Hand-hammering And Re-created Cymbals

First of all, sorry for writing in English. I understand a little bit of German but I can't write it myself.

So I am a drummer from Bruges, Belgium, who also hammers cymbals by hand.

I started doing this about 20 years ago, after a long unsuccesful search for cymbals that would match my taste for really dark complex cymbals. No modern factory made cymbal could satisfy me and I couldn't find any old K's.

After some years of trial and error I started to get the feel for it and acquired the ability to change a cymbal to a pre-determined sound.

The cymbals I've hammered can be seen and heard on my webindex page. Mind you, I have hammered most of these cymbals to suit my personal taste (dark and trashy) but I can also brighten the sound or raise the pitch with a different hammering method.

I hammer pro- and also some non-pro-level factory cymbals into much richer sounding cymbals.
Besides creating light complex jazz cymbals, I also hammer heavier rock-oriented cymbals to dramatically enrich the sound.

Some "before and after modification" files can be heard HERE.

Some student cymbals I hammered into professional cymbals can be listened to HERE.

Soundfiles of these next cymbals can be all be found on the site.

This was a Paiste Signature Power ride, hammered to sound like the old 60's Tony Williams ride, but a little heavier:

This was a Zildjian ZBT 20" ride, now a very complex thin professional jazz ride.

This dark complex sounding ride was once a bright Paiste 2002 22" ride:

A 20" Tony Williams (Nefertiti) ride made from a Sabian AA:

A 20" Complex Dry Crashride made from a Paiste 2002:

A 20" Dry Complex Rough Ride, originally a Paiste Dimensions:

Finally a "before and after" pic of a cheap 16" Headliner crash cymbal, now a professional dark thin crash:

By the way, the original thread about my work (which has been closed) can be read HERE

Some comments from people who play cymbals I hammered can be found HERE.

...

Here's some new ones.

18"Complex Light Ride 1340 gr:

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…de_1340gr_(from_Ufip).mp3

20" Light Complex Dry Jazz ride 1870gr:

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…from_Zildjian_Avedis).mp3

20" Complex Light Jazz Ride 1850gr :

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…from_Zildjian_Avedis).mp3

And finally, a 22" Paiste Signature Power Ride, hammered and lathed into a 22,75" Extra Dark ride, 2820 gr. The very soft B15 "Paiste Alloy" allowed me to make the cymbal 0,75" larger!

[url=http://users.telenet.be/cymbzdrumz/1_RECREATED_CUSTOM_CYMBALS/2_CRASHES_and_RIDES_18_inch_and_bigger/22,75_Extra_Dark_Ride_2820gr_(from_Paiste_Signature_22_Power_Ride).mp3]http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…nature_22_Power_Ride).mp3[/url]

20" Smooth Jazz Ride 1980 grams

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…from_Zildjian_Avedis).mp3

20" Tony Williams "Nefertiti" ride 2335 grams

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…from_Zildjian_Avedis).mp3

Two sets of heavily modified Paiste 2002 hihats, now both light jazzy hihats.

13" Light hats :

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…gr_(from_Paiste_2002).mp3

15" Light hats :

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…gr_(from_Paiste_2002).mp3

20" Bright Medium Complex Ride 2210 grams:

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…10gr_(from_Sabian_AA).mp3

No, handhammering is done cold.

That's because of a chemical treatment to create an oxide skin for a slightly drier sound, like an old oxidized cymbal.

Here's a new special effects cymbal I hammered. I called it the 18" "Ripple Trash" for obvious reasons. It's 1850 grams and has several sounds. It can be used as a china-like cymbal but also as a ride.

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…sh_1850gr_(from_Ufip).mp3

Also a newly hammered 24" Tony Williams ("Nefertiti") ride 2985 grams.

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…from_Zildjian_Avedis).mp3

Some more new cymbals, including hihats and effects, can be found on my site (cf my signature beneath).

Zitat

Original von Ynnus
Hey Johan, I'm wondering how a cymbal changes it's color just with hammering it.
Like this one: http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…nd_after_modification.jpg
How do you get it to become colored that way?

In this case, it's not the chemical process (I didn't apply it to the Headliner).
Actually the colour of this cymbal hasn't changed, it's only the different lighting.
I should have taken both pictures with the cymbal in the same position and with the same lights. My mistake.

But after the hammering, I lathed the cymbal. That caused the cymbal to look newer and more brilliant.

Now for some brighter stuff.

14" Bright Crisp Hihats 903-1130gr

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…0gr_-from_Paiste_2002.mp3

18" Bright Dry Ride 1530gr

http://users.telenet.be/cymbzd…0gr_-from_Paiste_2002.mp3

I just made a rather special set of 14" hihats with an oriental sound.

You get a variety of percussive sounds by just changing the place where you hit the top-cymbal. Sounds like 2 different hihats played at the same time.

HERE'S a soundfile.

Here's Sabian AA 20" Crash which was very high pitched, but I hammered it into a 20" Dark Crash. Sounds like THIS now and here's what it looks like: