How old are my New Beats?

whozarmy

Junior Member
Hi guys,
I've been searching around the forums for a little while to try and ascertain the age of a pair of 13" New Beat hats I picked up recently. The guy I bought them off said that he bought them in the mid 90's, I presumed new, but after doing a little research I'm not so sure.
They have no serial no's, and they have no evidence of an inked Zildjian logo, only the words TOP HI HAT NEW BEAT, and BOTTOM HI HAT NEW BEAT.
The stamp has the 3 dots, and the words Zildjian Co are slightly larger than the rest of the lettering, with the o in Co being smaller and underlined.
Also they feel light, which was the first thing I noticed that made me think that they weren't a recent version. I know they're only 13's but the weights are 720g and 980g.

I've included a couple of pics, and I apologise in advance for the poor quality.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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It looks like it could be from the late 70's to early 80's. The etched Zildjian logos do not appear to be placed the same distance from the edge on your top and bottom cymbals. This was typical of the logos in the 70's. I'm saying late 70's because the ink stamp has been straightly placed. In the early 70's the ink stamp was randomly slapped on a cymbal as though a 5 year-old was working in the factory (look daddy, I stamped all of the cymbals in the vault with "BOTTOM HI-HAT NEW BEAT") (joke). Also, in the early 70's, the ink stamp was on the underneath side of the bottom hat.

Anyone else see any clues?

By the way, keep those hats. Even though Zildjian has redesigned their A line cymbals, they still do not have the same sound.
 
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I have a pair of 1977 New Beat hi hat cymbals and your engraving and mine are a spot on match, confirmed. I purchased the New beats myself brand new in 1977, so there's no mystery that it's from that era. I just don't know how long that era lasted.
 
I'd say those are 1960s new beats. The Zildjian stamp is the heavy type of stamp used in the 1960s. New beats came out in the 1960s. The bottom stamp should be in the inside of the cymbal too. The text of the stamp matches the early era new beats as well.

Zildjian was inking cymbals as early as the 1930s. Logos were used in the late 1970s. Zildjian started using serial numbers in 1994.
 
My engraving isn't nearly as deep though, there is a difference there. Some of my letters are worn off. My bottom hi hat cymbal has no stamp inside either, it's on the outside of the cymbal. So even earlier according to Bart.
 
I meant to say the ink was on the inside of the bottom hat.

My new beats are from 1983 and you can barely read the stamp (on the top cymbal) it's so thin and shallow.
 
Thanks for the replies and info guys. Yes the ink stamp on the bottom hat is on the inside. I'm stoked to have got my hands on such an early pair New Beats that are in such great condition.
I initially planned on buying a K custom Dark Ride from the guy, but when I went to check it out I found that it was heavily keyholed. Then I noticed the hats sitting up against the wall. When I noticed they were New Beats I was stoked, as I was looking for a set to replace my AA Regular hats. I ended up passing on the K custom and getting the hats for Au $150 and he also threw in a Sound Formula medium heavy bottom hat, which actually pairs well with the New Beat top, and the New Beat bottom as a top for a louder more aggressive sound.
 
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