Asa Lane, a drumming colleague of ours and employee of Fork's Drum Closet here in Nashville, posted this story to Facebook today. Too interesting not to share. What are your thoughts? Have you ever done this? What was the outcome?
-NSMD Staff
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Back in October of 2013, I "seasoned" this 1970's brilliant finish A. Zildjian & CIE Constantinople 20" ride with black walnut sap, and buried under 2 feet of Pure Michigan soil out in the woods behind my folks house for 7 months.
I put it in the ground with it having a lot of brightness, a good bell, but was more of a gongish crash-ride type sound. It just wouldn't open up for crashing, nor did it have quite the definition to make a successful ride cymbal.
After 7 months, and being smack in the middle of the frost line (42") during one of Michigan's coldest winters in quite some time, the cymbal changed in nature in the following ways:
- Wide open crash-ability. The cymbal now has a gorgeous feel to it when crashed on. Still has minor stick definition, though. I can only imagine that the shifting soil throughout the freezing/thawing periods messed with the metal somehow, and opened it up.
- Due to the cymbal in essence being an "A" Zildjian with a brilliant finish (first series to have a brilliant, I believe), it originally had a nice glassy overtone to it. This also unfortunately included annoying highs that were a bit piercing. The annoying highs are still there, but definitely have reduced noticeably. The glassy aspect though, still is pretty much still there, but actually is kinda pleasant.
After wiping the cymbal down with a rag (no cleaning) and throwing it on a kit, I know this cymbal will make a great crash, with a cool bell. Nothing life changing, but definitely a useful cymbal.
Plus, it's 100% Pure Michigan. :o)