How old is my cymbal

Thanks to Rob Scott for the decode. The first two letters code the year. The rest of that line contains a batch number and a unique id within the batch. The batch number codes what sort of cymbal it is diameter, series, model and Zildjian can look up this info the identify a cymbal.

The unique id at the end is in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. Until at least the year JB the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did.

Thread: Cymbal identification. Registered User. So for example i have a set of A customs I bought in a pack and one of them was stolen could I identify the cymbal by matching the barcode or markings on top to another one from the same set? Cheers, Joe. The barcodes are the same for every cymbal of the same model. The serial number stamped on the cymbal tells when it was manufactured and the craftsman who made it, but you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell if it was yours based on the other cymbals in the pack.

It is possible, that the customer damaged the edge, and our craftsmen trimmed the edge at the factory in February with the result being a smaller sized hi-hat. Through the early years of sound edge hi hats, the number of patents by country increased for zero to six:. The details on the U. Another identifying factor of early preserial sound edge bottoms is they had a higher "ripple count" than later versions, it seems Paiste had not decided on a standard number when sound edges were first introduced.

Preserial Stambul 65 "Thin crash" no name just weight printed in red. Transition 20" "heavy" is labeled in red ink early '72 production. Navigation menu Personal tools Log in.

Namespaces Page Discussion. Dating cymbals is notoriously difficult. For the sake of parsing through a reasonable amount of information, this article focuses on the history of A. Zildjian cymbals. The stamps of an A. Zildjian cymbal are comprised of two parts: an upper section in Arabic and a lower bit in English. The Arabic portion is the key element in identifying older models. The earliest uniform stamp identification was put in place in at the Zildjian factory in Massachusetts.

These early models are easier to identify thanks to the hand hammering, wider lathing, and generally more worn appearance due to their age.