the cost of labor in America looks to be about quadruple that of Turkey. Not to mention the much higher cost of doing business in America (regulations, healthcare, OSHA, HR Departments/compliance officers, TPS Reports, etc)

If only Bosphorus and Istanbul would pass along all the money they saved - on super cheap labor and 3rd world working conditions - to the customer.

They could drop the price of every cymbal by $100 to be more competitive.

Seriously, Istanbul Agops cost just as much as Zildjian Constaninoples. Bosphorus cymbals are a little cheaper, but still...they're making a killing!

Am I missing something? Maybe I'm missing something.

Shipping and import costs.
 
Shipping and import costs.
Shipping was my first thought too. But shipping from China (and other similar developing countries) is relatively cheap. I doubt shipping has much to do with it.

But maybe you're right about import costs. Maybe it's Turkish sanctions and/or tariffs.

Sure, China is probably just as egregious as Turkey when it comes to human rights, but China gets away with it because it's more convenient for us.
 
Are these guys all skilled craftsmen or are some just told "Take this hammer and hit this piece of metal until it's all dented"?
 
Pretty cool. Zildjian, of course, probably made cymbals much the same way Bosphorus does, for quite a long time. The company started in Turkey in 1623. Opened shop in the US in 1928.
 
Shipping was my first thought too. But shipping from China (and other similar developing countries) is relatively cheap. I doubt shipping has much to do with it.

But maybe you're right about import costs. Maybe it's Turkish sanctions and/or tariffs.

Sure, China is probably just as egregious as Turkey when it comes to human rights, but China gets away with it because it's more convenient for us.

Agreed.

At one point I had found a schedule of import fees/duties on musical instruments from other countries. If I can locate it again, I'll share it here.
 
Sabian has much more art, science, and control. Why buy Bosphorus? Maybe price and an accidental good cymbal.
For me the sound and feel of Bosphorus cymbals (at least the Stanton Moore/Groove and EBCseries) works better particularly in lower volume more dynamic settings. A good cymbal doesn’t require particularly high levels of technology. Comparison of the various videos shows that the Bosphorus and Istanbul etc cymbals are in general more hand made than Zildjian and Sabian or Paiste. So as a consequence you get some duffs on the other hand you can get some really superior cymbals.
 
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