Flam Master Flash
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: Nov 17 2005
Posts: 323
Loc: France
|
|
I read about how people were breaking in their Dream Bliss cymbals by doing soft mallet rolls on them a little bit every day. So, I thought "good idea", and started doing this myself on my Agops. Then I realized that I had a small crack near my Agop Sig. Luckily, I bought it new and it was replaced (after waiting for a month).I was told that this rarely ever happens, and was never heard of happening to a Sig. Agop also told me wouldn't have been caused from the mallets, so I just figured it was a freak thing and I continued my rolling. Now, I just found a crack on my 24" AGop SE. I told a Agop rep, and they told me that they have never seen any crack like the one I have. Unfortunately, I bought this secondhand on ebay so I'm probably SOL (good enough reason to buy new from now on). I sent a detailed e-mail to Agop with a pic, but they haven't answered. Probably sick of hearing from me, too bad cause I appreciate customer service. Anyway, my rolls were not agressive in anyway, just enough to swell the cymbal. Do I just have bad cymbal karma and/or gremlins?
--------------------
HIGH ON DRUMS
|
James Walker
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: Mar 18 2002
Posts: 1062
Loc: Connecticut
|
|
I'm so sorry to hear this.
I've mallet rolled a number of brand new cymbals, and I've never found it to cause any damage to my cymbals.
If I may ask a few questions: Where did the crack form on the SE? How frequent and lengthy were the mallet rolling sessions? Where were you striking on the cymbal?
I've heard that one should allow a cymbal a day (at least) between sessions, to allow the metal to recover from the vibrations - mallet roll for 15 minutes, and then let the cymbal rest for a day or two. Even so, I can't imagine soft mallet rolls causing enough stress to crack a cymbal - especially since the SE was bought second hand, and I'm guessing it had been "broken in" a bit by the previous owner(s).
--------------------
moderator, mallet forum
|
Flam Master Flash
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: Nov 17 2005
Posts: 323
Loc: France
|
|
I just talked with Scott at the Agop LA headquarters, and he doesn't think that the mallets could've caused the crack. Especially since the SE is 3600 grams, a medium weight for that size.
I was doing my rolls towards the edge of the cymbal, but never longer than 40 seconds or so. Probably did this everyday, though. The crack is about an inch from the edge, and is exactly the same as the one I had on the Agop Sig, so I figured it must have been something I'm doing, and the mallet rolls were the only "agressive" (even though it wasn't) activity that I could think of. Gremlins, perhaps?
--------------------
HIGH ON DRUMS
|
Alistair
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: May 17 2006
Posts: 274
Loc: New Zealand
|
|
I have noticed while mallet rolling that the cymbal is flexing a lot. I don't think that will crack the cymbal though - it was just a little disconcerting to see how much the cymbal was flexing. But that's what they're designed to do...
|
roger strange
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: Dec 09 2003
Posts: 1045
Loc: Nova Scotia Canada
|
|
I'll tell you what can crack a cymbal under mallet rolls. If you roll the mallets side by side basically within about an inch or less of each other. If you roll the cymbal with a mallet on either side of the bell the cymbal has time to defend itself against the constant pressure. Also if you were using medium hard mallets instead of softer "fuzzy" mallets this can happen. I use Ludwig medium lamb's wool mallets for that sort of thing. Never had anything like that happen to me in over 50 years of playing but maybe I'm just lucky or something.
|
roger strange
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: Dec 09 2003
Posts: 1045
Loc: Nova Scotia Canada
|
|
Further:
Also I never let the mallet repeatedly hit in exactly the same spot. I work the cymbal and keep the mallets quite far apart all the time.
|
James Walker
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: Mar 18 2002
Posts: 1062
Loc: Connecticut
|
|
Maybe it's gremlins, maybe it's just coincidence, maybe it's just bad luck.
I agree with our man at Agop - the type of mallet rolling you described shouldn't cause a crack. If the type (and duration) of rolling you described was truly hazardous to cymbals, then orchestral percussionists would be cracking cymbals on a weekly basis - and I would've destroyed three cymbals in tonight's rehearsal alone.
FWIW: in those instances, when I mallet roll to break in a new cymbal, I'll do it at mezzo-forte to forte volume levels, with medium-hardness vibe mallets, for about fifteen minutes, striking various spots - mostly at the edge, but sometimes moving in towards (or even on) the bell, keeping the striking spots moving as Roger suggests - basically, my left hand keeps moving back and forth from "twelve o'clock" to "six o'clock on one side, and the right hand does the same on the other side, always with the mallets staying opposite one another.
(That description makes it sound like I'm really anal retentive about my approach. Really, I'm not - it just sounds that way because I'm trying to be as descriptive as possible.) 
The point is, as I understand it, is that those longer 10-15 minute intensive sessions, are the sort of thing where you might want to let the metal relax for a day between sessions. Forty seconds at a shot, is another matter altogether - nowhere near as stressful on the cymbal as 15 straight minutes at forte levels.
If this has soured you on mallet rolling, however, that's understandable - and frankly, the only time I do this is with brand new cymbals, and even then, sometimes I don't bother. Thousands of drummers have great results from day one with brand new cymbals, without going through these mallet rolling sessions. It's not mandatory.
--------------------
moderator, mallet forum
Edited by James Walker (Thu Jul 03 2008 01:44 PM)
|
Alistair
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: May 17 2006
Posts: 274
Loc: New Zealand
|
|
I had never really thought about mallet rolls as a way to 'break in' cymbals - thanks for the idea and tips on 'how to', guys!
|
Copyright
© 1998-2006 by TigerMix.com,
Inc.
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
