A-Cymbal Silencing Solution

[Kris NH]

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but I found a cheap and easy way to cover acoustic cymbals, without spraying, dipping or trying to adhere poly sheeting. I had made some mesh heads with pet screen per SuperPuss's plan among others, and I had a few feet left over. I have a couple of old Zyn hi-hat cymbals that were sitting around, and I wanted to use them somehow but wasn't sure which method to use to silence them before adding triggers. The short of it is that I layed a sheet of pet mesh over the cymbal and wrapped about an inch underneath, then hit it with a heat gun, one of those things you use to strip old paint. Lo and behold it melted right onto the cymbal and stuck what appears to be permanently! It looks good, and it's like playing a rubber-coated cymbal, so it's very quiet. Man I love simple solutions!! =)

Kris

[JamSolo]

Sounds like an interesting solution, do you have before and after pics, by chance?

[evil1rox]

Sounds very cool!

Need pics- STAT!!!

E

[Guest]

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but I found a cheap and easy way to cover acoustic cymbals, without spraying, dipping or trying to adhere poly sheeting. I had made some mesh heads with pet screen per SuperPuss's plan among others, and I had a few feet left over. I have a couple of old Zyn hi-hat cymbals that were sitting around, and I wanted to use them somehow but wasn't sure which method to use to silence them before adding triggers. The short of it is that I layed a sheet of pet mesh over the cymbal and wrapped about an inch underneath, then hit it with a heat gun, one of those things you use to strip old paint. Lo and behold it melted right onto the cymbal and stuck what appears to be permanently! It looks good, and it's like playing a rubber-coated cymbal, so it's very quiet. Man I love simple solutions!! =)

Kris

I like the way this sounds, but to be honest, you need to show some pictures. I too love the simple solutions as long as they look good. Keep up the good work Kris!

[Kris NH]

I'll try and get some pics up tonight before I leave on a week's vacation Saturday.

Kris

[vjboc]

That would be interesting to see. Sounds like a great idea.

[SuperPuss]

That's an awesome idea Kris. I guess the same approach could be taken using non adhesive clear vinyl too. I have some of that and was wondering how to make it stick to my cymbals. I might get myself a heat gun and try it out

[pasta]

Very interesting and yes, pics would be great. The way I'm thinking of it, it's hard to imagine it being a uniform thickness, having a uniform feel across the cymbal and having even triggering.

[moja music]

I sprayed truck bed liner (from the auto parts store) on the cymbl. 3 coats and the cymbal is pretty quiet. I will still add some sort of pad (mouse pad or shelf liner) to soften the hit. The cymbal look pretty slick in black, though! I'll post some pics later.

[vjboc]

That's an awesome idea Kris. I guess the same approach could be taken using non adhesive clear vinyl too. I have some of that and was wondering how to make it stick to my cymbals. I might get myself a heat gun and try it out

Hey SP let me know if that clear vinyl works. That sounds like a great idea.

Vinny

[SuperPuss]

Will do Vinny

[gumbo]

3-M make a great two-sided adhesive film that sign makers use to stick laser-cut plastic letters to a background..comes in a sheet large enough to do a kick drum

Personal experience (peel off the first backing, stick to first surface, peel off second backing, press on next stuff) has shown that it sticks like that stuff that stays on blankets and lasts years...thin enough to conform to curved surfaces (as long as you're careful when applying it, as you don't get a second chance!)

Might be worth thinking about as a means of adhering a thicker plastic sheet to the striking surface.... although a (good) quality spray adhesive could be another option.

As with all this sort of stuff, if you don't thoroughly de-grease the surface(s) first, it's never gonna work the way you'd like it to...

Will be interested to see where all this leads...


Cheers from here.

[Gastric]

The original poster was reporting a super simple and inexpensive way to dampen the cymbal in general. Clearly black mesh melted onto the playing surface of the brass cymbal isn't going to keep it genuine looking. But for a pure cost and time effective method it sounds totally reasonable to me. I'd be more curious if you could do the same method on the UNDERSIDE and achieve the same dampened sound but maintain the brassy look on the playing surface. Note that sticking things to the underside are more difficult as you have gravity working against you.

JMan I uses Killer Red tape (thin, clear, extremely sticky) to stick clear PVC sheeting to the bottom of the cymbal. Works like a charm. He reported that he never found any spray-on adhesive that held the sheeting to the underside. But if you're trying to adhere to the TOP side that should be a completely different story as you have gravity working in your favor instead of against it. I'd think any decent adhesive should work well on top.

[Kris NH]

I just wanted to give an update on my original post. After playing these for awhile, the mesh seems to be lifting in places, and I fear that it's going to continue.

However, I'm having way too much fun with my heat gun! Today I took an old vinyl album and laid on the inside of a cymbal and heated it. What happened was that it slowly sunk down and took the shape of the cymbal, without having to use a vacuum on the underside. I think melted it until it spread out and became pretty gummy, and it stuck to the cymbal. It feels like a pretty tight hold, but I'll have to play the cymbal to see. If nothing else, it's a cheap way to make some vinyl practice cymbals, and I suppose if you layered a couple of albums together they'd be pretty sturdy.

[SuperPuss]

Ha! That's cool Kris
Gives a whole new meaning to 'double album'