Silk purse from a sow's ear...

Concrete Pete

Senior Member
Hey Crew,

Maybe this should be posted in the "Drum Gear" section, but thought I'd share this here.

I worked on a buddy's old Harley Shovelhead two days ago, as most Harley dealers refuse to work on older bikes anymore, and finding mechanics that will are getting pretty rare, nowadays.

Anyway, he tried to pay me for labor, I refused. (It's part of "the code" that bikerdom was founded on) He brings me a cymbal, and said "at least take this" which I did. Didn't wanna hurt his feelings, so I took it.

It's an ultra-thin crap-tastic Legion 16" that sounded like hitting a trash can lid with 2x4. Seriously.

Today I took a drill, a few stainless steel screws and nuts, (2 different sizes) found the "sweet spots" on the cymbal, and made a sizzle out of it--thinking 'what the heck'- it would continue to sound like crap, or sound even worse than before.

Ya know what? It sounds unbelieveably good now! I stacked it under my 10" Zildjian splash cymbal, and the two compliment each other like magic. Of course, I scrubbed the "Legion" logo off the pie! if someone asks me what brand it is I'll just say "CUSTOM"!

I'll post a pic soon, if anyone wants to see the setup.

Cheers,
C. P.
 
I like this idea. Ugly is the new pretty after all. Just as pink is the new blue. Or so they say. I like using beer cans filled with stones as shakers. Ugly but awesome! Glue six of them together and you have one hell of a shaker.
 
Hey Crew,

I "debuted" the cymbal setup at last night's Halloween gig, and Dave the bassist (& band leader) and Chuck (lead guitarist) noticed the addition to my rig. Both asked me what brand/ make, and I just replied "custom"....

Dave (bassist) looked at the "stamp" that says "CONCRETE PETE" on it and said (and I quote) "Holy Sh*t ! Where did you get the money to have a cymbal custom made for you--that's gotta cost a sh*tload of cash"!

I just replied "Well, it may be 'custom', but it really didn't cost me as much as you might think." (heh heh.....)

I didn't lie or anything-- just left them guessing, and had a fun time doing so.
After the gig, Dave said the cymbal was "a great addition, added crispness and depth to the sound". The "stacker" is simply a set of 4 metric screw connectors an a 6" piece of 8.5 mm all-thread rod bought the the Ace hardware store for under 4 bucks.

Here's a few pics:

Geeze, life is good!

C. P.
 

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I suggest you also try taking that modified 16 and mount it on an X Hat with that same splash you have in the photo mounted underneath it. Get them to slightly touch and you'll have even more sizzle out of that thing and a very easy way to control its sustain.

Something like this. Ignore the size differences, I do this with my ride most of the time.

k24ltride_2.jpg
 
Way to go, Pete! Yep, bring in the pics and recordings.

I did a similar thing but in reverse. I had this godwaful sizzle cymbal that came with my first kit. It sounded like a garbage can lid and was a light babypoo green, a bit like this:

BLEAGH

It was negelected for years and one day I took out the sizzles, flipped it upsidedown and clamped it down tight and - voila! - an ugly China cymbal.

No pics but this a sound bite of the thing in action: http://www.sangrea.net/rijidij/mp3/pseudo-china.mp3

Wy, the beer can shakers are a handy idea. To save on lugging you could just bring rocks with you and as the night progressed your shaker collection would grow :)

What kind of rocks did you use?
 
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Great story. I love the "barter" system myself. Several "drummer dogs" that I know around here would all rather barter than sell. Money, sometimes, it just plain ol' gets in the way.
 
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