Zildjian: 400 Years.

jda

Diamond Member
Oh. Just seeems like yesterday ; )

1623-2023
yep they're going to Blow this out..


zildjian.png
 
Maybe we'll see some P400 cymbals like the P391 they did in 2014 ;)
 
There's going to be something insanely expensive on the horizon. Maybe another run of snares or maybe even a full Zildjian kit.

A nicer touch would be to have a special stamp that goes on every cymbal they make cheap or expensive for the whole year
 
I think Zildjian will most likely release something special. Can't remember if they started last year or in 2021 with the limited edition prototypes, but seems like Zildjian is venturing into experimenting with cymbals
 
Zildjian should admit it that they’ve only been making cymbals for the last 100 years. Before that they were making shields!
They made instruments long before that:

Sultan Mustafa I gave Avedis eighty gold pieces as a bequest, in addition to officially recognizing the surname Zilciyan or Zildjian, meaning "Son of a Cymbal Maker" or "Family of Cymbalsmiths" in Armenian (with zil being Turkish for "cymbal", ci meaning "maker", and ian being the Armenian suffix meaning "son of").[12] In 1623 the Sultan granted him permission to leave the palace to start his own business in the Armenian sector of Constantinople, called Psamatia.[13][14]

Zildjian's shop manufactured cymbals for the mehter, Ottoman military bands consisting of wind and percussion instruments, which belonged to the Janissaries. Mehter ensembles, which were known in the West primarily for playing in battle, also performed courtly music for Ottoman rulers.[9][15][16] The Zildjians also produced instruments for Greek and Armenian churches, Sufi dervishes, and belly dancers of the Ottoman harem, who wore finger cymbals.[9].
 
So what does their really old stuff look like? I see a lot of stuff from maybe as far back as the 1960's or 1950's. I want to see something from the 1600's!!
 
Cool history, and not without setbacks.

1964: Hella back order. I wonder how long it took to return to normal production.

A897ABF0-E0DB-4AF4-8E9B-357F1E5EF813.jpeg
 
There's going to be something insanely expensive on the horizon. Maybe another run of snares or maybe even a full Zildjian kit.

A nicer touch would be to have a special stamp that goes on every cymbal they make cheap or expensive for the whole year
That's a fantastic idea.

agreed...

would be cool if they did a cymbal that was speced out like a 1623 version....no screen printing; no machine anything; same bow and bell specs; don't know if they even have access to any of that kind of information still around
 
1954: Avedis Zildjian USA Loses Court Case To Gretsch over Gretsch distributing/Advertising (etc) K. Zildjian Cymbals. Judge Rules (agrees with defendent (Gretsch) K. Zildjian is a different (separate) item from an Avedis Zildjian. Gretsch allowed to market K.Zildjian and an A. Avedis (Aram) . Avedis Zildjian loses case; tucks tail goes Home but doesn't let it go or forget it

1968: Once again Avedis tries to stop the importing advertising distribution of K Zildjian Made in Turkey cymbal by Suing again Fred Gretsch Co.
This time Judge decides in Avedis Favor.

Turkish "K. Zildjian works" given a 10 year (1968-1978 (the actual New Stamp era K by the way) to vacate cease and desist all operations in Turkey. Bob Zildjian (see Bob porch interview on yt) visits the Turkish works during this period, Sizing up the place, wiping the white glove on the desk looking around, observes the hand hammering, (knowing now, in 10 years what was or wasn't (they could have kept old K open but opened Meductic azco68 instead) to be, the fate of the place.

1978: K. Zildjian Turkey closes doors. Dissolved. Pink Slips for mehmet and all everybody . Snuffed. Avedis Zildjian Co. USA successful completes snuffing out old) K . Zildjian the hammering in the town goes silent..





Darn Avedis (est.1929 in America) Zildjian Co. Always seem to leave those ^ little tid bits out^
now you know- the rest of the story.

(there's a couple other things- about the Turkish works that was brought out in court (unsuccessfully in 1954- Successfully in 1968)
The issue that -was there or wasn't there- a ZildjiAN (of lineage) running the K. Zildjian Turkish works Turkey (at all?.. . dispute. You know cousin of a cousin of a cousin Mikael Usta of a cousin named Toledo ... anyways..
 
Last edited:
Cool history, and not without setbacks.

1964: Hella back order. I wonder how long it took to return to normal production.

View attachment 128814
Somebody on another site detailed all of Ringos' cymbals over time (which I don't think Ringo even paid attention to) . This guy, using old pics from performances, all the way up to Let it Be sessions, matched the cymbal marking and profiles to cymbal models of the day. If memory serves, the majority of his cymbals at this point were not Zildjians...rather Arbiters, some Paiste. I think only one Zildjian. The hats were later shown to be a Zildjian top and Paiste 602 bottom.
 
Somebody on another site detailed all of Ringos' cymbals over time (which I don't think Ringo even paid attention to) . This guy, using old pics from performances, all the way up to Let it Be sessions, matched the cymbal marking and profiles to cymbal models of the day. If memory serves, the majority of his cymbals at this point were not Zildjians...rather Arbiters, some Paiste. I think only one Zildjian. The hats were later shown to be a Zildjian top and Paiste 602 bottom.

 
Somebody on another site detailed all of Ringos' cymbals over time (which I don't think Ringo even paid attention to) . This guy, using old pics from performances, all the way up to Let it Be sessions, matched the cymbal marking and profiles to cymbal models of the day. If memory serves, the majority of his cymbals at this point were not Zildjians...rather Arbiters, some Paiste. I think only one Zildjian. The hats were later shown to be a Zildjian top and Paiste 602 bottom.
I'd seen a similar video that looked at his set up pre Beatlemania and it was made up of Zyns and Ajax which makes sense for the time.

Late 63 onwards guessing he just used the best of the best. Imagine what drum and cymbal companies were giving him. He's still making Ludwig insane amounts of money to this day.
 



Handmade-Turkish-Cymbals-Tradition-An-Inside-Perspective-.png

KZildjian61G.png

(I believe) he's talking after 68 (when he went to Istanbul permitted by court etc order)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top