Talk:Cymbal

Layout changes

The layout of this article could use some attention. As more information gets added, it will be easier to create specific sections, but for now I think it could use a little more organization. A list of cymbal types should be created (looks like it has been started under the 'cymbal parts' section. I'll start working on some of this. Any other ideas? --Ivan Gierland 19:23, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Removed Text

Removed text: One of the world's largest manufacturers of cymbals is Paiste. Other cymbal manufacturers include Saluda, Zildjian and Sabian. Why single Paiste out? They make some great cymbals, I have a Paiste ride, crash/ride and trad splash in my 'ultimate' set, but they're one among several. The best are a matter of taste, the biggest AFAIK is a factory whose name I can neither pronounce nor spell in Wuhan, China (one of many cymbal factories in that city). Andrewa 02:14, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Gong/Cymbal Difference

I am trying to define the difference between a gong and a cymbal but I'm getting nowhere. They seem to me, in their various forms to share all characteristics. Is it convention that determines that A is a Cymbal but B is a Gong where both A and B are 15 inch bronze disks or is it something else? Grant Petersen 05:47, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

Simply gong is thicker than cymbal. There are gongs which their size are similar than cymbals, however, usually gongs are bigger than cymbals. We use a large and hard mallet to play the gong.(Addaick 06:41, 17 July 2007 (UTC))

Disagree with that completely! They are different instruments, or really families of instruments, and I'm not even sure there's any overlap. Some cymbals, particularly big thin ones with lots of taper and chinas, can be played to produce a very gong-like sound, and some gongs, especially wind gongs, can produce a very cymbal-like sound, but that doesn't mean they're the same instrument... A glockenspiel can be played to sound like a celesta, and an electric guitar to sound like an oboe, but they are also different instruments.

A cymbal is mounted by its centre, a gong by its rim. That's probably the most obvious difference. The biggest gongs are much, much bigger then the biggest cymbals simply because it's possible to manufacture and play a much bigger gong than you can a cymbal, and that's because of the mounting. The smallest cymbals and the smallest gongs are both about 6" in diameter unless you count zills or crotales as types of cymbal (some do, some don't), if so then the smallest cymbals are smaller than the smallest gongs, and again it's just because a gong that small would be impossible to play, as would most types of cymbal.

There are thick and thin gongs, and thick and thin cymbals. Large gongs tend to be played with large beaters, but not always... Mikrophonie #1 uses an enormous gong and an enormous variety of beaters and nearly all of the beaters are smallish.

Both gongs and cymbals of all sizes can be played with either hard or soft sticks if played properly. Andrewa (talk) 09:56, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Fixed Damage

I've tried to fix the damage done to this page... it would be best to watch it for a little bit to see if the vandal comes back. (May 2 2009) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.191.163.194 (talk) 01:39, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

history

needs history... who made the first cymbals? how long ago, etc. etc. --24.21.133.196 (talk) 03:20, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

Cymbal Manufacturers

Anonymus IP's are continuously deleting several small cymbal manufacturers, the fact that they don't know them is of 0 relevance to an encyclopedic article, that companies exist and produce cymbals, which is a fact, my username is OZPerpetue, but my office inserts keyloggers so I am going to sign with my IP --201.171.177.93 (talk) 07:21, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

Ceramics

At various places in his Autobiography, Berlioz laments that he could only get ceramic cymbals, and further that these were often cracked or chipped. From which, the Italian piatti, or plates. It does seem to me that a pair of ordinary dinner plates, with holes drilled in the centers for handles, would in fact function as cymbals, after a fashion. Their noise would be similar, yet different to "modern" cymbals, which are, if memory serves, of Turkish origin. (With the triangle, "Turkish music.") Which is what Berlioz expressly wished to have, though it seems rarely got.

Turkish cymbals differ from plates in that they are made of wound wire, hence their "springiness". Which reminds me of the main deck guns of the early English Dreadnoughts. The barrels were made of wound wire. When they were fired they tended to whip from side to side a tiny bit.

As it's been asked, gongs are entirely different. They are similar to bells, in that they are made of resonant alloys (as are bells), rather than wound wire. Dave of Maryland (talk) 01:48, 6 February 2011 (UTC)