DIY effect cymbals: tips and advice prosim!

[jgziegler]

Hi,

So earlier today I picked up a cheap but not bad sounding kit to turn into a jungle kit (i guess that's what the kids today are calling it).

It came with the following cymbals (I think amati, but who knows!)

18" crash-ride: It's got a pretty decent sound actually, I was thinking of putting a bunch of rivets into it for a jazzy sound

16" ride?: doesn't really have the punch to be called a crash, it;s kinda thick, not horribly sounding, but not very sexy as it. I was thinking of drilling some holes ala a sabian o-zone hhx...

16" "crash": sounds like it should be a bottom hat...garbage sound, which leads us to making it a trash, just not sure how to do it and it's kinda thick. I was also thinking of letting this be the guinea pig for the drilling...

16" hats: not bad sounding, but would like to do something, cause 16" is a bit much, any ideas?

Any general tips on drilling into cymbals and doing this is greatly appreciated

[pcs90]

I am sure it will work, however most ozone style cymbals are pretty thin and light although the holes are responsible for some of that. So if your cymbals are very heavy I don't know how good they will sound like that, I imagine very loud though.
Are there any combinations of the various 16" cymbals that sound good as hi-hats? If 16" is too big for you you could always sell them or save them for certain situations. If you do this, I have heard that drilling a few holes in the bottom cymbal will make them a little quicker.
If one of the 16" cymbals sounds ok as a ride but not a crash, you could also try adding rivets to that and make a mini ride.
Jingles can be cool too.

[FlyByNight]

Just a heads up, if you drill holes into the cymbal, it will make it sound darker. Have you tried using the thick 16" ride or crash as a hi hat bottom or top? Thick tops sound really nice.

[8beat]

Why not sell or trade the cymbals for something else that you want?

[kay-gee]

You'll never make a hat bottom cymbal sound like a China cymbal. Don't care how many holes you drill into it.

all the best...

[crispycritters]

Personally I would keep the 18 Crash/Ride and the 16" Crash and sell the rest to fund a pair of hats you can live with. You can always replace the crash at a later date.

Personally I have found that drilling/cutting holes in bad sounding cymbals does not transform them into good sounding trashy cymbals. It is more likely that the cymbal will not improve - you will just darken the sound, lose sustain and make it unsellable. You could use them for stackers - but do you want a stack on a busking kit. Unfortunately you need to use a good sounding cymbal to make a good 'ozone' type - a previously good cymbal with crack damage maybe?

Maybe just having a crash/ride and hats is a better idea for portability

.

[jgziegler]

Hmmm, some good points, I have cymbals already, much better than what I got (see my sig). maybe I'll take the one crash/ride and put a bunch of rivets in it, sell the rest, the problem is the rest wont get me much...

[pcs90]

I imagine if you sold all of them you could get an ozone, if that's what you are wanting. I will say 16" hi-hats aren't exactly common in lower end beginner cymbals so this could be a good or bad thing if you try to sell those. If they sound decent you may get more for those than the rest if someone is looking for that size.

[jgziegler]

I cleaned the 16" ones and put them for sale here (I used the slang word for them, which implies their cheap quality), not really too interested in making an effects cymbal based on what people here said with them, my asking price is 1/5th of the total price i paid for the drum set, so I think it's fair. Plus I've made the price for one 80% more than if someone buys all 4, and already someone is coming tomorrow to maybe take them.

I'm really thankful for the advice here, it's not that im desperate for money, but I'm glad I didn't do something silly and essentially throw money away.