Zildjian A Custom Fast splashes and crashes

GEARREVIEWS
DECEMBER 2005 RHYTHM 093
ESSENTIALS
PRICES
A Custom Fast
Splashes £114-£150
Crashes £192-£264
CONTACT
Yamaha-Kemble
Sherbourne Drive
Tilbrook
Milton Keynes
MK7 8BL
Telephone
01908 366700
Website
www.zildjian.com
From £114 | This new set of Fast splashes and crashes are Zildjian’s
quickest A Customs yet. Adam Jones stands by with his stopwatch.
Z
ildjian’s A Custom series of
cymbals were developed as
a contemporary interpretation
of the company’s timeless Avedis
series cymbals. Rather than being
an abrupt departure in sound terms,
they were intended to offer drummers
another cymbal voice, but still a classic
Zildjian one. Combining radical rotary
hammering techniques with thin to
medium weights, brilliant fi nishes, and
research and development assistance
from drumming wizard Vinnie Colaiuta,
the A Customs were well received and
have become a popular line.
The new A Custom Fast splashes
and crashes represent a further update
on the A Custom sound and of course
offer another set of crash and splash
choices. While this doubles up the
options of splash varieties across all
three sizes, for the crashes it means
that there are as many as four different
styles of A Custom crash cymbal in
some diameters (crash, Fast crash,
Medium crash and Projection crash).
The Fast Show
Such choice is undoubtedly a good
thing, enabling you to mix and match
different cymbals into a truly personal
selection. Whether your nearest shop
is accommodating enough to stock
every listed cymbal on any given day is
probably another matter. The cymbals
are cast from Zildjian’s proprietary
formula which roughly breaks down as
80 percent copper, 20 percent tin and
traces of silver. Zildjian claims that
it is not so much the ratio of these
ingredients, but the way that they
are mixed together that makes the
cymbals uniquely Zildjian. Since
being established by Avedis Zildjian
in 1623, the process remains virtually
unchanged. The exact recipe still
remains a closely guarded secret, to
the extent that access to the melt room
in Zildjian’s factory, where every one of
their cymbals begins life, is only ever
granted to two employees outside of
the Zildjian family.
The cymbals all feel pleasantly
thin but are not especially pliable and
bear similar working details, namely
lots of neat lathing bands. The lathing is
uninterrupted from the centre hole to
A similar profi le
is shared by each of
the new A Custom Fast
splashes and crashes.
Zildjian
A Custom
Fast splashes and crashes
RHY118.tt_zild 093RHY118.tt_zild 093 7/10/05 6:30:55 pm7/10/05 6:30:55 pm