OK....it wasn't very big, and I technically started it in 2016 (this afternoon). But, it was completed in 2017.
I had a brand new Wuhan 14" thin crash laying around for over a year. I was hoping it would be like a large splash but it was just too thin and had a very dark sound, so I replaced it with a Wuhan 14" medium crash. I tried it as a hi-hat top, but no luck. The Wuhan "thin" cymbals are like the hood on my '93 Ford Festiva...just thick enough that you can't poke your finger through it. Today, I dug it out and decided to try my luck at making an ozone crash. I made 3 "spokes" across the diameter with wide masking tape, then laid an old 12" 6-lug tom hoop on top of it. The 6 lug holes of the hoop gave me a perfect template to mark out center lines for 6 evenly spaced holes (I'm not as dumb as my wife thinks, LOL). I then measured up half way to the bell from the outside edge (2.375") on each line and BAM! Perfectly spaced hole centers. I used an 1/8" drill bit to drill pilot holes, then used a 1-1/2" hole saw to make the holes. After that, I smoothed, beveled and dressed the edges of the holes with a sanding roll in my Dremel. Here's the end result;
Now for the sound; It went from sounding like a cookie sheet to an effect cymbal I can actually use. It's explosive and bright on initial attack, like a splash, but has a China cymbal type sound on decay...like an expensive China sound. Not at all like my 16" Wuhan China. It took 90% of the trashy sound out of the crash, but left just enough for an effect. And, it still retains the same washy sustain as a crash. I can't wait to try it out tomorrow for our New Years Day gig.
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