Zildjian cymbals

I have recently brought my first Zildjian A Custom cymbal. It is the 16' version. I had it for about three weeks and until it got a 1cm crack on the edge. I took it back to the drum shop and they sent it back to Zildjian and it got replaced.

My concern is that it won't last. From what I hear A customs have a tendancy to crack. In fact some have gone as far as saying that Z customs crack a fair bit too.

My questions are:

1. Should A customs be cracking?

2. I am thinking of 18' Z Custom heavy rock crashes next. Anyone think they are suitable or should I be looking elsewhere? ie Sabian.

As for the rest of my cymbals I have cheap Paiste 302 Ride and Hats which are a little dirty but other than that in perfect shape etc. My crashes are 1 Paiste Sound Formula Medium and 1 Thin. The thin one cracked after 10 months and the Medium began to crack last nite (12 months). What is going wrong? My drums are kept in a garage. Is it temperature related?

Any comments appreciated!

don't want to sound patronising, but are you hitting them right? if you crash the stick straight down at a 90 degree angle to the edge, it actually shocks the cymbal. theoretically you should stroke the cymbal down one of the sides (as you face it). this will definitely increase the wear time.

Hi Matt. I've been playing drums for about 25 years, most of it loud and I've only ever cracked three cymbals. Two of those were thin crashes, (Paiste 602 & 12' K splash), the other was a 14' K Crash. If you hit a Cymbal square on it's edge, and you hit it hard, it will probably break. If, however, you learn to give it a, sort of glancing blow, as if you were trying to spin the thing, on it's stand, you will probably find it lasts for years!! I doubt whether your cracking is temperature related, unless you live in Alaska. Zildjian actually used to have diagrams, in their catalogues, indicating how best to approach the hitting of Cymbals, not anymore I don't think. I would'nt be surprised if you told me that you played heavy rock, (Bizkit/Korn/Slayer Etc..), and that you used big sticks!! If that's the case, scrape some money together and get some 'Z Custom' Crashes, they are made to take a hammering, (the original 'Z' range were so thick and heavy that THEY broke your sticks!! they were discontinued because they were TOO heavy and wouldn't make enough noise when you hit them!! - Check out the bottom cymbal on a pair of 'K/Z' Hi-hats - You'll see what I mean Changing to another make is unlikely to alter anything - there's only a little varation in the way they're made - by anyone. Hope the info is useful. Best wishes

I haven't been playing drums as much lately, been focusing on piano at the moment, but from what I know of personal experience, you need to mount the cymbal loosely so that it isn't clamped down, and you have to let them hang at an angle so that when you strike them you're not hitting the edge directly. I've heard people say that you should strike the cymbal with a sort of 'sweeping' motion, across the face of it rather than directly on the cymbal, but I think the main thing is not to hit the edge with the stick, and also not to have the cymbal clamped down hard.

Hope this helps.