Why Do Cymbals Crack?
What the Location of a Crack Can Tell You

First things first: cymbals wear out

Before we get into it, one basic point. Cymbals are consumables.

Being metal, they look tough. But every time you play, a stick strikes them and they vibrate. Keep playing a cymbal and, sooner or later, it will crack or chip. That is not a sign of rough handling. It is simply the nature of the instrument.

So this article is not about how to keep a cymbal from ever cracking. Even so, there are ways people shorten a cymbal’s life without realizing it: playing with no sleeve on the stand, cranking the wing nut down too tight, and so on. If this helps you spot things like that, it has done its job.

Cracks tend to start in the same places

A cymbal is a sheet of metal, but it does not crack just anywhere. Cracks show up in roughly three places.

Cracks that run inward from the edge, cracks that run around the bow or the base of the cup, and cracks that run from the rim of the center hole toward the cup. People who repair cymbals for a living sort them into roughly these three groups, too.

Of the three, the edge and the bow are the ones you see most. We do not have statistics, but among cracked cymbals, these two stand out. They are where you hit the cymbal, so that is hardly a surprise.

There is one more thing, separate from cracks: damage that shows up as a change of shape. The center hole stretches from a circle into an oval, or the rim bends out of shape. Nothing has split here, so it is clearer to think of it separately from cracking.

One caveat up front: the location of a crack alone cannot tell you the cause. Even with the cymbal in hand, and taking into account where, how, and for how long it has been used, more often than not you cannot be 100% sure. What you can do is make an educated guess. Read what follows as material for that guess, nothing more.

Some kinds of damage point to a likely cause

Some symptoms make the cause fairly easy to guess.

If the center hole has stretched lengthwise, suspect the way the cymbal is mounted. If the rim has bent out of shape, it was most likely dropped or knocked over, not damaged by playing. Neither of these is a crack; both are changes of shape, and you can read them at a glance.

In fact, some major cymbal makers show exactly these two, with photos, on their warranty pages as examples of damage caused by use. In other words, even from the maker’s side, these are the cases where the cause is easiest to infer.

Cracks at the edge or in the bow are not that simple. Was it technique, the angle, or simply the sheer number of hits? Several factors usually overlap.

So the most accurate way to think about it is this: where it cracked is not the cause. It is where to start looking.

The most common: cracks at the edge and in the bow

Let’s start with the most common ones: cracks that run inward from the edge and cracks in the bow.

Running inward from the edge

A short cut runs inward from a single point on the rim. At first it may be only a few millimeters, small enough that you would not notice unless someone pointed it out.

The trouble is that it can keep going. Each hit concentrates force at its tip, so a crack of a few millimeters can grow, and eventually curve to follow the rim. Catching it while it is still small is what makes the difference.

In the bow

These cracks appear in the playing surface. They are less common than edge cracks, but not unusual.

They run in one of two directions. Some run radially, toward the center. Others run sideways, following the lathe grooves around the cymbal, and those are especially hard to spot. Because they run the same way as the grooves, in some light you cannot tell them apart.

Bow cracks are said to show up when the same spot gets hit over and over, as when a ride pattern keeps landing in exactly one place.

At the edge, angle matters more than force

So how do you cut down on edge and bow cracks? Here, the angle of contact matters more than how hard you hit.

When the stick meets the edge at a right angle, it collides with the thin edge at a single point, and the force has nowhere to go. The better way is the opposite. Lay the stick down until it is nearly parallel with the surface, and brush the edge with the thicker part just behind the tip, not the tip itself, following through as you go. The difference in strain, on both the cymbal and the stick, is huge.

This is as much about setup as it is about technique. If a cymbal stands too upright, no matter what you do, you end up hitting it head-on. If the angle feels awkward, look at the stand first.

How far to tilt it depends on your height, the cymbal’s height, and how you play, so there is no set number. If you want a reference point, check whether the stick glides off the surface. Tilt it too far, though, and your strokes become too shallow to get much volume.

For the bow, spread your strokes around. Hitting the same spot again and again builds up strain there. Even shifting where you play your pattern a little should help.

Why cymbals crack at the base of the cup, where nobody hits

The one that surprises people is the base of the cup (the bell). You may hit the bell itself, but nobody aims for the spot where it meets the bow. Even so, cracks sometimes start right there.

Look at a cross-section and the reason becomes clear. A cymbal changes shape from the dome in the middle, to the gently sloping bow, to the thin edge. The one place where that change is abrupt is where the cup turns into the bow.

Whether it is paper or metal, a sheet that gets bent starts to wear out at the fold. Force tends to gather wherever the shape changes suddenly. The base of the cup is a stress point for the same reason.

On top of that, the bell is one of the thickest parts of a cymbal. So the base of the cup is a boundary where not only the shape but also the thickness changes sharply.

If it cracks from the center, check the sleeve first

If a crack runs out from the center hole, the first thing to check is the sleeve: the short plastic or nylon tube that fits over the stand’s post.

If it is cracked, or has quietly gone missing, the cymbal’s hole sits directly against the metal post. Every time you play, metal knocks against metal, and the hole slowly wears and widens. When a round hole has stretched into an oval shaped like a keyhole, it is called “keyholing.” It is not caused by over-tightening. Quite the opposite: it happens when the cymbal moves around too much on the post, and the hole wears away.

Sleeves wear out. They cost very little, but playing without one puts a cymbal at a real disadvantage.

The other part is the felts, one above the cymbal and one below. They keep the cymbal from touching the metal hardware and let it move freely. Over time they get crushed and hard, and stop doing their job. A crushed felt still looks perfectly normal on the stand, which may make it the part people overlook most. Press it with a finger. If there is no give, it is time to replace it.

How tight is your wing nut?

This one gets overlooked a lot. Locking the cymbal down feels safer, so it is tempting to crank the nut down. We understand the feeling, but for the cymbal it is the opposite of what it needs.

Tighten it hard and you restrict movement all the way into the bell. It is like pressing down hard on the base of an instrument that makes its sound by vibrating. It also puts unnecessary stress around the center hole.

That does not mean looser is better. If it is sloppy, the cymbal moves too much, and the stick starts landing at angles you did not intend. That shortens its life, too.

Do manufacturing defects happen?

We will be straight with you here, as people who handle cymbals.

Defects that trace back to the manufacturing process can happen. However careful the quality control, manufacturing problems can never be brought all the way down to zero. That is exactly why every maker works on the assumption that they can occur. Some makers explain that they inspect returned cymbals, trace them back through their production records, and use what they learn to improve quality.

That said, we do not have figures for how many cracks come from use and how many from manufacturing. We have never seen anyone publish them, either. So we cannot say anything about the ratio.

And this is worth knowing: there are cracks whose cause even the maker cannot identify. One maker states plainly on its warranty page that, for damage where part of the rim breaks away, the cause cannot be determined. Even professionals, with the cymbal in front of them, cannot always tell.

At VEQUS, too, when a manufacturing defect is suspected, we check the cymbal’s condition and respond case by case.

About cymbals at rehearsal studios

Every so often on social media, you see posts about cracked cymbals at rehearsal studios. Requests like “please don’t hit them so hard” have also become more common.

For a start, they simply get far more use. A cymbal played by one person at home and a cymbal played by a different drummer every few hours, every day, take completely different amounts of punishment. And every drummer plays and sets up differently. In a sense, it is only natural that they wear out faster.

On top of that, there are two more things going on in the background.

One is price. Cymbal prices have gone up several times in recent years. Metal prices, ocean freight, and exchange rates are all outside a maker’s control, and those are the reasons listed in price-increase notices. When a single crash costs as much as it does today, that is no small matter for a studio with dozens of cymbals.

The other may not be widely known. Studio cymbals fall outside the maker’s warranty. Rental, backline, rehearsal studios, recording studios: several makers state clearly that cymbals used for purposes like these are not covered.

In other words, when one cracks, the studio absorbs the cost. Many studios’ terms say the customer can be billed, but in practice, nobody breaks a cymbal on purpose. Most simply reach the end of their life through normal use, and the studio carries that cost.

This is not meant as a lecture about manners, and nobody is to blame. It is just that studios have real reasons to be careful with their gear. Knowing that may change how it looks, a little.

In storage, watch out for moisture

How a cymbal is treated when nobody is playing it matters more than you might think.

The one people tend to overlook is moisture. Cymbals are metal, so if they sit in a humid place, they are more likely to discolor and dull. It is safest to avoid sheds, closets, and storage rooms that are close to the outdoors.

Then there is sweat. After you play, a cymbal carries oil and sweat from your hands. Put it straight into a case and close it, and it spends hours sealed up damp. Just a quick wipe with a dry cloth should make a real difference.

As for how to store them, upright or flat is fine. Cases and racks normally hold cymbals upright, and that causes no problems. What to avoid is leaving a bare cymbal leaning against something. Setting one directly on a hard floor is also best avoided, since it is easy to knock the edge.

When you stack cymbals, put a cloth between them. Metal rubbing directly on metal scratches the surface. Also avoid moving cymbals while they are still on their stands. The jolts in transit put unexpected force on the mounting.

A bent rim, as we saw, is a sign that a cymbal was dropped or knocked over. Put the other way around, damage from a fall leaves its mark on the cymbal’s shape.

If you find a crack

First, do not keep playing it as it is. That comes before anything else.

There are two reasons. One is safety: if the crack grows and a large piece breaks away, fragments can fly. The other is that once a large piece is gone, the cause can no longer be determined. That is exactly the situation a maker means when it says the cause of damage where part of the rim breaks away cannot be identified. Even if you suspect a manufacturing defect, there is no way to judge without the original shape.

And if it is still under warranty, talk to the store where you bought it before doing anything to it yourself. Drilling holes or similar work can void the warranty. Do things in the wrong order and you may lose help you would otherwise have been entitled to.

With that said: unfortunately, a crack, once it is there, cannot be undone. Whatever you do, that area will never be as strong as it was before.

But that does not mean the cymbal has to be thrown away. Repair is an option. There are workshops and drum techs who repair cymbals, and their work is used in places where cymbals wear out fast, such as studios and school bands.

Two basic approaches

One is to stop the crack from going any further. A small hole is drilled at each end of the crack. The idea is that the round hole catches the crack where it would keep growing and spreads out the concentrated force. For cracks that run around the cymbal, there is also a method that cuts a thin groove between the two holes.

The other is to remove the cracked part altogether: cutting out only the cracked section, cutting a V around it, or going all the way and trimming the whole rim to drop the cymbal down a size. For cracks that start at the edge, cutting a V is a common choice. The idea is that the side that has been cut becomes lighter, so the cymbal tends to settle with that side away from you on the stand, and the stick is less likely to hit that spot.

For the area around the center hole, there are methods such as fitting a ring or bringing the hole back to a true circle. Even in repair shops, a worn hole and a crack are treated as separate jobs.

Joining a crack with solder or a torch is also sometimes mentioned as a repair.

Whatever the method, the sound will change. Remove a little and the change is small; the more you remove, the more it changes. Some repairers explain that cutting deep adds a low, wavering element to the decay, moving the sound toward something like a gong. As a groove gets longer, the highs and lows start to separate more noticeably, the maximum volume drops, and the attack gets quicker with a shorter decay. It is less about restoring the original sound than about choosing to live with a different one.

Many repairers charge far less than a new cymbal would cost, which makes repair a realistic option. Even after a repair, though, a cymbal can crack again depending on how it is used. Repairers say that plainly themselves.

Since it is metalwork, doing it yourself is not easy. If the warranty has run out and you still want to keep playing that cymbal, it is worth asking a repairer before you throw it away.

With edge cracks, some players simply cut off the cracked part and keep playing. The size and the sound both change, so it is less like fixing the cymbal and more like getting to know a different instrument.

Wrapping up

For each symptom, where should you look first? Here it is in a single table.

This is not a diagnostic chart, though. Cracks in the same place can have different causes. Think of it as a list of places to start looking.

Of everything here, please check the sleeve and the felts regularly, as the consumables they are. An inexpensive part protects a cymbal that costs many times more. Checking just these makes a real difference.

One last thing. As we said at the start, cymbals are consumables. Not every cause lies with the player, and even makers write that some damage has no identifiable cause. If a cymbal cracks, there is no need to be too hard on yourself.

Still, there are things that shorten a cymbal’s life without you knowing. A cracked sleeve left in place, a wing nut cranked down too far, a cymbal standing too upright. Whether you notice them changes how long you get to play the same cymbal. Take a look, along with your setup as a whole.