Closest Match to Bill Stewart Ride?

I’ve saw Al about a year ago at Smoke. He plays harder than you’d expect. Or harder than I expected. Especially the SCDR. Full strokes, for sure.
 
Absent 60 years of aging and getting beat on, I'd be looking at a med-thin Turk, either Bosphorus (not Master) or Cymbal & Gong. Not Agop or Mehmet-- too funky. Or just get any decent 22" jazz cymbal that isn't too goofy and play it like Bill Stewart. A Mel Lewis Agop. A C&G with a heavy patina.


Pretty Tony sounding cymbal there.
I like Bill’s dry, articulate sound and the ability his ride has to be trashy without prolonged wash or sustain.

Bosphorus syncopation rides might fit the bill, but Agop’s Lenny White Epoch ride was apparently made after a ride Tony gave to him. But it’s super hard to pin down a cymbal for this. I recently heard a Bosphorus Corrodo type ride that sounded Stewart-ish, but I that cymbal was a one-off.
 
I recently picked up a 22" K Light Ride used (current era, available today). It is very similar to my 22" Dry Complex Medium Thin (Bill Stewart Ride). The K Light wasn't quite as trashy, but there are definite similarities, particularly in dryness/articulation, tone and shimmer. As an aside, the K Light isn't all that "light". It's 2508 grams. Not exactly light for a 22". By comparison, my 22" Dry Complex Medium Thin is 2292 grams.
 
I recently picked up a 22" K Light Ride used (current era, available today). It is very similar to my 22" Dry Complex Medium Thin (Bill Stewart Ride). The K Light wasn't quite as trashy, but there are definite similarities, particularly in dryness/articulation, tone and shimmer. As an aside, the K Light isn't all that "light". It's 2508 grams. Not exactly light for a 22". By comparison, my 22" Dry Complex Medium Thin is 2292 grams.
Good point. I have a Zildjian K Custom Dark Thin Light Ride 22 (around 2460g) from their 2011 Rarities series and it is a great jazz ride, but, like you note, it lacks the trashiness of Stewart's K Custom.
 
Can´t remember where I read that story but back when the Dry Complex rides were still available a guy was shopping for one in a New York drum shop. The owner told him they were out of stock when suddenly they heard someone play in the display room next door. Sounded exactly like a Bill Stewart ride. Turns out it WAS Bill Stewart, playing - a plain A Custom ride.

Moral of the story: The right touch goes a long way towards the desired sound.
That said - I totally get the urge to find such a cymbal. :)
 
Can´t remember where I read that story but back when the Dry Complex rides were still available a guy was shopping for one in a New York drum shop. The owner told him they were out of stock when suddenly they heard someone play in the display room next door. Sounded exactly like a Bill Stewart ride. Turns out it WAS Bill Stewart, playing - a plain A Custom ride.

Moral of the story: The right touch goes a long way towards the desired sound.
That said - I totally get the urge to find such a cymbal. :)
Not quite. That story was waaaaaaaaaaaaay before his rides were released. The store was Drummers World and the listener thought he heard an old K.

The point though is very true and thanks for bringing it up. I had forgotten about that story
 
I used to really care about cymbals.. I still care about cymbals but what I've found where I'm at now is

Less. And direct.

Less extraneous 'side' noise from a cymbal and a singular 'direct' simpler sound..
Like , instead of 7 or 9 sounds from one cymbal, 2 or 3
 
Some more evidence early on, he's got the extra felt doubled for that stiff tighter clamp to cut sustain. Forgot he used to play a 6.5 Supra.

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Not quite. That story was waaaaaaaaaaaaay before his rides were released. The store was Drummers World and the listener thought he heard an old K.

The point though is very true and thanks for bringing it up. I had forgotten about that story
Thanks for setting the facts straight - my old beer-soaked brain isn´t what it used to be. :)
 
Lately, just based on video demos, I think the Meinl Byzance Monophonic ride has the closest dark, washy, complex sound with trash in the crash like Stewart’s, but a Berklee guy I know told me once that cymbal was garbage compared to Bosphorus and Agops. 🤷‍♀️
 
Zildjian designed the Dry Complex based on modifications made on other cymbals, by Bill Stewart himself.
In particular, I remember reading that he had put a layer of varnish on the bottom edge of his cymbals, and this is what Zildjian wanted to imitate by not polishing the bottom edge of the Dry Complex.
I'll post a picture of mine, as I didn't find any on line.
 
Can´t remember where I read that story but back when the Dry Complex rides were still available a guy was shopping for one in a New York drum shop. The owner told him they were out of stock when suddenly they heard someone play in the display room next door. Sounded exactly like a Bill Stewart ride. Turns out it WAS Bill Stewart, playing - a plain A Custom ride.

Moral of the story: The right touch goes a long way towards the desired sound.
That said - I totally get the urge to find such a cymbal. :)
I wonder if you read it here:
https://www.drumforum.org/threads/a...hnique-on-the-ride-cymbal.161495/post-1780884

Seems like an apocryphal forum story, but like someone else said, the point stands.
 
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