breaking cymbals.....what to do?

[SymphonyinPeril]

so I have another one for ya...I keep breaking all my cymbals...it'll start out as just a small crack...(and it starts on the outer edge)...then becomes a rip...and then next thing ya know there a chunk of my cymbal missing. We all know cymbals are expensive so I've got to put a stop to this madness.
~Symphony~
ps....another thing...I'm not just breaking cheap old cymbals...I'm breaking, nice, top of the market ones.
aahhh!! Help!

[EngineerGrl]

Damn! What kind of sticks are you using?

[SymphonyinPeril]

I use.....Vic Firth 7A...I've got CTS so I've got to use smaller sticks...that are more light weight.

[EngineerGrl]

The follwoing are two articles I found online about breaking cymbals. Maybe this can shed some light on your problem.

Playing/ striking the cymbal

There is nothing cool about breaking cymbals. While you may get that impression from reading an interview with your favourite metal drummer, ‘yeah, I went through about ten crashes on the last tour…’ the breaking or cracking of cymbals is mainly down to two things;
bad playing technique and/ or
incorrect or bad positioning/ mounting.

First, let’s look at technique.

Ideally, when striking a cymbal, be it a 20” crash or a 6” splash, you should try and make the point of impact along the right or left side as it sits in front of you in a sweeping (or circular) motion.


The reason for this is two-fold: first off, is practicality – if you hit it like an animal, you’ll eventually damage the cymbal and possibly yourself. Secondly and probably most important, is that the sweeping motion means that you’re playing through the cymbal and not into it. Striking it on the side allows the cymbal to vibrate more freely and speak with more clarity, not to mention volume.

Positioning and mounting

This was mentioned previously, but really what it comes down to is if you want to avoid a crack like the one in the picture, don’t clamp your cymbals down too tightly. Simple as that really.
By Dave Bateman
*******************************************

I have read and heard a lot of talk about broken cymbals, it's just as easy to not break them as it is to break them. I used to break cymbals faster than I could afford to replace them (70's and 80's heavy metal) until I learned to "listen" to them. Every cymbal I have ever played had a "sweet stroke", if you will. Some are more forgiving than others. Strike your cymbals gently and then progressively harder and listen to each stroke, note how hard you stroke when the cymbal sound washes out or distorts, you are now damaging it if you continue. I know it is more "showy" to thrash them, but it is costly also. You can look like you are thrashing without actually slamming so hard, if you want to see the cymbals swinging wildly put spring mounts under them, this will also let you get away with a bit stronger stroke (for a while).

[SymphonyinPeril]

wow. That must be it ...cause when I hit my cymbals I hit them smack dab in the middle....I guess from now on I'll try to hit it on the side....and I 'll work on my posture, thats something I've been working on.
Thanks a bunch.
~SymphonyinPeril~

[EngineerGrl]

I love when those little "light bulbs" turn on!!

Remember to develop that circular (or sweeping) motion striking the cymbal so you hit it on the side, not straight up and down stokes. I use this analogy: When skipping stones in a pond, think of how the stone skims across the water in a sideways motion. Of course, you'll only being doing one stoke at a time and not skimming across the cymbal! :-)

Another important thing is not to choke the cymbal by tightening it too much. Let it have some swing. As mentioned in the above post, you can put spring mounts under your cymbals so they'll have lots of swing. This serves two functions: you can strike them harder and it looks cool !! ;-)

BTW, how is your double kick technique doing?

[EngineerGrl]

LOL I can't believe I misspelled stroke -- not once but twice!!

stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke

Practice makes perfect!!

[drummerboy1991]

yeah i have had this problem too once it cracks gewt a small drill bit and drill the ent of the crack and it will stop it from spreading for now and for every crack just drill another hole

[SymphonyinPeril]

cool thanks ...yeah I'll try that drilling idea...
hey drummerboy, does your band have a purevolume page? I'm in a band you can check us out at

www.purevolume.com/silhouettetn

...the song on there is one of our old ones...we just wrote a bunch of really cool psychotic songs that totally rock your face off...if I can say so myself...we're going to record some more, so hopefully we'll have those up soon.
~Symph~

[drummerboy1991]

np with the cymbal thing happends to me and my dad all of the time. yeah, the zildjian handbook said the strike the bell of the other part forgot what it is called and strike with a swinging motion all ways play softly [but not for rock] let the cymbal make the sound not the stick and hit with the tip not the hole stick and never play on the edge and our band is working on a cd or demo at this point in time i will send you a copy via email [what kinda cymbals do you use]

[drummerboy1991]

your band rocks i love it. i have been trying to get a [good] christian band together for like a year it is finly happning [well kinda] but yeah... keep up the work keep praising the lord and call me in the morning lol did the drilling thing work hope so yeah your band rocks i will spread the work to all my friends ANIMAL