Let's see your guitar and bass gear!

In reply to Antihero :

Something about that says "sequined underwear, or no underwear"

barefootcyborg5000 said:

In reply to Antihero :

Something about that says "sequined underwear, or no underwear"

It does kinda look tiger striped in pics so I get it. It's an Ebony top, which is one reason I like the whole package.... definitely not a standard sort of guitar

barefootcyborg5000 said:

In reply to Antihero :

Something about that says "sequined underwear, or no underwear"

I will be very disappointed if this doesn't end up the in the "quoted" section of the magazine next month.  LOL.

Antihero said:

In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :

Want a fun way to shut up people playing too loud at guitar center? Play Manic Depression, it's in 3/4.

 

I've done it a few times and the loud guy that plays over the top of everyone in the store doesn't know how to play to 3/4 lol

One of my favorite Iron Maiden songs (Dance of Death) starts out in 3/4, so I've learned to play with it some.  Once you hear it and recognize it, I don't think 3/4 or 6/8 is that hard to play along to. 

The 2nd new acoustic and wow......this punches WAY above its weight. I literally like this more than any acoustic I played in store under 1k. Comes with a soft case and was a whole $145 shipped. I highly recommend it!

I've been playing drums A LOT lately. Building up my chops again, as well as my callouses, which is painful but necessary. And it's great exercise! That recent addition of the Zildjian China High has been interesting as I work its sound into my playing, but it's fitting in well. It's also given me a chance to examine my other cymbals and either repair or replace them. 

I've been dealing with cracked cymbals for years. I've cracked and replaced at least 15 of them since I started playing 32 years ago. Looking back, all of the ones I have cracked have been Sabian, Paiste, or Wuhan cymbals. All of the Zildjians I have ever had put up with my playing, and I've had some of them nearly the entire time I've been smashing things with sticks. 

Yesterday, I examined my remaining cracked cymbals (all Sabian): 18" AA Medium Crash, 18" AAX Metal Crash, and a 10" AAX Splash, all from the late 90's - early 00's. The splash doesn't get used much, so I swapped it off the kit for a weird Zildjian Edge 10" splash I inverted into a mini-china by stepping on it years ago (yep, you read that right, and it sounds cool). The AA had a couple small edge cracks that ended up chunking off while playing a few years ago. Last night, I noticed that it was starting to spider off again, so I got out the tin snips and Dremel to nip it in the bud. Somehow, that "fixed" the sound, and it feels and sounds great again, even though it looks odd.

The AAX, however, can't be fixed. It has 3-4 edge cracks and a nasty one that goes with the lathing up by the bell. I loved this cymbal, and I would crash-ride on it A LOT when I was in my band. I'm on the hunt for a 18-20" crash to replace it, but not sure what to get. I want to stick with B20 bronze, so probably something Zildjian A or A Custom or maybe another Sabian AA/AAX. I promised myself no more Paistes a long time ago; they sound great but I have killed too many over the years. I've never had any Meinl cymbals, and I know there are even some Chinese ones that claim to use B20 that are affordable these days. I think a crash-ride of some flavor might also work. I've been out of the cymbal game a long time, so looking for options.

In reply to Tony Sestito :

IIRC, paiste cymbals are mostly b8, which is harder and more brittle. Stands to reason they crack easier. 
For a crash/ride, I'm really fond of my 20" K custom dark ride. It crashes so well. They're not the most expensive, but also aren't cheap. I think I paid around $250 used. 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

I'm surprised that you had so many Sabian cymbals crack without similar issues with your Zildjian's.  Unless the particular Sabian cymbals are thinner / lighter there really isn't any difference in the alloy or the way they're made.   I'm not familiar first hand with Paiste other than wow they're expensive.

In reply to Antihero :

What is it? Can't read the name on the headstock.

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

You are right about Paiste. Even the main line 2002 stuff is B8. I have broken a few of their older, more expensive Signature line over the years, and they are WAY overpriced for what they are. Great if you are sponsored, not great when you're footing the bill. 

The K stuff is fantastic. I've had a few over the years and they never disappoint, but they are geared more for low-medium tones than what I typically play. 

I can do some crash things with my 20" A Medium Ride. It is the most versatile ride I've owned, and I've had a lot of them over the years. It has awesome stick definition and a piercing bell, but playing it on the edge gives you a great, washy tone that absolutely rules. I actually just ditched my backup ride (a 20" A Rock Ride) because I haven't used it since I got the A Medium. But I need something that's more crash than ride for this one. 

In reply to 11GTCS :

It's the most bizarre thing! They are pretty much made the same way from the same formulas. I can understand why a cheap B8 cymbal cracks (I've had a few of them too) but these are AA/AAX line cymbals which are more or less the same as the Zildjian A and A Custom cymbals I've been bashing for years. I actually prefer the sound profiles on the Sabian stuff. I don't get it at all. 

Beer Baron 🍺 said:

In reply to Antihero :

What is it? Can't read the name on the headstock.

It's an Orangewood 

Meinl does some stuff with B12 which is interesting to me, it's the dark custom stuff that looks black. I have a 20" crash by them that's pretty cool

In reply to Antihero :

I checked out the Custom Dark stuff last trip to Music Go Round. They had a few of the China cymbals there; I nearly snagged one. They have a few different B12 lines. I have some drummer friends that LOVE the Byzance line, but those are Turkish-made B20 cymbals. 

Tony Sestito said:

In reply to Antihero :

I checked out the Custom Dark stuff last trip to Music Go Round. They had a few of the China cymbals there; I nearly snagged one. They have a few different B12 lines. I have some drummer friends that LOVE the Byzance line, but those are Turkish-made B20 cymbals. 

Apparently that line is/was done by the Diril Brothers and I've got a few cool ones by both of them, 21, 22 and 19" crash.

All are pretty cool, the 19" is probably gonna disappear because I like the others so much.

In reply to Tony Sestito :

Have you checked out Hazelshould? He usually has a bunch of cool stuff in and has demo videos of almost everything. 
 

Linky

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

I haven't, but I am now. The site is really cool. Thanks for the heads-up!

Apparently it's an 18" actually. 

I'm gonna end up selling it soon, if you are interested I'll do a sub Reverb price/cool GRMer price.

In reply to Antihero :

What is that exactly? I'm really looking for something that can do double duty as a crash and crash/ride (think Metalcore breakdowns and choruses, where the drummer rides on the crash). 

EDIT: It's a Diril Primitive. Got it. Not sure if that's really my kind of sound. They do sound cool, but it might stick out with my other stuff. 

I've spotted a couple large 19" and 20" vintage A Zildjian cymbals on Marketplace locally that might fit the bill if I can get the right price. I've also realized that at this point, most of my cymbals are A Zildjians now. Guess I have a type! 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

Yeah, I wouldn't say it would work well as a crash/ride and it definitely doesn't sound like any zildjian A ive been around lol

They are interesting though, I just figured out my type is large crashes since the smallest on the set right now is a 20"

My cymbal quest heated up yesterday after I saw a few I wanted to try over at the local Music Go Round, so I hopped in the car after work and checked out what they had. Mainly, I was looking at a 18" Zildjian A Custom Crash and a 19" Z Custom Rock Crash they had listed. And knowing that store, they would have more that weren't listed online yet. When I arrived, someone had beat me to the A Custom by about 30 minutes, so that one was out, but they had the Z Custom and a few others. I narrowed it down to that Z Custom and an old 60's/70's 18" Zildjian A Crash Ride. Although the crash ride was really sweet sounding, since I was going to be bashing the snot out of it, I felt it was going to break, so I left it for the Jazz guys. The Z Custom, however....



That came home with me. Although I'm not the biggest fan of these Z's aesthetically, it is glassy, loud, and cutting. It does both crash/ride and crash things very well due to its heavier weight and size. It's exactly the droid I was looking for. And it was on clearance to boot! 

With this latest addition, I figured I'd go through my current cymbal lineup:



14" Zildjian New Beat hi-hats. The top is a late 70's hollow logo, and the bottom is a mid-80's solid logo. You simply cannot go wrong with New Beats. They do everything well. 





10" Zildjian Edge Flash Splash, inverted. I bought this around 1996-97 because I wanted a cheap splash. The Edge line was a short-lived B8 mid-range line Zildjian sold in the late 90's to appeal to the EXTREEEEEME crowd and weren't terrible compared to some of the other B8 stuff at the time. I had this off the kit and laying on the floor when I was moving my kit back then, and I stepped on it. It inverted, and I discovered it sounds much better as a mini-China than a splash! Great little cymbal. 



18" Zildjian A Brilliant Medium Thin Crash. Probably my favorite sounding crash ever. Perfection.





18" Sabian AA Medium Crash. Another one that cracked. I was able to repair this one with tin snips and a Dremel, for now. Still sounds great. 



12" Z Custom "Splash". This is a first-gen Z Custom, and those are really hit-or-miss cymbals with many sounding like trash can lids. This is a splash in name only; it's more of a small crash. Got it in trade from a Z Custom-obsessed friend that had all Z Custom stuff because "That's what Lars plays". Some of his stuff was awful, but I liked this, so I traded him an old, cracked Turkish Zildjian A Crash Ride I had for this, a 17" K Crash, and a 10" Sabian AAX Splash. Sounds great. Kinda wish I still had that crash ride though! Alas, it was the 90's and I was young and dumb. 



20" Zildjian A Medium Ride. My favorite ride ever, and I've had a lot of them. Like the New Beats, this does everything well. 



18" A China Boy High. Picked this up a few weeks back, and I've grown to like it. I've been going back and forth with flipping it upside down, but either way, it's a monster. Very, very loud but still musical. 



13" Sabian Hand Hammered Regular Hi-Hat top/Fusion Hat Bottom. These rotate in and out off the kit until I can get a aux hi-hat setup. These were paired by me at the old Guitar Center in Boston because I wanted a set of Zildjian K/Z hats, but didn't want to pay the K/Z price. These sound incredible. 

Now I get to clean all of these, because they are FILTHY.

In reply to Tony Sestito :

I LOVE my new beats. Mine are about 30 years old and super crispy. And the patina looks awesome. 
 

My L80 set sold this morning, and I was planning to use the cash to buy another cymbal, but then I got a new boomstick instead. But it's a percussion action so that's not too far off. 

Less sexy gear:

What do you all like for stools/chairs for practicing guitar?

I've just been sitting in a kitchen chair with an extra pad on it, but the slight angle back makes it get uncomfortable after a bit. My backs been getting stiff. I want a flatter seat.

What do you all like? Probably just going to go over to Guitar Center and find a stool I like the height of.

In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :

I usually either stand, lay down (like standing, but different) or sit on the floor. Sometimes the couch. 
 

Im not great at posture. But I usually don't play long enough for it to bother me. 

Beer Baron 🍺 said:

Less sexy gear:

What do you all like for stools/chairs for practicing guitar?

I've just been sitting in a kitchen chair with an extra pad on it, but the slight angle back makes it get uncomfortable after a bit. My backs been getting stiff. I want a flatter seat.

What do you all like? Probably just going to go over to Guitar Center and find a stool I like the height of.

I play standing up, one foot on a monitor like a motherberkeleying rockstar !

All joking aside, playing sitting down is actually hard for me, I try to stand when I play