Interesting NY Times article about the history of Zildjian cymbals

[Wade Hampton]

I hadn't known that the family has been in the cymbals business for 400 years! They have an amazing family background and story to tell:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/a...400-years.html


whm

[Gmountain]

Interesting

[jwayne]

Fascinating article - thanks for posting!

[Bob Womack]

Very cool to learn.

Bob

[philjs]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

They have an amazing family background and story to tell

Amazing that the family feud -- now there's a story to tell -- that resulted in the establishment of their major competitor, Sabian, was reduced to a single line at the end of the third-to-last paragraph!

Phil

[muscmp]

i read about their history last year in a different article. very interesting.

play music!

[The Growler]

Thanks for sharing the article. Great story and history.

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by philjs

Amazing that the family feud -- now there's a story to tell -- that resulted in the establishment of their major competitor, Sabian, was reduced to a single line at the end of the third-to-last paragraph!



Phil

Not only that but the article seems incomplete. It ends with how final QC is done by ear by a single employee, and then it just ends. No closing remarks.

[Side Man]

FWIW - I had the honor and pleasure of first meeting Armand Zildjian when I was a young teenager, and have been to the original Quincy, MA factory as well as the current location in Norwell, MA

As I recall, the Canadian operation was already in the works when he and his brother Bob decided to split up the company back in 1981. Armand held onto the U.S. operation and Bob took over the Meductic, New Brunswick factory. Bob named his new company "Sabian" after his three kids - Sally (SA), Billy (BI) and Andy (AN).

And Leon Chiappini is head cymbal tester; there were at least 2 others working with him the last time I had the opportunity to visit the Norwell plant. He's a legend among drummers - he's been testing Zildjian's cymbals since 1961.

[Borderdon]

Thanks for posting this.
Don

[Johnny K]

You should watch some of their YouTube videos about their history. Very good stuff.

I just bought my first real Zildjian cymbal, a 20" K Custom Dry Ride. I have a full set of their L80 low volume cymbals and I also have a collection of Wuhan traditional cymbals (16,18,19" crashes, 20 & 21" rides, 14" hats, 8 & 10" splashes) and despite all the reviews on Amazon that say Wuhan are as good as more expensive cymbals (personally, I think they're fantastic cymbals for the money)...well, they're not Zildjian.