I'm in! Where do I sign up?
If you or others here are ever in SW NH lemme know via e-mail.
That there throne is a happy, happy place. :yes:
je
Yes it is
Since those photos i added more physical spacing on the Sound Disk Set 1, 3 and 5 (top and just left of center). Basically i reknotted the string that holds them. i find that they ring on for a long time, especially the largest one that after hit can ring on for MANY minutes. If i grab the string and use it to rotate the Disk it makes for an interesting sound akin to a Roto cymbal. The small 7" gong is fairly quiet, especially as compared to the larger ones and so you really need to hit it hard to get a decent volume level output. Speaking of gongs, am learning some interesting 'techniques' with them i never learned in concert band in High School.
BTW, i DID NOT want this many cymbals yet the Paiste package deal came with FIVE extra thin cymbals plus did not want double-stacked Accent cymbals and so migrated them to the set, which frankly they get A LOT more use than on the percussion rack behind me and can take a good 'beating' (if needed) more than splash cymbals can.
The five piece Cup Chime set is VERY interesting and it took me some time to 'figure them out' per se. After about an hour of experimentation i realized that if one hits the lower two (far right and far left) alternatively (one with right stick, the other with left stick) in a medium fast motion it sounds a lot like what i heard during a Himalayan special on video. The Cups can offer a good variety of sounds depending on how and where you hit them.
The LP Bell Tree initially... i hated. The bells were not really tuned in stock form and sounded less than desired so i took it totally apart, placed each bell on the floor and then hit each one. i found that i could build two different tonal scales and still had a third scale to play with. If you look carefully at the LP bell tress (far left on the percussion rack) you can see the 'normal' long ish row of bells below plus a smaller inverted set on top of it. The third set of LP Bells (5 bells total) are the best tuned of the set imho. They took the place of where the Paiste extra thin cymbals (11", 12", 13", 14" and 15") normally reside and really add A LOT to the percussion rack over the cymbals imho. So those large Paiste cymbals made their way onto the main set.
The Paiste extra thin cymbals are kinda rare, not 'mass produced' nor part of their normal range of production a far as i can tell. They have a slightly delayed 'peak' after being hit, and so make GREAT cymbals for interesting work and are ESPECIALLY excellent when you hit a cymbal and then choke it shortly thereafter as the sound peak happens just before a drummer chokes it, whereas normal cymbals peak right after being hit and then decay into the choke.
Sadly, due to stacking all these cymbals i have lost the ability to physically have the room to literally bend a cymbal with my body/arm to have it make a different sound the more/less you physically bend it and hit it with a stick.
Right now i have normal sticks of various sizes/thickness, medium-soft plastic mallets, roundish metal mallets, small felt mallets and on their way to me are a pair of medium gong mallets. My next 'toy'... a violin bow.
Hopefully the above gives a bit more insight to the setup and why. And yes, she truly is a wonderful creative tool that odds are will never be fully mastered. Heck, after two decades i feel that i still have not fully 'mastered' playing Mr Hi-Hat
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNpDQztqWQw though the 13-inch Sabian HHX Groove Hats are perhaps the best HHs i have ever used for expression and ability to do so much with them.
