How Should You Take Care Of Your Drum Cymbals?

As drummers, it is very important to take care of our cymbals so they last longer, retain their sound and tone, and simply because they’re usually expensive! After years of hearing other instrument playing musicians complain about the cost of their gear I say we as drummers need to stand up and tell them what it means to spend $300.00 on a cymbal that if you take care of, may last 6 months?.. And then tell them that, we are only talking about 1 cymbal. The fact is that by the time you fill out a drum kit you can spend three to four thousand dollars on really good high quality drum cymbals.

Tama DSB52S Standard 5-Piece Drum Bag Set

SKB CS22 Cymbal Safe Roto Case

First you should get a hard shelled cymbal case for traveling or at least one with a sheep-skin inner protector for your cymbal bag. Many of my drummer friends have hard cymbal cases, but I have a sturdy drum bag, which seems to be protective enough. If I was to tour often with a band, then a hard case would certainly be the better option. I mean, after all, If you drop a hard case full of cymbals it’s not a good thing still, but at least they will be better protected from the freight handling people at the airport. One tip is to check the bell area of all your cymbals as soon as you can after traveling to make sure there is no damage.

Second, its is recommended to always make sure you have sheaths for your cymbal stands. This isn’t a necessity, but to be extra careful of your precious cymbals, this would be the way to go. That way when you hit your cymbals they move and vibrate against the soft surface of plastic and not the metal of the stand bolt.

Third, clean your cymbals! Apparently, the better they look, the better they sound. Always pick them up and move them by the edges. Finger prints don’t look good on a crisp gold or silver cymbal and the oil in you skin may lead to corrosion and a dull looking and sounding cymbal. If you have finger prints on your cymbals you can go to any music store that sells cymbals and get some cleaner. It can be fairly expensive ($30AUD), depending where you buy it, but its definitely worth the sight of what a clean and new-looking cymbal can look like. You might have to use some elbow grease to apply it, but trust me, it will be worth it.

If you leave your cymbals on the stands as most of us do while the drum set is set up for rehearsing cover them and your drums with an old bed sheet. This will help keep dust and moisture from getting on them.

When you take care of your cymbals you get longer use out of them and you save money. Its sounds simple I know, but I know sometimes we all get a little slack from time to time, well, at least I do sometimes. I suppose the level of your care factor will depend on how much you’ve spent on the particular cymbal, but nevertheless, if you can take good care of your cymbals now, it’ll surely save you from having an empty wallet all of the time.

I hope you have found this article helpful. Please leave your comments or questions below and I will happily answer them as soon as possible.

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Greg Beazley

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