Friday, September 03, 2021

CYMBALISTIC: A lot of new cymbals!

CYMBALISTIC: I've just posted a bunch of new cymbals on the site— six Holy Grail Jazz Rides, 20-22", a HG 16" crash, a 20" Janovar— inspired by Giant Beat, in B20 bronze— and a couple of 18" custom Turk Light Rides. 

The Turks are really cool. They're modeled after a one-off cymbal “Toshiro” from a couple of years ago. Slightly different than their usual style making Turks— these are a little darker. The current two 18s are already spoken for, but I'll probably be ordering more in the next batch, in about 3 months. 


There are a good selection of 20" Holy Grail Jazz Rides now—any one of which would be the best cymbal somebody ever owned. Some of them are a little stronger as primary cymbals, some may be better in a “left side” role— send me a note about that if you're considering one of them. They each have slightly different strengths. 

The 20" Janovar is interesting— it's a brighter cymbal that fits somewhere between the Leon Collection— airy, musical, lush— and the Mersey Beat or American Artist series— which have (relatively) a stronger “A-type” sound. The Janovar is very lush, and with a little aggressive edge. I may experiment with adding a patina to it, possibly rivets. 

Aggressive is the wrong word. I mean a little more cutting, a little wilder tessitura— meaning there are some more random harmonics in the overall sound. With too many prominent wild overtones you have a really noisy, ugly sounding cymbal; when they're more restrained, they just give it a little edge. The Janovar would make a good left side cymbal, contrasting a larger, darker main cymbal. 

1 comment:

Bernd Klug said...

I guess, you'll keep it as a great secret, who - or which company in Turkey - makes YOUR cymbals.

Knowing that about 99.9% of today's Turkish cymbal makers are apprentices of Mehmet Tamdeger and/or Agop Tomurcuk - the founders of "ISTANBUL" cymbal company - and also knowing, that all these manufacturers do OEM work - makes it even more interesting.

YES I absolutely agree: today's best and most 'personal' cymbals are made in Turkey!!!!
FOR ME - and that's VERY personal and in no way judgmental - the best cymbals are made in Turkey and I love the individuality in every cymbal in the same range.