Cymbal Care & Maintenance Guide
Cymbals need basic preventative maintenance every once in a while to keep them looking and sounding great. In this guide, we’ll talk about some simple yet effective tips to help you protect and extend the life of them.
Protecting your cymbals
Cymbals are often overlooked when it comes preventative maintenance, but they’re an integral part of your drum set and need as much attention and care as your drums do. Although they’re meant to be hit, improper care and lack of maintenance will lead to very specific types of cracks, keyholing, and most importantly, will void the warranty. Remember, replacing a broken cymbal is a lot more expensive than replacing a broken drum head. Here are a few simple things you can do to prevent damage and make them last a lifetime.
Mounting, tightening, angling
There are a few things to remember when putting your cymbals on the stand: mounting, tightness, and angle. Even making these very fine adjustments can go a long way in protecting your cymbal.
- Mounting: make sure you have a cymbal sleeve and felt on your stand before mounting the cymbal. Metal on metal contact can degrade the hole of the cymbal and can lead to keyholing and spiderweb cracks.
- Tightening: When you hit the cymbal, make sure it swings freely. Overtightening the wingnut reduces the resonance of the cymbal but will also cause spiderweb cracks around the bell.
- Angling: If the cymbal is above eye level, angle it towards you, even if just a little. The edge of the cymbal is the thinnest part, so hitting it, on top of poor technique, adds a lot of stress to it and will start to cause cracks.
Use proper technique
Don’t strike the cymbal like you’re swinging at it with an ax. Although it might look cool, it causes a lot of stress on the edge of the cymbal which forms cracks that will slowly creep up to the bell. Instead of hitting through the cymbal, hit it with a glancing blow. Striking the cymbal this way will also allow the cymbal to project more!
Proper technique.
Improper technique.
How to store your cymbals
Another great way to protect your cymbals is to store them properly. Here are a few tips when storing them.
- Always use a cymbal bag or case if they’re not on stands. First off, it’s much easier to carry them around, but more importantly, it helps protect them when stored for long periods and when traveling.
- If you need to put cymbals on the floor, lay them flat, don’t stand them on their edge. This causes the edge to bend or chip over time.
- If the cymbals are being set up in one location, make sure they’re in an environment with low humidity. Moisture and metal aren’t the greatest of friends and can lead to corrosion (oxidation) and rust.
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