what to do with unwanted cymbals?

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Senior Member
Hi all, what do people usually do with unwanted cymbals? I’ve accumulated quite a few cymbals which are either broken or too low in value to get them sold. Categorised as follows:

1) Broken/ cracked, and they didn’t start out as good cymbals either
2) Vintage cymbals, decent condition, no cracks/ keyhole - but relative value is so low no-one is interested when I’ve tried to sell them online
3) Vintage cymbals with small amount of damage/cracks that may be fixable, but the cost to do this would be greater than the value of the cymbal

Ideally I’d like some cash for these but it seems I can’t even give them away! I’m in the UK.
Anyone ever had such a collection, what did you do?

Thanks
 
Re: what to do with unwanted cymblas?

If they are playable then sell them. If they are broken or cracked then sell them to the scrap metal recycler.
 
Re: what to do with unwanted cymblas?

Just got rid of a load of cymbals. (Paiste 2002s/Giant Beats/Istanbul). Had the same problem but luckily for me nowt was cracked.

Mine were 10+ years old, had been gigged lots but looked after. Did a swap deal for the 2002s and got £200 for the 18/20 giant beats. No issues with the cymbals themselves though. Sell em in a set, they'll shift then! I managed to get £100 for some Istanbul hats I paid £100 for so happy days!

Anything that's cracked take it to the scrap yard, they're mainly brass so they'll pay you for the metal.

I've still got a couple of things I couldn't sell but nothing crazy.
 
Re: what to do with unwanted cymblas?

2) Vintage cymbals, decent condition, no cracks/ keyhole - but relative value is so low no-one is interested when I’ve tried to sell them online


What kind of cymbals, and what was your asking price? There has to be a price you could set that is low enough that there is a taker somewhere... Also, here in the States, there's a bizarre phenomenon on local marketplace websites/apps where an item listed for a few dollars or listed at an extremely low relative price can fetch more interest and more reliable buyers that the same item listed as "free."

Depending on what you have, I might be interested as well!
 
Re: what to do with unwanted cymblas?

If they're broken and can't be fixed you can cut them down like Mr. Harrison did with his 5 bells.

I have some old crappy cymbals tha tI don't usually have on the kit, but I hammered and messed with them until they sounded cool and might be useful for something just as an effect.
 
Re: what to do with unwanted cymblas?

1) Broken/ cracked, and they didn’t start out as good cymbals either
2) Vintage cymbals, decent condition, no cracks/ keyhole - but relative value is so low no-one is interested when I’ve tried to sell them online
3) Vintage cymbals with small amount of damage/cracks that may be fixable, but the cost to do this would be greater than the value of the cymbal

What brand/series/era of cymbals do you have, that playable vintage cymbals don't have much value? If they're worth playing at all, I'd keep those. They take up very little space, will probably be played at some point and you'll be glad you kept them, and they'll most certainly increase in value when you eventually decide that you don't need them.

As for cracked or damaged cymbals, another drummer won't want them, and repaired cymbals aren't usually very desirable. Scrap yard is the best option for those.

Bermuda
 
Re: what to do with unwanted cymblas?

Go to youtube and type in "what to do with old or cracked cymbals"

I'm sure rdavidr has done some stuff with them.
 
Re: what to do with unwanted cymblas?

Dream cymbal dealers will take them to offset the price of their new cymbals. Dream gives you a dollar an inch, so a 14" is worth $14 in trade, 18" is $18 and so on. Dream cymbals are very nice. B20 blanks hand hammered and lathed. If you have a bunch of old cymbals you might able to trade straight across for a nice new one.
 
Re: what to do with unwanted cymblas?

You folks aren't very creative-the bronze makes great roofing shingles (turn green but everyone is just green with envy), you can cut it into weapons (a cannon) or a deadly razor frisbee, but my favorite is punching out counterfeit pennies (ohahhah) Part of my diabolical criminal plan to buy my dream drum kit-all from old cymbals. I got ten so far 49,990 to go, after that I'm buying a new truck and a house LOL. You could use them for art projects/sculpture or try making them into bowls or cups-polish it to mirror finish-look awesome! My two artist daughters have taken old cymbals and drum heads for some purpose-I never really asked.
 
Re: what to do with unwanted cymblas?

This doesn't help you in particular, but in case anyone from the US comes on here. Lonestar Percussion actually will give you $2 an inch for B20 and $1 an inch for B8 cymbals as a trade in toward up to 50% the cost of a new cymbal. The interesting thing is it appears they send theirs up to Dream as well, but for some reason they are paying more than Dream is.

http://www.lonestarpercussion.com/Two-Dollar-Cymbal-Trades.html
 
Re: what to do with unwanted cymblas?

I just did the lonestar percussion recycling and it worked out well for me.
 
Re: what to do with unwanted cymblas?

Take them all to the highest building in your neighborhood, go to the top floor (or roof) and toss them out of the first open window you can find.
 
Thanks for the replies folks! I’m in the UK and I’ve had a quick look at the Dream recycling programme but I couldn’t see exactly how to go about doing it – seems the outlet is nowhere near me unfortunately, so I will email them for more details. I may end up just taking to a scrap yard.

Anyway, seeing as some people asked, here’s what I have:

To be scrapped/ recycled –

Sabian B8 Pro Rock crash 16”
Sabian Pro crash 16”
Sabian Pro bottom hat 14”
Unknown brand awful (!) hats 14”
Pearl Wild ride 20” – minor crack, but definitely not worth repairing!
Paiste Dixie Medium Thin 18” (this could benefit from a repair/ scallop etc, otherwise its actually a nice vintage cymbal)

Usable condition -

Sabian Pro 20” Ride
Meinl King Beat 20” cymbal (vintage 70s cymbal in decent condition)
Krut 14” hats and 18” and 20” cymbals (hats not very good sounding, but the 18” and 20” are nice so I may well keep these)

PS... I didn’t break or crack any of these cymbals, they came along with a kit I bought for the shells!

And I’m not really interested in making stacks etc. Too much hassle and I’m trying to keep the accumulation of drum gear to a minimum!
 
Either sell them on ebay (maybe group them into a few sets, so a beginner can get a cheap set, if you want to make more money) or leave them in the hallway of a building with rehearsal rooms for free. I think that decent cymbals with a small crack are often times better than an intact but horrible cymbal.
 
This won't help you specifically over in the UK really, but we have a local artist here in SW Florida that makes all sorts of art and jewelry out of old cymbals. Think small pendants, bracelets and such. He sells them at arts and craft shows, street fairs, etc. I'll bet there is probably some artist near you doing the same thing, or would be interested in doing the same thing...
 
Hi all, what do people usually do with unwanted cymbals?

...

Vintage cymbals, decent condition, no cracks/ keyhole - but relative value is so low no-one is interested when I’ve tried to sell them online...

Put them on a Ebay with a start bid of 0.01 of the currency of your choice, winning bidder to collect. They will sell.
 
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