Cymbal - User contributions [en]

Paiste Formula 602 18" Medium Ride

2026-04-09T21:14:36Z

Zenstat:

__NOEDITSECTION__
<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div><div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
[[File:18 med ride.jpg|thumb|right|450px|602 18" Medium Ride]]
[[File:Paiste-602-18-med-ride-bot.jpg|thumb|right|450px|602 18" Medium Ride]]
'''Group:''' [[Paiste Cymbal Type#Rides|Rides]] 
'''Type:''' [[Paiste Medium Ride|Medium Ride]] 
'''Size:''' 18 Inch 
'''Series:''' [[Paiste Formula 602#Formula 602|Formula 602]] 
'''Weight:''' 1600g ([[Paiste_Formula_602#Black_Label_Era|Black]]),
1646g (Preserial), 1650g (Preserial), 1660g (Black), 1670g (Preserial), 1691g (Preserial), 1700g (Preserial), 1723g (Preserial), 1738g ([[Paiste_Formula_602#Black_Label_Era|Black]]), 1756g (Blue), 1760g (Black), 1768g (Preserial), 1775g (Preserial), 1776g (Blue Label), 1779g (1985 Serial Number), 1790g (1986 Serial Number), 1792g (1986 Serial Number), 1805g (1974 Serial Number), 1815g (Preserial), 1837g (Black), 1900g (Preserial), 1922g (Black) 
'''Median Weight:''' 1760g (n=21) 
'''Used Prices:''' $106 - $300 (median $220) n=25 
'''MAP New:''' $440 list $710 (Aug 2020) for 18" models in production 
'''Years of production:''' 1963 - 1994. Currently out of production 
'''Sound file:''' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpW5oCodE-s Blue Label 1980s 18" Medium Ride] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEycfqEykt0 Black Label 1977 18" Medium Ride] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7urs5ir7Z7U Pre Serial 1960s 18" Medium Ride] 
'''Paiste's Description:''' [[Paiste Medium Ride#Formula 602|<<< - >>>]] 
'''Review:''' 
:Review written by 
'''Artist/song where it can be heard:''' [[Paiste Czeslaw Bartkowski#Czeslaw Bartkowski|Czeslaw Bartkowski]], [[Paiste Peter Baumeister#Peter Baumeister|Peter Baumeister]], [[Paiste Amaury Blanchard#Amaury Blanchard|Amaury Blanchard]], [[Paiste Clive Bunker#Clive Bunker|Clive Bunker]], [[Paiste Rune Carlsson#Rune Carlsson|Rune Carlsson]], [[Paiste Christian "Chypo" Cheype#Christian "Chypo" Cheype|Christian "Chypo" Cheype]], [[Paiste Jean-Pierre Drouet#Jean-Pierre Drouet|Jean-Pierre Drouet]], [[Paiste Ringo Funk#Ringo Funk|Ringo Funk]], [[Paiste Vladimir Furduy#Vladimir Furduy|Vladimir Furduy]], [[Paiste Keef Hartley#Keef Hartley|Keef Hartley]], [[Paiste Egil Johansen#Egil Johansen|Egil Johansen]], [[Paiste Ivan Krillzarin#Ivan Krillzarin|Ivan Krillzarin]], [[Miguel Angel Lizandra]], [[Paiste Marty Morell#Marty Morell|Marty Morell]], [[Paiste Heinz Niemeyer#Heinz Niemeyer|Heinz Niemeyer]], [[Paiste Ian Paice#Ian Paice|Ian Paice]], [[Bernard Planchenault]], [[Alain Plumauzille]], [[Paiste Cozy Powell#Cozy Powell|Cozy Powell]], [[Paiste Alex Riel#Alex Riel|Alex Riel]], [[Ed Thigpen#Paiste|Ed Thigpen]], [[Ed Tober]], [[Paiste John Wilson#John Wilson|John Wilson]] 

---------------
'''Weight comparisons for some other 18" Fo602 cymbals:'''

Note that this comparison of models and weights needs to move to a page where other diameters are also included but it has been placed here for now.

Paperthin 1162g - 1280g median 1200g 
Thin Crash 1284g - 1535g median 1450g 
Thin 1410g - 1590g median 1424g 
Seven Sound Set #5 Ride/Crash 1462g - 1542g median 1474g 
Modern Essentials 1485g 
Morello 1510g (just two the same weight) 
Medium 1600g - 1843g median 1677g 
Medium Ride 1600g - 1922g median 1738g 
Heavy 1930g - 2030g median 1990g 

On present evidence Paperthin are a different range from Thin Crash, but Thin Crash and Thin overlap. Similarly Medium and Medium Ride weight ranges overlap. The Medium/Medium Ride weight ranges are distinct from the Thin/Thin Crash ranges. The Heavy weight class is distinct from the Medium/Medium Ride weight ranges. In order to distinguish a Thin Crash from a Thin once the model ink has gone we would want more then just weight. In order to distinguish a Medium from a Medium Ride we would want more than weight. Research is ongoing to determine if knowing production era (Preserial, Black label, Blue Label, Reissue) can help in the general case. It is also likely that the differences in sound and feel are due to shape and weight distribution not just weight itself. Work is ongoing to assess the profile (curvature of the bow) and taper (thinning of the metal towards the edge) which might inform that understanding.

Main Page

2026-04-04T03:22:49Z

Zenstat:

==Welcome to Cymbal Wiki==

A free hypertext [https://archive.is/kp1Wf Cymbal Book] brought up to date for the 21st Century. The old Paiste-only Wiki is in the [[Paiste]] portal with lots of new additions. [[Avedis Zildjian]] and [[K Zildjian Istanbul]] are there, although there are some temporary external links back to pages on [http://black.net.nz/avedis.html Black.net.nz] during the changeover. The other manufacturers are appearing thanks to some dedicated contriibutors. Thank you all.

Creation of user accounts is not automated until we can overcome some technical issues which mean we are stuck on an old unsupported version. But you can contact me if you want to volunteer to help. WARNING: if you use a gmail address the wiki won't be able to send you emails so we urge you to come up with some other email address for registering.

You may notice some broken links as we are working, but the site is growing daily!

Do you notice anything missing from the site? Something you feel that we forgot?

Send me an email:pomeroycbjfan@gmail.com

== About Cymbals ==

* [[Alloys]]
* [[Manufacturing]]
* [[Modification]]
* [[Shape and Sound]]
* [[Words and Sounds]]

== Manufacturers List ==

* [[Avedis Zildjian]]
* [[Sabian]]
* [[Paiste]]
* [[Meinl]]
* [[Italians]]
* [[Chinese]]
* [[K Zildjian Istanbul]]
* [[Modern Turkish]]
* [[Independent Cymbalsmiths]]
* [[All the rest]]

== Cymbal Care ==
* [[Cymbal care|Cymbal Care]]
* [[Wiki cymbal cleaning supplemental|Cymbal Cleaning]]
* [https://youtu.be/SaiSD6NNOMg?si=nCO8UIY5melyCOTP Removing Permanent Marker From Your Cymbals] (Video)

Main Page

2026-04-04T03:06:37Z

Zenstat:

==Welcome to Cymbal Wiki==

A free hypertext [https://archive.is/kp1Wf Cymbal Book] brought up to date for the 21st Century. The old Paiste-only Wiki is in the [[Paiste]] portal with lots of new additions. [[Avedis Zildjian]] and [[K Zildjian Istanbul]] are there, although there are some temporary external links back to pages on [http://black.net.nz/avedis.html Black.net.nz] during the changeover. The other manufacturers are appearing thanks to some dedicated contriibutors. Creation of user accounts is not automated until we can overcome some technical issues which mean we are stuck on an old unsupported version. But you can contact me if you want to volunteer to help. WARNING: if you use a gmail address the wiki won't be able to send you emails so we urge you to come up with some other email address for registering.

You may notice some broken links as we are working, but the site is growing daily!

Do you notice anything missing from the site? Something you feel that we forgot?

Send me an email:pomeroycbjfan@gmail.com

== About Cymbals ==

* [[Alloys]]
* [[Manufacturing]]
* [[Modification]]
* [[Shape and Sound]]
* [[Words and Sounds]]

== Manufacturers List ==

* [[Avedis Zildjian]]
* [[Sabian]]
* [[Paiste]]
* [[Meinl]]
* [[Italians]]
* [[Chinese]]
* [[K Zildjian Istanbul]]
* [[Modern Turkish]]
* [[Independent Cymbalsmiths]]
* [[All the rest]]

== Cymbal Care ==
* [[Cymbal care|Cymbal Care]]
* [[Wiki cymbal cleaning supplemental|Cymbal Cleaning]]
* [https://youtu.be/SaiSD6NNOMg?si=nCO8UIY5melyCOTP Removing Permanent Marker From Your Cymbals] (Video)

K Zildjian Istanbul Constantinople Type 1

2026-04-04T02:57:10Z

Zenstat:

'''Company:''' K Zildjian & Cie 
'''Country:''' Istanbul, Turkey (which was called Constantinople back then) 
'''Production Years:''' 1910? to 1925? 
'''Trademark location:''' towards the outer edge 
'''Other Markings:''' Company name written under bell K Zildjian & Cie, sometimes Constantinople 
'''Diameters:''' observed 11" to 17" 
'''Sound File Examples:''' coming 

The Type 1 is the second form of the K Zildjian trademark stamps from Turkey. The words

K.Zildjian & Cie 
Constantinople

are added below the Arabic of Stamp 0. From what we currently know the Arabic portion of Stamp 0 says the same thing: the company name K Zildjian & Cie. The Constantinople is curved.

<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=160px heights=160px>
File:kz-stamp-1.png|Example 1
File:kz-12-655-stamp.png|Example 2
File:kz-15-1500-stamp.jpg|Example 3
File:kz-14-970-stamp.jpg|Example 4
File:kz-15-1211-1276-stamp.png|Example 5
File:kz-14-con1911-stamp.jpg|Example 6
File:kz-14-con1911-engraved.jpg|Example 6 Engraved 1911
 
This 14" cymbal with an engraving dated 1911 shows the Type 1 trademark is 1911 or earlier.

</gallery>

Here is a 17" example weighing 2177g.

<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=160px heights=160px>
File:kz-17-2177-side.jpg|Side view
File:kz-17-2177-top.jpg|Top View
File:kz-17-2177-bot.jpg|Bottom View 1
File:kz-17-2177-sig.jpg|Company Name K Zildjian Cie
File:kz-17-2177-stamp.jpg|Trademark Stamp
</gallery>

Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul Eras|K Zildjian Istanbul Eras Portal]] 
Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul Timeline|K Zildjian Istanbul Timeline Portal]] 
Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul|K Zildjian Istanbul Portal]]

File:Kz-14-con1911-engraved.jpg

2026-04-04T02:50:47Z

Zenstat: Engraving dated to 1911 on a cymbal with a Type 1 trademark stamp.

== Summary ==
Engraving dated to 1911 on a cymbal with a Type 1 trademark stamp.

File:Kz-14-con1911-stamp.jpg

2026-04-04T02:49:02Z

Zenstat: Type 1 stamp on a cymbal which is engraved 1911. Weight unknown.

== Summary ==
Type 1 stamp on a cymbal which is engraved 1911. Weight unknown.

K Zildjian Istanbul Constantinople Type 1

2026-04-04T02:10:29Z

Zenstat:

'''Company:''' K Zildjian & Cie 
'''Country:''' Istanbul, Turkey (which was called Constantinople back then) 
'''Production Years:''' 1910? to 1925? 
'''Trademark location:''' towards the outer edge 
'''Other Markings:''' Company name written under bell K Zildjian & Cie, sometimes Constantinople 
'''Diameters:''' observed 11" to 17" 
'''Sound File Examples:''' coming 

The Type 1 is the second form of the K Zildjian trademark stamps from Turkey. The words

K.Zildjian & Cie 
Constantinople

are added below the Arabic of Stamp 0. From what we currently know the Arabic portion of Stamp 0 says the same thing: the company name K Zildjian & Cie. The Constantinople is curved.

<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=160px heights=160px>
File:kz-stamp-1.png|Example 1
File:kz-12-655-stamp.png|Example 2
File:kz-15-1500-stamp.jpg|Example 3
File:kz-14-970-stamp.jpg|Example 4
File:kz-15-1211-1276-stamp.png|Example 5
File:kz-14-con1911-stamp.jpg|Example 6
File:kz-14-con1911-engraved.jpg|Example 6 Engraved 1911

</gallery>

Here is a 17" example weighing 2177g.

<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=160px heights=160px>
File:kz-17-2177-side.jpg|Side view
File:kz-17-2177-top.jpg|Top View
File:kz-17-2177-bot.jpg|Bottom View 1
File:kz-17-2177-sig.jpg|Company Name K Zildjian Cie
File:kz-17-2177-stamp.jpg|Trademark Stamp
</gallery>

Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul Eras|K Zildjian Istanbul Eras Portal]] 
Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul Timeline|K Zildjian Istanbul Timeline Portal]] 
Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul|K Zildjian Istanbul Portal]]

K Zildjian Istanbul Constantinople Type 1

2026-04-04T01:50:58Z

Zenstat:

'''Company:''' K Zildjian & Cie 
'''Country:''' Istanbul, Turkey (which was called Constantinople back then) 
'''Production Years:''' 1910? to 1925? 
'''Trademark location:''' towards the outer edge 
'''Other Markings:''' Company name written under bell K Zildjian & Cie, sometimes Constantinople 
'''Diameters:''' observed 11" to 17" 
'''Sound File Examples:''' coming 

The Type 1 is the second form of the K Zildjian trademark stamps from Turkey. The words

K.Zildjian & Cie 
Constantinople

are added below the Arabic of Stamp 0. From what we currently know the Arabic portion of Stamp 0 says the same thing: the company name K Zildjian & Cie. The Constantinople is curved.

<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=160px heights=160px>
File:kz-stamp-1.png|Example 1
File:kz-12-655-stamp.png|Example 2
File:kz-15-1500-stamp.jpg|Example 3
File:kz-14-970-stamp.jpg|Example 4
File:kz-15-1211-1276-stamp.png|Example 5
File:kz-15-1500-stamp.jpg|Example 6
</gallery>

Here is a 17" example weighing 2177g.

<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=160px heights=160px>
File:kz-17-2177-side.jpg|Side view
File:kz-17-2177-top.jpg|Top View
File:kz-17-2177-bot.jpg|Bottom View 1
File:kz-17-2177-sig.jpg|Company Name K Zildjian Cie
File:kz-17-2177-stamp.jpg|Trademark Stamp
</gallery>

Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul Eras|K Zildjian Istanbul Eras Portal]] 
Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul Timeline|K Zildjian Istanbul Timeline Portal]] 
Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul|K Zildjian Istanbul Portal]]

File talk:Kz-13-680-907-stamp.jpg

2026-04-03T23:13:49Z

Zenstat: Created page with "Note as of 4-Apr-26 I have become suspicious about this stamp impression having done a quick followup. It might be Italian or one of the other not quite legit K family cymbals..."

Note as of 4-Apr-26 I have become suspicious about this stamp impression having done a quick followup. It might be Italian or one of the other not quite legit K family cymbals. I had it in my notes as one of the pair possibly Italian. That means going through a large number of unclassified and analyzed examples I have. It started with this post https://www.drumforum.org/threads/anyone-ever-seen-a-brilliant-platinum-finished-zildjian-k-con-cymbal-before.239817/#post-2951657

First task will be to replace this image with something I trust.

Paiste Signature 19" Dry Ride

2026-03-18T03:39:12Z

Zenstat: changed sound file because other one went private.

__NOEDITSECTION__
<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
[[File:Signature 19 Dry Ride 1.jpg|thumb|right|450px|]]
[[File:Signature 19 Dry Ride 2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|]]
[[File:Signature 19 Dry Ride 3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|]]
'''Group:''' [[Paiste Cymbal Type#Rides|Rides]] 
'''Type:''' [[Paiste Dry Ride|Dry Ride]] 
'''Size:''' 19 Inch 
'''Series:''' [[Paiste Signature#Signature|Signature]] 
'''Weight:''' 2159g, 2134g, 2184g, 2198g (With 4 Rivets, 1989 Serial Number) 
'''Median Weight:''' 2165g (n=4) 
'''Years of production:''' [[Paiste 1989 Expansion#Signature|1989]] - ? 
'''Sound file:''' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPWsh8dQ8lI Signature 19" Dry Ride] 
'''Paiste's Description:''' [[Paiste Dry Ride#Signature|<<< - >>>]] 
'''Review:''' 
Review written by 
'''Artist/song where it can be heard:''' [[Paiste Michael Baker#Michael Baker|Michael Baker]], [[Paiste Charlie Benante#Charlie Benante|Charlie Benante]], [[Paiste Will Kennedy#Will Kennedy|Will Kennedy]], [[Paiste Kurt Wortman#Kurt Wortman|Kurt Wortman]]

Paiste Formula 602

2026-01-01T01:20:26Z

Zenstat:

__NOEDITSECTION__
== Formula 602 ==
<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
[[File:602 logo Blue mod.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Formula 602 logo]]
[[File:Fo 602.png|thumb|right|450px|]]
[[File:1985 602 catalog.jpg|thumb|right|450px|]]
'''Introduction:''' 1962/63ish (based on advertising and catalogs) 
'''Discontinued:''' 1994 (based on serial numbers) then reissued 2011 to present 
'''Background:''' One of the world’s most revered and legendary cymbal lines in history, renown and loved for its fine, delicate musical tone. 
Robert Paiste had been experimenting with cymbals made of B20 bell bronze starting in 1957, this (new to Paiste) B20 alloy first came onto the market under the name "SUPER FORMULA 602" the predecessor to the Formula 602. It is believed that Robert spent a couple of years refining the production process ('57-'59), sound characteristics and model names and sizes, then we think the "Super Formula" series ran to about 1962. Evidence shows that the Formula 602 series became available in 1962 and was produced until Paiste's B20 supplier Swissmetal ran into financial difficulties and stopped production of blanks in 1994. 
'''Innovation:''' Second B20 cymbal made by Paiste, the Formula 602 line also saw the introduction of the [[Paiste Sound Edge Hi-Hat|Sound Edge Hi-Hat]], the [[Paiste Flatride|Flatride]], [[Paiste China Type|China Type]] with a Turkish bell, [[Paiste Splash|Splash]] and [[Paiste Bell|Bell]]. 
'''Alloy:''' [[Identify_Your_Paistes#B20_Alloy|B20 Bronze]], also known as "Bell Bronze". 
'''Quality:''' Professional 
'''Offered as:''' [[Paiste Formula 602#Formula 602|Formula 602]] - [[Paiste Formula 602#Formula 602 Modern Essentials|Formula 602 Modern Essentials]] 
'''Production:''' Manually machine hammered, fine tuned with hand hammering and hand lathed B20 bronze. 
'''Applications:''' Most volume settings • Low to medium loud settings • especially well-suited for recording, live • Jazz, Fusion, Blues, Pop and Rock, Country, Folk, acoustic music. 
'''Users:''' Professional musicians, refined drummers and sound specialists with precise requirements that need a fully developed character in their cymbal sound 
Late 1960's early 1970's formula 602 users: [https://youtu.be/axEK3x5KIYc?t=30 '''Clive Bunker playing a shiny new set of 602's in 1970 @ the isle of Wight festival.''']
[[File:602 players.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Formula 602 Players]]
'''Sound:'''
* Musical, transparent, beautiful, rich, colorful, full, clear, expressive sound • The model range features everything from particularly delicate, well balanced and sensitive to expressive, potent and powerful and projective qualities
* Warm, silvery, mellow, cool, light, fine, precise and controlled • Cymbals with clarity and retro vintage character combined with a velvety, sensitive, very responsive feel. (4) 
* Formula 602 sounds are very precise, very clear and very pure. They are suited to acoustic music, jazz, classical performances and recording. Only a delicate touch is required to produce their distinctive, cool and natural response. (1)
* Forged from the legendary «602 Bronze» (CuSn20), handcrafted from start to finish by highly skilled Swiss craftsmen, Formula 602 Classic Sounds cymbals produce a true, pure sound of unique clarity and consistency. 
=== Formula 602 Models in Production ===
==== Rides ====
* '''[[Paiste Flatride Medium|Flatride Medium]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Flatride Medium|20"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Flatride Thin|Flatride Thin]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Flatride Thin|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Flatride Thin|20"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 22" Flatride Thin|22"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Heavy|Heavy]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Heavy|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Heavy|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Heavy|20"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Medium Ride|Medium Ride]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Medium Ride|20"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 22" Medium Ride|22"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 24" Medium Ride|24"]] 
==== Crashes ====
* '''[[Paiste Medium|Medium]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Medium|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 17" Medium|17"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Medium|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 19" Medium|19"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Medium|20"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Paperthin|Paperthin]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Paperthin|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Paperthin|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Paperthin|20"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Thin Crash|Thin Crash]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Thin Crash|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 17" Thin Crash|17"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Thin Crash|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 19" Thin Crash|19"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Thin Crash|20"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 22" Thin Crash|22"]] 
==== Hi-Hats ====
* '''[[Paiste Heavy Hi-Hat|Heavy Hi-Hat]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Heavy Hi-Hat|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Heavy Hi-Hat|15"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Medium Hi-Hat|Medium Hi-Hat]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Medium Hi-Hat|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Medium Hi-Hat|15"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Sound Edge Hi-Hat|Sound Edge Hi-Hat]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Sound Edge Hi-Hat|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Sound Edge Hi-Hat|15"]] 
==== Splashes (& Bells) ====
* '''[[Paiste Heavy Bell|Heavy Bell]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Heavy Bell|13"]] 
=== Discontinued Models & Sizes ===
==== Rides ====
* '''[[Paiste Dark Ride|Dark Ride]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 22" Dark Ride|22"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Flatride Heavy|Flatride Heavy]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Flatride Heavy|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Flatride Heavy|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Flatride Heavy|20"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 22" Flatride Heavy|22"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Flatride Medium|Flatride Medium]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Flatride Medium|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Flatride Medium|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Flatride Medium|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 22" Flatride Medium|22"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Flatride Thin|Flatride Thin]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Flatride Thin|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Flatride Thin|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 24" Flatride Thin|24"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Heavy|Heavy]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 8" Heavy|8"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 10" Heavy|10"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 11" Heavy|11"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 12" Heavy|12"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Heavy|13"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Heavy|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Heavy|15"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 17" Heavy|17"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 19" Heavy|19"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 21" Heavy|21"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 22" Heavy|22"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 23" Heavy|23"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 24" Heavy|24"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 26" Heavy|26"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Medium Ride|Medium Ride]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Medium Ride|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 17" Medium Ride|17"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Medium Ride|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 19" Medium Ride|19"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 21" Medium Ride|21"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Space Sound Medium|Space Sound Medium]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Space Sound Medium|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Space Sound Medium|20"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Space Sound Thin|Space Sound Thin]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Space Sound Thin|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Space Sound Thin|20"]] 
==== Crashes ====
* '''[[Paiste Medium|Medium]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 10" Medium|10"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 11" Medium|11"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 12" Medium|12"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Medium|13"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Medium|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Medium|15"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 21" Medium|21"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 22" Medium|22"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 23" Medium|23"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 24" Medium|24"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 26" Medium|26"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Paperthin|Paperthin]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 10" Paperthin|10"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 11" Paperthin|11"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 12" Paperthin|12"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Paperthin|13"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Paperthin|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Paperthin|15"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 17" Paperthin|17"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 19" Paperthin|19"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 21" Paperthin|21"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 22" Paperthin|22"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 23" Paperthin|23"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 24" Paperthin|24"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 26" Paperthin|26"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Thin|Thin]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 10" Thin|10"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 11" Thin|11"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 12" Thin|12"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Thin|13"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Thin|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Thin|15"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Thin|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 17" Thin|17"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Thin|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 19" Thin|19"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Thin|20"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 21" Thin|21"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 22" Thin|22"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 23" Thin|23"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 24" Thin|24"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 26" Thin|26"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 28" Thin|28"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Thin Crash|Thin Crash]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 12" Thin Crash|12"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Thin Crash|13"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Thin Crash|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Thin Crash|15"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 21" Thin Crash|21"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 24" Thin Crash|24"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 26" Thin Crash|26"]] 
==== Hi-Hats ====
* '''[[Paiste Extra Heavy Hi-Hat|Extra Heavy Hi-Hat]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 11" Extra Heavy Hi-Hat|11"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 12" Extra Heavy Hi-Hat|12"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Extra Heavy Hi-Hat|13"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Extra Heavy Hi-Hat|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Extra Heavy Hi-Hat|15"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Extra Heavy Sound Edge Hi-Hat|Extra Heavy Sound Edge Hi-Hat]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Extra Heavy Sound Edge Hi-Hat|13"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Extra Heavy Sound Edge Hi-Hat|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Extra Heavy Sound Edge Hi-Hat|15"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Heavy Hi-Hat|Heavy Hi-Hat]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Heavy Hi-Hat|13"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Hi-Hat|Hi-Hat]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Hi-Hat|13"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Hi-Hat|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Hi-Hat|15"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Medium Hi-Hat|Medium Hi-Hat]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Medium Hi-Hat|13"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Medium Hi-Hat|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 17" Medium Hi-Hat|17"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Sound Edge Hi-Hat|Sound Edge Hi-Hat]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Sound Edge Hi-Hat|13"]] 
==== Chinas (& Swishes) ====
* '''[[Paiste China Type|China Type]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 16" China Type|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 18" China Type|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" China Type|20"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 22" China Type|22"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 24" China Type|24"]] 
==== Splashes (& Bells) ====
* '''[[Paiste Bell|Bell]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 8" Bell|8"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 10" Bell|10"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 12" Bell|12"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Heavy Bell|Heavy Bell]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 8" Heavy Bell|8"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 9" Heavy Bell|9"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 10" Heavy Bell|10"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 11" Heavy Bell|11"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 12" Heavy Bell|12"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Splash|Splash]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 8" Splash|8"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 10" Splash|10"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 11" Splash|11"]] 
==== Other ====
* '''[[Paiste Cup Chime|Cup Chime]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 8" Cup Chime|8"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 10" Cup Chime|10"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 11" Cup Chime|11"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Concert|Concert]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 17" Concert|17"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Concert|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 19" Concert|19"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Concert|20"]] 
* '''Concert Medium Weight''' - 17" 18" 19" 20" 21" 
* '''Concert Medium-Heavy''' - 18" 19" 20" 
* '''Concert Medium-Thin''' - 18" 19" 20" 
* '''[[Paiste Concert Heavy|Concert Heavy]] - 17" 18" 19" [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Concert Heavy|20"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Crotale|Crotale]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 Crotale 1 Octave Set|1 Octave Set]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Crotale 2 Octave Set|2 Octave Set]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Crotale 2½ Octave Set|2½ Octave Set]] 
* '''[[Paiste Concert Sound Edge|Concert Sound Edge]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Concert Sound Edge|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Concert Sound Edge|20"]]
* '''[[Paiste Marching|Marching]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 12" Marching|12"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 13" Marching|13"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Marching|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Marching|15"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Marching|16"]] 
* '''[[Paiste Marching Sound Edge|Marching Sound Edge]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Marching Sound Edge|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 15" Marching Sound Edge|15"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 16" Marching Sound Edge|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Marching Sound Edge|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Marching Sound Edge|20"]] 
=== Seven Sound Set ===
[[File:Paiste seven sound set advert.jpg|thumb|right|450px|1968 brochure]]
[[File:7 sound set.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Complete 7 sound set]]
'''Introduction:''' 1967 
'''Discontinued:''' 1977 
'''Background:''' The following description of the Seven Sound Set was printed in Paiste's 1969 catalog: 
"A set of seven cymbals each in a new unusual sound-color. Sound colors the demanding drummer is looking for to enrich his personal cymbal set. Particularly, the SEVEN SOUND SET enables the studio drummer to fulfill the many and often unusual sound demands involved in modern recording and studio work." 
'''Flat ride Background:''' From a 2006 Robert Paiste interview: "The Flat Ride is the first and the last cymbal that more or less came out of a gag. That was with Joe Morello, he visited here once and at that time there were these new super thin Swiss watches, he was fascinated with his new super thin watch that he had just got. He said, "why don't you make a cymbal like that?" I wondered, what does a cymbal without a bell sound like? Well, we were making gongs, but I didn't relate to that, we built prototypes, which surprised us very much with the sound." 
The very early versions or possibly prototypes were labeled "Space Sound" in medium (confirmed) and possibly thin weight. It also believed that less than a dozen of these were made before the name changed to "Flatride" 
* '''1 [[Paiste Bell|Bell]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 8" Bell "Seven Sound Set 1"|8"]] 
* '''2 [[Paiste Splash|Splash]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 11" Splash "Seven Sound Set 2"|11"]] 
* '''3 [[Paiste Bright Ride|Bright Ride]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 17" Bright Ride "Seven Sound Set 3"|17"]] 
* '''4 [[Paiste Flatride Medium|Flatride Medium]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Flatride Medium "Seven Sound Set 4"|18"]] 
: '''4 [[Paiste Flatride Thin|Flatride Thin]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Flatride Thin "Seven Sound Set 4"|18"]] 
* '''5 [[Paiste Ride/Crash|Ride/Crash]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Ride/Crash "Seven Sound Set 5"|18"]] 
* '''6 [[Paiste China Type|China Type]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 18" China Type "Seven Sound Set 6"|18"]] 
* '''7 [[Paiste Deep Ride|Deep Ride]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Deep Ride "Seven Sound Set 7"|18"]] 
: '''7 [[Paiste Deep Ride|Deep Ride]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Deep Ride "Seven Sound Set 7"|20"]] 
=== Joe Morello Set ===
[[File:Joe morello.jpg|thumb|right|450px|1975 Paiste profiles]]
'''Introduction:''' 1967ish - 1977 (based on serial numbers) 
'''Discontinued:''' 1976 
'''Background:''' "Late '65, early '66 after Ludwig took over the distribution of Formula 602's for North America, Joe Morello was approached by Bill Ludwig to endorse Paiste. Since Joe played and endorsed Ludwig Drums, he was the obvious choice for a signature cymbal set baring his name. Paiste catalog: "In personal collaboration with Joe Morello, this beautiful melodically coordinated set was created" A custom set of Formula 602 cymbals made to Joe's specification (the 1st. artist model!) comprising of 14" sound edge hi hats, 17", 18" and 20" sizes. Visual cues show much finer lathing and possibly different hammering compared to the standard 602's 
==== Rides ====
* '''[[Paiste Ride|Ride]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 20" Joe Morello Set|20"]]
==== Crashes ====
* '''[[Paiste Crash|Crash]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 17" Joe Morello Set|17"]]
* '''[[Paiste Crash/Ride|Crash/Ride]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 18" Joe Morello Set|18"]]
==== Hi-Hats ====
* '''[[Paiste Hi-Hat|Hi-Hat]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 14" Joe Morello Set|14"]] 
== Formula 602 Modern Essentials ==
[[File:FORMULA602 ME Group.jpg|thumb|right|450px|]]
[[File:Fredy 2016 drumhead mag 2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Interview with Fredy Studer describing the development of the M.E. 602 and Vinnie Colaiuta's involvement.]]
'''Introduction:''' 2013 
'''Background:''' Forged from the legendary «602 Bronze» (CuSn20), offering a complete new wide and dynamic sound dimension, developed in close collaboration with Vinnie Colaiuta, handcrafted from start to finish by highly skilled Swiss craftsmen, conceived and executed according to Vinnie’s uncompromising sound concepts for a wide all-round application. Formula 602 Modern Essentials cymbals combine the essence of the Formula 602 Classic Sounds models – transparency and stick definition – with the richness, warmth, darkness and a bit of complexity of the Signature Traditionals series besides providing slightly more pizzazz than its Classic Sounds siblings. 
'''Alloy:''' B20 (CuSn20) 
'''Quality:''' Professional 
'''Offered as:''' [[Paiste Formula 602#Formula 602|Formula 602]] - [[Paiste Formula 602#Formula 602 Modern Essentials|Formula 602 Modern Essentials]] 
'''Production:''' Hand hammered and hand lathed bronze. 
'''Applications:''' Low to medium loud settings •especially well-suited for recording, live • extremely versatile cymbals for a wide range of music styles such as Pop, Rock, Jazz, Fusion, Blues, R&B, Country, Folk, acoustic music 
'''Sound:'''Deep, full, rich, warm, lively, silvery, dynamic, controlled and precise • Cymbals that combine clarity, consistency with deepness and warmth, yet providing a modern versatile sound character with dynamic, potent, well balanced qualities and a responsive, soft feel 
==== Rides ====
* '''[[Paiste Ride|Ride]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 20" Ride|20"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 21" Ride|21"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 22" Ride|22"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 24" Ride|24"]] 
==== Crashes ====
* '''[[Paiste Crash|Crash]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 16" Crash|16"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 17" Crash|17"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 18" Crash|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 19" Crash|19"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 20" Crash|20"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 22" Crash|22"]] 
==== Hi-Hats ====
* '''[[Paiste Hi-Hat|Hi-Hat]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 14" Hi-Hat|14"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 15" Hi-Hat|15"]] 
==== Chinas (& Swishes) ====
* '''[[Paiste China|China]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 18" China|18"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 22" China|22"]] 
==== Splashes (& Bells) ====
* '''[[Paiste Splash|Splash]] - [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 8" Splash|8"]] [[Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 10" Splash|10"]] 
== Production Eras ==
=== Super Formula 602 (1957/59 - 1963 according to advertising data)===
Robert Paiste had been experimenting with cymbals made of B20 bell bronze starting in 1957 when he first opened the Swiss factory (at that point it was a one room shop!). 
It should be noted that Robert founded the Swiss factory across lake Sempach from where their future B20 alloy supplier "Metallwerke Dornach/Swissmetal" was located (Paiste had not used B20 alloy up to that point, little did he know they were the only foundry and mill that produced B20 bronze in all of Switzerland and possibly all of western Europe!). He initially worked with Swissmetal and developed a process of rolling B20 thin enough for B20 cymbal production, Swissmetal previously had not rolled it to such a thin specification but did have the equipment to do it reliably, Robert literally had to teach the foundry technicians how to roll the blanks to his thin specification without cracking! 
It is believed that Robert spent a couple of years refining the production process ('57-'59), sound characteristics and model names and sizes, this means that most likely the "Super formula" didn't reach widespread distribution until about 1959. This (new to Paiste) B20 alloy first came onto the market under the name "SUPER FORMULA 602". 
*One of the stamps of this series (there are two distinct styles) still looks very similar to the [https://www.cymbal.wiki/wiki/Paiste_Stambul STAMBUL series] stamp. The Super formula series with the Stambul style logo seems to come in two versions: one with Formula 602 label and one without (see below). 
*There are also two versions of the second style which looks like the early formula 602 stamp: one has the word "Super" written to the upper right ("plain stamp- Super"), the second variation does not have the word "Super" (we call this the "plain stamp"), both leave off the words "formula 602" these variations are thought to represent the evolution of the trademark for the super formula 602 series just as it was coming out. 
*It is speculated that the "Super formula" term comes from the process that Swissmetal used to heat, mix, pour and hot roll the B20 alloy. 
Note: There is an entirely separate series called [http://www.cymbal.wiki/wiki/Paiste_Super#Super Super] which is not made from B20 alloy and came later. This has caused a lot of confusion over the years. '''Sound sample:''' [https://youtu.be/Gb_Gl0xqbJsSuper Formula 24" ride] 
<gallery caption="Super Formula 602" heights="100" mode="packed">
File:Paiste 57-59 catalog 1.jpg|'59-'62 catalogs
File:Paiste 57-59 catalog 2.jpg|'59-'62 catalogs
File:Paiste 1959 63 catalog back cover.jpg|'59-'62 catalogs
File:Paiste Super Stambul Standard ad (Melos 1962).jpg|The super formula 602 is still listed in "Melos" magazine in 1962
File:Super 602 blank logo 1.jpg| "plain stamp"
File:Paiste-SuperF602-gen2-logo.jpg||"plain stamp-Super"
File:Paiste-22-2794-stamp.jpg|"Super only" Stambul stamp
File:Early 602 super stambul type logo.jpg|"Super formula" Stambul stamp
</gallery>
<gallery caption="Examples" heights="100" mode="packed">
File:602 14 super thinsm.jpg|14" "Super formula" Stambul stamp
File:Super 602 15 thin.jpg|15" "Super formula" Stambul stamp
File:Paiste-SuperF602-gen2-top.jpg|15" "plain stamp"
File:PXL 20221112 030503044.jpg|15" "plain stamp" hi hats
File:Paiste-602-super-top.jpg|"Super formula" Stambul stamp
File:16 super formula 2.jpg|16" "Super only" Stambul stamp
File:18 super formula stambul stmp.jpg|18" "Super formula" Stambul stamp
File:Paiste-pre602-top.jpg|22" "plain stamp" 602 Cymbal 22"
File:Cleaned super formulas.jpg| Stambul stamp and plain stamp comparison
File:Super x plain stamp location.jpg|Plain stamp location comparison
</gallery>
=== Preserial Era (~1962/63 - 1971/72)===
This is the first true era of the Formula 602 series.
==== Early "E over trade" stamp (~1962 to about 1965)====
This early era is identified by several cymbals with these stamps that we have observed and or own, the "E over trade stamp" is the first stamp Paiste used on the early formula 602 series. It is relatively easy to spot the difference between this early stamp the perserial "Solid stamp" and 1970's "Outline stamp" formats.
The discovery of the early 60's logos illustrated in the catalogs below helped confirm the difference. 
The E over trade stamp has two subtle variations (see pictures below), one version has a wide gap between "Formula 602" and "made in Switzerland" and the other has a much smaller gap. Also, the size of the text in general is smaller and or a different font on the "wide gap stamp" (see side by side comparison below). 
The 602 "Aribiter custom" was also produced during this period and possibly extended into the "solid stamp" era.
<gallery caption="E over Trade" heights="100" mode="packed">
File:63 catalog 20.jpg|~1963 catalog showing the original "E over trade" logo
File:Paiste 1963 catalog a.jpg|~1963 catalog showing the original "E over trade" logo
File:Paiste-early-602-stamp3.jpg| "E over trade" small gap stamp
File:PXL 20221029 234009393.jpg| "E over trade" large gap stamp
File:Large gap small gap.jpg| large gap/small gap comparison
File:602 preserial stamps.jpg|E over trade and solid stamp comparison
File:602 18 e over trade 2.jpg|18 medium
File:PXL 20221029 233944523.jpg|22" medium ride
File:Arbiter 602.jpg|Arbiter "Custom" stamp
</gallery >
==== Solid Stamp (~1965 - early/mid 1972) ====
In simplest terms, the name "solid stamp" comes from the solid block letters that comprise the words "Paiste and "Formula 602", this stamp was used roughly from 1965 to 1972. 
The earliest example we have seen of the Solid Stamp is from a 1965 catalog shown below. We believe the change of stamp coincided with Ludwig taking over North American distribution in late 1964/early 1965. 
There are some exceptions where a cymbal was made during the preserial era and stamped with a "solid stamp" and ink, then the cymbal sat in the vault for a few years, the cymbal was then stamped with a serial number when it was shipped to the distributor (see example below). 
<gallery caption="Solid Stamp" heights="100" mode="packed">
File:Paiste 1965ish catalog 1.jpg| ~1965 catalog
File:Paiste 63 catalog 2.jpg|1965 catalog showing "modern" stamp format
File:Paiste-602-solid.jpg|annotated solid stamp
File:Paiste-18-1510-stamp.jpg|solid stamp
File:Solid stamp b.jpg|
File:PXL 20230528 003028603.jpg|
File:602 preserial stamps.jpg|E over trade and solid stamp comparison
File:PXL 20221228 020839223.jpg|solid stamp with 1974 serial number
File:602 transition ink.jpg|close up of solid stamp
File:23 Heavy 2.jpg
</gallery>
=== Black Label Era (1972 -1981) ===
There are two different embossed stamps which are found in this era: solid stamp early on and then the outline stamp for the rest of the era. then there are two oddities: an archaic "E over trade" stamp for German 602's and the super formula stamp "plain stamp" for Rogers distributed dark rides). 
This era represents cymbals produced from about mid 1972 to mid 1981 before colored labels were silkscreened on the top and bottom. Almost all Black Label era cymbals have serial numbers but there are a few examples of cymbals from the early 1970s which have Black Label style ink but no serial number. 
==== Outline Stamp (1972-1981) ====
The Outline Stamp is used from just before serial numbers appear until the Blue Label era (1981). If you see a Formula 602 cymbal with an Outline Stamp it is something like 99% likely to have a serial number.
<gallery caption="Outline Stamp" heights="100" mode="packed">
File:Paiste-602-outline-stamp.jpg|Annotated Outline Stamp
File:Outline stamp b.jpeg|1980
File:PXL 20230528 055608775.jpg|1976
File:PXL 20230528 055717280.jpg|1975
File:PXL 20230528 055759138.jpg|1980
File:Solid vs outline stmp.jpg|solid stamp/outline stamp comparison
File:PXL 20230529 021307993.jpg|solid stamp/outline stamp comparison
</gallery>
==== Rogers U.S. 602 Dark Ride '76-'77 and European 602 version 1975-1978 ====
The super formula 602 "plain stamp" appears on Rogers U.S. distributed Dark Rides from 1976-1977 this stamp does not have the "Formula 602" on the bottom of the stamp. So far every Rogers U.S dark ride cymbal we have seen has a serial number. 
We have also observed sor far from dozens of examples that all European distributed dark rides were stamped with the standard "outline stamp" from the black label era ('72 -'81), in addition, with a few exceptions all have the "Formula 602" ink printed above the bell. 
We are not certain if any of the "outline stamp" versions were sold in the US, research is ongoing![https://www.cymbal.wiki/wiki/Paiste_Formula_602_22%22_Dark_Ride More on the Dark ride page!]
<gallery caption="602 Dark ride" heights="100" mode="packed">>
File:Super formula plain stamp.jpg|The super formula 602 "plain stamp" is identical to the stamp used on the Rogers 602 dark rides!
File:Paiste-602-Trans-Dark-stamp.jpg|Rogers stamp: E over trade/plain stamp
File:Paiste-602-Dark-stamp.jpg|European Dark Ride: "outline stamp"
File:Trans 602 22 dark ride stamps.jpg|Rogers stamp: E over trade/plain stamp
File:602 22 dark ride.jpg|E over trade/plain stamp
File:Paiste-602-Trans-Dark-top.jpg|E over trade/plain stamp
File:22 dark 4.jpg|European dark ride with outline stamp
File:22 dark 2.jpg|European dark ride outline stamp
File:349227047 214684508023232 989629301524005366 n.jpg|selection of European dark rides stamped with the standard "outline stamp", bottom right 2 cymbals are early Sound creations
</gallery>
==== German 602's (early 1960's and mid 1970's?) ====
We know the German factory "finished" 602's in the early/mid 60's when production was ramping up:

(**) Correspondence with Paiste Switzerland: 
"By reason of a distributed capacitance, we have some Formula 602's that have been finished in Germany at the end of the 1950's. 
They were annealed and hammered in Switzerland and Paiste Germany has completed them. That’s the reason they have a stamp “made in Germany”. 

Kind regards, Customer Service Department 
Paiste Switzerland" 

In the 1970's, the German 602's were meant for the German market and probably certain countries in Central Europe and eastern Europe, everyone else got Swiss produced 602's.
We have found a return of German 602's from about 1975 to 1977, they can be identified from the archaic "E over trade" stamp (no "made in Switzerland") and a serial number starting with a "1".
<gallery caption="Made in West Germany" heights="100" mode="packed">
File:German 602.jpg| 1960's German 602
File:16 german 602.jpg|E over trade stamp W/O "made in Switzerland"
File:German 602 flat3.jpg|German made 7 sound set
File:German 602 flat2.jpg|1976 serial number
File:German 602 flat1.jpg|German flat rides had "made under license" under the patent numbers
File:German 602 stamp.jpg|
File:14-990-1000-serial.jpg|1975 serial
File:14-990-1000-top.jpg|
File:18-1510-side.jpg|Joe Morello 602 made in Germany!
</gallery>
=== Blue Label Era ===
During the Blue Label era (1981-1993) an embossed stamp was no longer applied. Instead Paiste used blue ink.
<gallery caption="Blue Label" heights="150" mode="packed">
File:Paiste-16-1089-ink.jpeg|Blue ink 602 Logo
File:Paiste-16-1089-inkb.jpeg|Blue ink pAisTe on bottom
File:Paiste-16-1089-model.jpeg|Blue model ink
File:Paiste-16-1089-top.jpg|Top view
</gallery>
[[File:Plasko thin crashes.jpg|1700px|]]
 
We estimate the year of change from PreSerial to Black to Blue based on the serial numbers we find: 
Black label serial numbers (counting hat pairs as 2) 
 
1971: none so far 
1972: 29 
1973: 40 
1974: 41 
1975: 27 
1976: 26 
1977: 32 
1978: 37 
1979: 28 
1980: 18 
1981: 18 
1982: 1 (serial number PAISTE 602 / 238079) 
1983: none so far 
 
Blue label serial numbers (counting hat pairs as 2) 
 
1980: none so far 
1981: 32 
1982: 23 
1983: 17 
1984: 19 
1985: 15 
1986: 13 
1987: 12 
1988: 21 
1989: 8 
1990: 9 
1991: 2 
1992: 4 
1993: none so far 
Note the importance of the prefix. Without the PAISTE 602 prefix that one 1982 Black Label cymbal would have been 1972. If that serial number had prefix pAisTe it would be 1992. Prefix matters, although there are sometimes other ways to correctly assign the decade based on ink and for specific models. If the serial number has a prefix above it -- pay attention. That's what makes the decade (thus the whole serial number) unique. We think the myth of serial numbers starting in 1970 arose because people were not paying proper attention to the prefix. The other contributing factor is not treating the German made serial numbering separately.
=== Laser Stamp Era ===
When the Formula 602 cymbals were reissued in 2011 they first came out with 8 digit serial numbers as seen on the last of the Blue Label cymbals. Very soon after this Paiste switched to a laser stamp which is on the bottom rather than the top. The Laser Stamp Era is also referred to as the Reissue Era, although once again there are a very few Reissued Formula 602s which don't have a laser stamp.
<gallery caption="Laser Stamp" heights="200" mode="packed">
File:Paiste-602-2011-serial.jpg|2011 embossed serial
File:Paiste-602-laser-stamp.jpg|Laser stamp from 2015
</gallery>
 
--------
Information/research from: Steve Black, Todd Little, Dan Garza, the majority of the individual cymbal model/size pictures courtesy of "Splash Baker" and her blue label collection. 
#Modern Drummer Equipment Annual 1988-89 
#PAISTE/Ludwig Seven Sound Set Leaflet 
#Paiste "Six Cymbal Lines" Ad 1981 
#2019 PAISTE.com 
Back to [[Paiste Series|Paiste Series Portal]] 
Back to [[Paiste Cymbal Type|Paiste Cymbal Type Portal]] 
Back to [[Paiste|Paiste Portal]]

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-11T01:52:36Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also [[Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers#Special Prefix 400th Anniversary | Special Prefix below]]
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits. We will come back to batch number variation below.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals for some batches. They appear to be from the second half of 2023.

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

There are some 4 character batch numbers and they usually indicate experiments and prototypes. One is 1623, clearly a special number in the Zildjian story. According to mattr posting on DFO these are usually employee serial numbers from the individual on the R&D team developing that model. He recalled

 0643 Paul Francis
 1118 Joe
 1613 Mattr
 1623 unknown used since at least 2015

As to how many prototypes there might be for a model, we have this:

A prototype such as a Bounce would have had only 1 to 3 batches of maybe 15-25 cymbals made per year. A batch for PASIC for sure, some to targeted artists, and some that would have gone to Zildjian Day events at Memphis or Long Island Drums shops, etc. and some to England for the UK office.

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-11T01:32:04Z

Zenstat: /* 4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes */

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also [[Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers#Special Prefix 400th Anniversary | Special Prefix below]]
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits. We will come back to batch number variation below.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals for some batches. They appear to be from the second half of 2023.

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

There are some 4 character batch numbers and they usually indicate experiments and prototypes. One is 1623, clearly a special number in the Zildjian story. According to mattr posting on DFO these are usually employee serial numbers from the individual on the R&D team developing that model. He recalled

 0643 Paul Francis
 1118 Joe
 1613 Mattr
 1623 unknown in used since at least 2015

As to how many prototypes there might be for a model, we have this:

A prototype such as a Bounce would have had only 1 to 3 batches of maybe 15-25 cymbals made per year. A batch for PASIC for sure, some to targeted artists, and some that would have gone to Zildjian Day events at Memphis or Long Island Drums shops, etc. and some to England for the UK office.

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-10T09:02:57Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also [[Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers#Special Prefix 400th Anniversary | Special Prefix below]]
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits. We will come back to batch number variation below.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals for some batches. They appear to be from the second half of 2023.

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

There are some 4 character batch numbers and they usually indicate experiments and prototypes. One is 1623, clearly a special number in the Zildjian story. According to mattr posting on DFO these are usually employee serial numbers from the individual on the R&D team developing that model. He recalled

 0643 Paul Francis
 1118 Joe
 1613 Mattr

As to how many prototypes there might be, we have this:

A prototype such as a Bounce would have had only 1 to 3 batches of maybe 15-25 cymbals made per year. A batch for PASIC for sure, some to targeted artists, and some that would have gone to Zildjian Day events at Memphis or Long Island Drums shops, etc. and some to England for the UK office.

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-10T09:00:46Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also [[Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers#4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes | Special Prefix below]]
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits. We will come back to batch number variation below.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals for some batches. They appear to be from the second half of 2023.

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

There are some 4 character batch numbers and they usually indicate experiments and prototypes. One is 1623, clearly a special number in the Zildjian story. According to mattr posting on DFO these are usually employee serial numbers from the individual on the R&D team developing that model. He recalled

 0643 Paul Francis
 1118 Joe
 1613 Mattr

As to how many prototypes there might be, we have this:

A prototype such as a Bounce would have had only 1 to 3 batches of maybe 15-25 cymbals made per year. A batch for PASIC for sure, some to targeted artists, and some that would have gone to Zildjian Day events at Memphis or Long Island Drums shops, etc. and some to England for the UK office.

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-10T08:59:18Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also [[Ziljian Decoding Serial Numbers#4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes | Special Prefix below]]
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits. We will come back to batch number variation below.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals for some batches. They appear to be from the second half of 2023.

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

There are some 4 character batch numbers and they usually indicate experiments and prototypes. One is 1623, clearly a special number in the Zildjian story. According to mattr posting on DFO these are usually employee serial numbers from the individual on the R&D team developing that model. He recalled

 0643 Paul Francis
 1118 Joe
 1613 Mattr

As to how many prototypes there might be, we have this:

A prototype such as a Bounce would have had only 1 to 3 batches of maybe 15-25 cymbals made per year. A batch for PASIC for sure, some to targeted artists, and some that would have gone to Zildjian Day events at Memphis or Long Island Drums shops, etc. and some to England for the UK office.

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T04:34:29Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also Special Prefix below
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits. We will come back to batch number variation below.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals for some batches. They appear to be from the second half of 2023.

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

There are some 4 character batch numbers and they usually indicate experiments and prototypes. One is 1623, clearly a special number in the Zildjian story. According to mattr posting on DFO these are usually employee serial numbers from the individual on the R&D team developing that model. He recalled

 0643 Paul Francis
 1118 Joe
 1613 Mattr

As to how many prototypes there might be, we have this:

A prototype such as a Bounce would have had only 1 to 3 batches of maybe 15-25 cymbals made per year. A batch for PASIC for sure, some to targeted artists, and some that would have gone to Zildjian Day events at Memphis or Long Island Drums shops, etc. and some to England for the UK office.

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T04:29:24Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also [http://www.cymbal.wiki/wiki/Zildjian_Decoding_Serial_Numbers#Special_Prefix_400th_AnniversaryZildjian]Special prefix
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

There are some 4 character batch numbers and they usually indicate experiments and prototypes. One is 1623, clearly a special number in the Zildjian story. According to mattr posting on DFO these are usually employee serial numbers from the individual on the R&D team developing that model. He recalled

 0643 Paul Francis
 1118 Joe
 1613 Mattr

As to how many prototypes there might be, we have this:

A prototype such as a Bounce would have had only 1 to 3 batches of maybe 15-25 cymbals made per year. A batch for PASIC for sure, some to targeted artists, and some that would have gone to Zildjian Day events at Memphis or Long Island Drums shops, etc. and some to England for the UK office.

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models from most series. They appear to be from the second half of 2023.

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T04:27:45Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also [http://www.cymbal.wiki/wiki/Zildjian_Decoding_Serial_Numbers#Special_Prefix_400th_AnniversaryZildjian]Special prefix]]
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

There are some 4 character batch numbers and they usually indicate experiments and prototypes. One is 1623, clearly a special number in the Zildjian story. According to mattr posting on DFO these are usually employee serial numbers from the individual on the R&D team developing that model. He recalled

 0643 Paul Francis
 1118 Joe
 1613 Mattr

As to how many prototypes there might be, we have this

<quote>A prototype such as a Bounce would have had only 1 to 3 batches of maybe 15-25 cymbals made per year. A batch for PASIC for sure, some to targeted artists, and some that would have gone to Zildjian Day events at Memphis or Long Island Drums shops, etc. and some to England for the UK office.<quote>

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models from most series. They appear to be from the second half of 2023.

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T04:20:23Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also [[Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers|Special prefix]]
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

There are some 4 character batch numbers and they usually indicate experiments and prototypes. One is 1623, clearly a special number in the Zildjian story. According to mattr posting on DFO these are usually employee serial numbers from the individual on the R&D team developing that model. He recalled

 0643 Paul Francis
 1118 Joe
 1613 Mattr

As to how many prototypes there might be, we have this

<quote>A prototype such as a Bounce would have had only 1 to 3 batches of maybe 15-25 cymbals made per year. A batch for PASIC for sure, some to targeted artists, and some that would have gone to Zildjian Day events at Memphis or Long Island Drums shops, etc. and some to England for the UK office.<quote>

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models from most series. They appear to be from the second half of 2023.

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T04:04:41Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also Special prefix
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

There are some 4 character batch numbers and they usually indicate experiments and prototypes. One is 1623, clearly a special number in the Zildjian story. According to mattr posting on DFO these are usually employee serial numbers from the individual on the R&D team developing that model. He recalled

 0643 Paul Francis
 1118 Joe
 1613 Mattr

As to how many prototypes there might be, we have this

<quote>A prototype such as a Bounce would have had only 1 to 3 batches of maybe 15-25 cymbals made per year. A batch for PASIC for sure, some to targeted artists, and some that would have gone to Zildjian Day events at Memphis or Long Island Drums shops, etc. and some to England for the UK office.<quote>

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models from most series. They appear to be from the second half of 2023.

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T04:02:26Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also Special prefix
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

There are some 4 character batch numbers and they usually indicate experiments and prototypes. One is 1623, clearly a special number in the Zildjian story. According to mattr posting on DFO these are usually employee serial numbers from the individual on the R&D team developing that model. He recalled

0643 Paul Francis
1118 Joe
1613 Mattr

As to how many prototypes there might be we have this

[quote]A prototype such as a Bounce would have had only 1 to 3 batches of maybe 15-25 cymbals made per year. A batch for PASIC for sure, some to targeted artists, and some that would have gone to Zildjian Day events at Memphis or Long Island Drums shops, etc. and some to England for the UK office.[quote]

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models from most series. They appear to be from the second half of 2023.

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T03:46:29Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also [[https://www.cymbal.wiki/wiki/Zildjian_Decoding_Serial_Numbers#Special_Prefix_400th_Anniversarys]]pecial prefix below
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models from most series. They appear to be from the second half of 2023

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T03:43:44Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also [https://www.cymbal.wiki/wiki/Zildjian_Decoding_Serial_Numbers#Special_Prefix_400th_Anniversarys]pecial prefix below
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models from most series. They appear to be from the second half of 2023

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T03:38:02Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also special prefix below
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Ordinary Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 Character Batch Numbers and Prototypes===

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models from most series. They appear to be from the second half of 2023

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T03:33:48Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also special prefix below
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. Batch Number follows, and these are mostly 5 or 6 characters. There are some 4 character batch names as well. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique -0698 at the end.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

===4 character batch numbers and prototypes===

===Special Prefix 400th Anniversary===

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T03:26:06Z

Zenstat:

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also special prefix below
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique id 0698.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

'''Special Prefix 400th Anniversary'''

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-11-09T03:24:11Z

Zenstat:

===Laser Stamps===

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

===Year and Letter Code===

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also special prefix below
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here
* 2026 BF

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

===Batch Numbers===

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique id 0698.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

'''Special Prefix 400th Anniversary'''

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

K Zildjian Istanbul Constantinople Type 0

2025-09-09T04:52:28Z

Zenstat:

'''Company:''' K Zildjian & Cie 
'''Country:''' Istanbul, Turkey (which was called Constantinople back then) 
'''Production Years:''' 1900? to 1910? 
'''Trademark location:''' towards the outer edge 
'''Other Markings:''' Company name written under bell K Zildjian & Cie, sometimes Constantinople 
'''Diameters:''' observed 13" to 15" 
'''Sound File Examples:''' coming 

This is the earliest form of the K Zildjian trademark stamps from Turkey. It seems like it was called Type 0 because it wasn't identified until the later Types 1 to 4 were named. Zero also happens to indicate the amount of English script on it (none), as well as the number of other pictorial elements (none).

<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=160px heights=160px>
File:kz-con0-stamp-x1.jpg|Example 1
File:kz-con0-stamp-x2.jpg|Example 2
File:kz-con0-stamp.jpeg|Example 3
File:kz-scott-0.jpg|Example 4
</gallery>

Below is the common repeated pictorial element which helps place the 0 form in context using Type 2 as a backdrop.
This shows K Zildjian Constantinople stamp types 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. If you can't locate this form in a stamp then you might be looking at a non K Zildjian cymbal referred to as [[Ersatz Ks]] by Bill Hartrick who first put together a timeline for Old Ks. The Stamp 0 form is also shown on a catalog identified as 1907 on [http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/images/my_collection/literature/dodge/1907-dodge_catalog9.jpg Vintage Drum Guide] and shown below

<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=160px heights=160px>
File:kz-con-repeat-elem.jpg|repeated element
File:kz-1907-dodge_catalog9.jpg|1907 Dodge Catalog
</gallery>

Here are some examples of the look of these cymbals in terms of hammering, lathing, bell shape, company name under bell, etc. This is a 14" pair. From our modern perspective people often refer to these has hi hats when they are found in pair. They are far more likely to be pairs held in the hand via handles or straps and used for marching bands or possibly orchestral music.

<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=160px heights=160px>
File:kz-con0-bell.jpeg|bell
File:kz-con0-bot.jpeg|bottom
File:kz-con0-top.jpeg|top
File:kz-con0-sig.jpeg|company name with Constantinople
</gallery>

and another 15" pair

<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=160px heights=160px>
File:kz-15-stamp0-top.jpg|top view
</gallery>

Prior to this earliest trademark form there are cymbals which have no pressed in trademark. The earliest example I've seen is this one engraved for presentation dated April 1883. It is 14 inches in diameter with unknown weight.

<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=160px heights=160px>
File:kz-14-1883-bot-b.jpg|Bottom View
File:kz-14-1883-engraved-b.jpg|Engraving
File:kz-14-1883-top-b.jpg|Top View
</gallery>

Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul Eras|K Zildjian Istanbul Eras Portal]] 
Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul Timeline|K Zildjian Istanbul Timeline Portal]] 
Return to the '''[[K Zildjian Istanbul|K Zildjian Istanbul Portal]]

Kupo Cymbals

2025-05-04T03:34:17Z

Zenstat:

Kupo (Doran) is an independent cymbalsmith from Singapore 
 Production Years: 2024 - Present 
'''Cymbal Types Produced:''' crumply, sizzly, normie rides, hats, chinas, crashes
 Contact: see Contact page on website
 Website: [https://kupo.moe/index.html kupo cymbals] 
'''YouTube Channel:''' [https://www.youtube.com/@doranoon10 kupo cymbals on youtube] 
 
'''Sound File Examples:'''

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ZXuwqWd-g Crumply set] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg3MsmzdLjE Nickel Boom China] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGPw57Q05x0 18" Sizzy Ride]

<gallery>
File:Kupo-crumply-hawaiian.jpg|Crumply Hawaiian Ride
File:Kupo-normie-hats.jpg|Normie Hats
File:Kupo-sizzly-ride.jpg|Sizzly Light Ride

</gallery>

-----
Return to the '''[[Independent Cymbalsmiths|Independent Cymbalsmiths Page]]

File:Kupo-sizzly-ride.jpg

2025-05-04T03:33:06Z

Zenstat: kupo sizzly ride

== Summary ==
kupo sizzly ride

File:Kupo-normie-hats.jpg

2025-05-04T03:32:00Z

Zenstat: kupo normie hats

== Summary ==
kupo normie hats

File:Kupo-crumply-hawaiian.jpg

2025-05-04T03:31:03Z

Zenstat: Crumply Hawaiian (cue pizza jokes)

== Summary ==
Crumply Hawaiian (cue pizza jokes)

Kupo Cymbals

2025-05-04T03:28:06Z

Zenstat:

Kupo (Doran) is an independent cymbalsmith from Singapore 
 Production Years: 2024 - Present 
'''Cymbal Types Produced:''' crumply, sizzly, normie rides, hats, chinas, crashes
 Contact: see Contact page on website
 Website: [https://kupo.moe/index.html kupo cymbals] 
'''YouTube Channel:''' [https://www.youtube.com/@doranoon10 kupo cymbals on youtube] 
 
'''Sound File Examples:'''

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ZXuwqWd-g Crumply set] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg3MsmzdLjE Nickel Boom China] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGPw57Q05x0 18" Sizzy Ride]

<gallery>
File:Kupo-crumply-hawaiian.jpg|Crumply Hawaiian Ride
File:Kupo-normie-hats.jpg|Normie Hats
File:Kupo-sizzly-top.jpg|Sizzly Light Ride

</gallery>

-----
Return to the '''[[Independent Cymbalsmiths|Independent Cymbalsmiths Page]]

Kupo Cymbals

2025-05-04T03:26:49Z

Zenstat:

Kupo (Doran) is an independent cymbalsmith from Singapore 
 Production Years: 2024 - Present 
'''Cymbal Types Produced:''' crumply, sizzly, normie rides, hats, chinas, crashes
 Contact: see Contact page on website
 Website: [https://kupo.moe/index.html kupo cymbals] 
'''YouTube Channel:''' [https://www.youtube.com/@doranoon10] 
 
'''Sound File Examples:'''

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ZXuwqWd-g Crumply set] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg3MsmzdLjE Nickel Boom China] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGPw57Q05x0 18" Sizzy Ride]

<gallery>
File:Kupo-crumply-hawaiian.jpg|Crumply Hawaiian Ride
File:Kupo-normie-hats.jpg|Normie Hats
File:Kupo-sizzly-top.jpg|Sizzly Light Ride

</gallery>

-----
Return to the '''[[Independent Cymbalsmiths|Independent Cymbalsmiths Page]]

Kupo Cymbals

2025-05-04T03:20:20Z

Zenstat:

Kupo (Doran) is an independent cymbalsmith from Singapore 
 Production Years: 2024 - Present 
'''Cymbal Types Produced:''' crumply, sizzly, normie rides, hats, chinas, crashes
 Contact: see Contact page on website
 Website: [https://kupo.moe/index.html]kupo cymbals 
'''YouTube Channel:''' [https://www.youtube.com/@doranoon10] 
 
'''Sound File Examples:'''

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ZXuwqWd-g Crumply set] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg3MsmzdLjE Nickel Boom China] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGPw57Q05x0 18" Sizzy Ride]

<gallery>
File:Kupo-crumply-hawaiian.jpg|Crumply Hawaiian Ride
File:Kupo-normie-hats.jpg|Normie Hats
File:Kupo-sizzly-top.jpg|Sizzly Light Ride

</gallery>

-----
Return to the '''[[Independent Cymbalsmiths|Independent Cymbalsmiths Page]]

Kupo Cymbals

2025-05-04T03:18:20Z

Zenstat:

Kupo (Doran) is an independent cymbalsmith from Singapore 
 Production Years: 2024 - Present 
'''Cymbal Types Produced:''' crumply, sizzly, normie rides, hats, chinas, crashes
 Contact: see Contact page on website
 Website: [[https://kupo.moe/index.html]] 
'''YouTube Channel:''' [https://www.youtube.com/@doranoon10] 
 
'''Sound File Examples:'''

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ZXuwqWd-g Crumply set] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg3MsmzdLjE Nickel Boom China] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGPw57Q05x0 18" Sizzy Ride]

<gallery>
File:Kupo-crumply-hawaiian.jpg|Crumply Hawaiian Ride
File:Kupo-normie-hats.jpg|Normie Hats
File:Kupo-sizzly-top.jpg|Sizzly Light Ride

</gallery>

-----
Return to the '''[[Independent Cymbalsmiths|Independent Cymbalsmiths Page]]

Kupo Cymbals

2025-05-04T03:13:43Z

Zenstat: Created page with " Kupo (Doran) is an independent cymbalsmith from Singapore Production Years: 2024 - Present '''Cymbal Types Produced:''' crumply, sizzly, normie rides..."

Kupo (Doran) is an independent cymbalsmith from Singapore 
 Production Years: 2024 - Present 
'''Cymbal Types Produced:''' crumply, sizzly, normie rides, hats, chinas, crashes
 Contact: see Contact page on website
 Website: [https://kupo.moe/index.html] 
'''YouTube Channel:''' [https://www.youtube.com/@doranoon10] 
 
'''Sound File Examples:'''

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ZXuwqWd-g Crumply set] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg3MsmzdLjE Nickel Boom China] 
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGPw57Q05x0 18" Sizzy Ride]

<gallery>
File:Kupo-crumply-hawaiian.jpg|Crumply Hawaiian Ride
File:Kupo-normie-hats.jpg|Normie Hats
File:Kupo-sizzly-top.jpg|Sizzly Light Ride

</gallery>

-----
Return to the '''[[Independent Cymbalsmiths|Independent Cymbalsmiths Page]]

A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride

2025-04-04T06:23:01Z

Zenstat:

__NOEDITSECTION__
<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
[[File:A 21 Rock Ride 1.jpg|thumb|right|450px|]]
[[File:A 21 Rock Ride 2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|]]
[[File:A 21 Rock Ride 3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|]]
'''Group:''' [[Zildjian Types and Models#Rides|Rides]] 
'''Type:''' [[Zildjian Rock Ride|Rock Ride]] 
'''Size:''' 21 Inch 
'''Series:''' [[A Zildjian#A Zildjian|A Zildjian]] 
'''Weight:''' 3079g, 3100g, 3156g, 3165g, 3166g, 3180g (Small cursive A), 3192g (Hollow Logo), 3196g, 3219g (1980s Era), 3230g, 3296g (1980s Era), 3300g, 3308g, 3335g (Small cursive A), 3335g (Large cursive A), 3350g (1980s Era), 3361g, 3385g (Hollow Logo), 3394g, 3400g (Hollow Logo), 3401g, 3401g, 3457g (1990s Era, pre-Serial Number), 3502g (2002 Serial Number), 3512g, 3522g 
'''Median Weight:''' 3322g (n=26) 
'''Years of production:''' 1973 - 2021(?) (first ad in Oct 1972) 
'''Sound File:''' [https://youtu.be/O-q_AERmnSk?si=dmRayGpKu4kVyPP4 A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/VILGhunKK2M?si=YtQ6iMVCK0i2jDC7 A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/Flsm058_Jyk?si=RJyh4oNtCiRGVSYw A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/e6bK58ZDpeI?si=QdM5NjJ_WcRE12ki A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/9Wr1g8I73Is?si=CMg2O2CiU_HSpVW8 A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/cUzaUB8GkIA?si=woDHGVInlLY7HkXw A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/rRCHQzOjaX0?si=c-pmsfoygg3I9nua A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/50Hjw6kICxU?si=OlC1AWRoYA77Fp0j A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/SUDynvwjSc0?si=qsZUvDbaO4DthwBG A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/Ao-mB6AdJ-0?si=jzkVYj4SzaAhRH5J A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/GuG8Cxn3vt8?si=k0SIzYXOFV8_8Bl_ A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
'''Zildjian's Description:''' [[Zildjian Rock Ride#A Zildjian|<<< - >>>]] 
'''Review:''' This was my go-to (well, only) ride for a decade. It has a solid "ping" over a nice wash. Due to its weight, fast sticking patterns are no problem, as the stick definition doesn't get lost in wash, as is often the case with light cymbals - which this isn't. 

Despite the name leading one to believe this might be just for those playing the heaviest of music styles, this is actually a very versatile ride. (Hey, even Buddy Rich and Ed Shaughnessy played one of these!) This does loud music situations well, as evidenced by Steven Adler, Troy Lucketta, Joey Kramer, and others using this in their setups. 

The bell is well proportioned, making it easy to hit. Hitting it with the shank of the stick is pleasing, and sounds deep and powerful. 

About the only thing the 21" Rock Ride doesn't do well is crash. It's too gongy when used this way. 

Review written by [[User:Bluejacketsfan|Bluejacketsfan]] 

''' Artist/song where it can be heard:''' [[Zildjian Louie Bellson|Louie Bellson]], [[Zildjian Ed Shaughnessy|Ed Shaughnessy]]

''' A tale of two models: Rock21 and Rock Ride 21"

The early Rock cymbals had two models in 21 inches. The Rock21 with a larger bell (the large cup) and the 21" Rock Ride with the special cup.

A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride

2025-04-04T02:31:04Z

Zenstat:

__NOEDITSECTION__
<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
[[File:A 21 Rock Ride 1.jpg|thumb|right|450px|]]
[[File:A 21 Rock Ride 2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|]]
[[File:A 21 Rock Ride 3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|]]
'''Group:''' [[Zildjian Types and Models#Rides|Rides]] 
'''Type:''' [[Zildjian Rock Ride|Rock Ride]] 
'''Size:''' 21 Inch 
'''Series:''' [[A Zildjian#A Zildjian|A Zildjian]] 
'''Weight:''' 3079g, 3100g, 3156g, 3165g, 3166g, 3180g (Small cursive A), 3192g (Hollow Logo), 3196g, 3219g (1980s Era), 3230g, 3296g (1980s Era), 3300g, 3308g, 3335g (Small cursive A), 3335g (Large cursive A), 3350g (1980s Era), 3361g, 3385g (Hollow Logo), 3394g, 3400g (Hollow Logo), 3401g, 3401g, 3457g (1990s Era, pre-Serial Number), 3502g (2002 Serial Number), 3512g, 3522g 
'''Median Weight:''' 3322g (n=26) 
'''Years of production:''' 1972 - 2021(?) 
'''Sound File:''' [https://youtu.be/O-q_AERmnSk?si=dmRayGpKu4kVyPP4 A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/VILGhunKK2M?si=YtQ6iMVCK0i2jDC7 A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/Flsm058_Jyk?si=RJyh4oNtCiRGVSYw A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/e6bK58ZDpeI?si=QdM5NjJ_WcRE12ki A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/9Wr1g8I73Is?si=CMg2O2CiU_HSpVW8 A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/cUzaUB8GkIA?si=woDHGVInlLY7HkXw A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/rRCHQzOjaX0?si=c-pmsfoygg3I9nua A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/50Hjw6kICxU?si=OlC1AWRoYA77Fp0j A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/SUDynvwjSc0?si=qsZUvDbaO4DthwBG A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/Ao-mB6AdJ-0?si=jzkVYj4SzaAhRH5J A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
[https://youtu.be/GuG8Cxn3vt8?si=k0SIzYXOFV8_8Bl_ A Zildjian 21" Rock Ride] 
'''Zildjian's Description:''' [[Zildjian Rock Ride#A Zildjian|<<< - >>>]] 
'''Review:''' This was my go-to (well, only) ride for a decade. It has a solid "ping" over a nice wash. Due to its weight, fast sticking patterns are no problem, as the stick definition doesn't get lost in wash, as is often the case with light cymbals - which this isn't. 

Despite the name leading one to believe this might be just for those playing the heaviest of music styles, this is actually a very versatile ride. (Hey, even Buddy Rich and Ed Shaughnessy played one of these!) This does loud music situations well, as evidenced by Steven Adler, Troy Lucketta, Joey Kramer, and others using this in their setups. 

The bell is well proportioned, making it easy to hit. Hitting it with the shank of the stick is pleasing, and sounds deep and powerful. 

About the only thing the 21" Rock Ride doesn't do well is crash. It's too gongy when used this way. 

Review written by [[User:Bluejacketsfan|Bluejacketsfan]] 

''' Artist/song where it can be heard:''' [[Zildjian Louie Bellson|Louie Bellson]], [[Zildjian Ed Shaughnessy|Ed Shaughnessy]]

''' A tale of two models: Rock21 and Rock Ride 21"

The early Rock cymbals had two models in 21 inches. The Rock21 with a larger bell (the large cup) and the 21" Rock Ride with the special cup.

Paiste 2002 14" Ride

2025-02-10T21:42:59Z

Zenstat:

__NOEDITSECTION__
<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
[[File:202 14 ride.jpg|thumb|right|450px|2002 14" Ride]]
'''Group:''' [[Paiste Cymbal Type#Rides|Rides]] 
'''Type:''' [[Paiste Ride|Ride]] 
'''Size:''' 14 Inch 
'''Series:''' [[Paiste 2002#2002|2002]] 
'''Weight:''' 950g, 972g (1977 Serial Num), 991g (1981 Serial Num) 
'''Median Weight:''' 970g (n=3) 
'''Years of production:''' [[Paiste 1971 Expansion|1971]] - 1994/1995 
'''Sound file:''' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5BrGbmR6Sw 2002 14" Ride] 
'''Paiste's Description:''' [[Paiste Ride#2002|<<< - >>>]] 
'''Review:''' 
Review written by 
'''Artist/song where it can be heard:''' [[Paiste Siegfried Fink#Siegfried Fink|Siegfried Fink]]

Paiste 2002 14" Ride

2025-02-10T21:41:42Z

Zenstat:

__NOEDITSECTION__
<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
[[File:202 14 ride.jpg|thumb|right|450px|2002 14" Ride]]
'''Group:''' [[Paiste Cymbal Type#Rides|Rides]] 
'''Type:''' [[Paiste Ride|Ride]] 
'''Size:''' 14 Inch 
'''Series:''' [[Paiste 2002#2002|2002]] 
'''Weight:''' 950g,972g (1977 Serial Num)991g (1981 Serial Num) 
'''Median Weight:''' 970g (n=3) 
'''Years of production:''' [[Paiste 1971 Expansion|1971]] - 1994/1995 
'''Sound file:''' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5BrGbmR6Sw 2002 14" Ride] 
'''Paiste's Description:''' [[Paiste Ride#2002|<<< - >>>]] 
'''Review:''' 
Review written by 
'''Artist/song where it can be heard:''' [[Paiste Siegfried Fink#Siegfried Fink|Siegfried Fink]]

Paiste Dixie 13" Medium Thin

2025-01-11T22:14:07Z

Zenstat:

Zildjian Decoding Serial Numbers

2025-01-03T02:01:43Z

Zenstat:

'''Laser Stamps'''

Laser stamps started on Zildjian Cymbals in 1994. Cymbals from before that time are referred to as pre serial by some people. There are far more distinctions which can be made in the pre 1994 cymbals based on ink and trademark stamps, and production details like hammering and lathing style. Not all lines or series of Zildjian cymbals have an added line with a serial number. If you don't have a serial number (extra bottom line) then you are looking at a lower line (not A Zildjian or K Zildjian family).

If you have a trademark on your cymbal which looks like this with an extra bottom line:

[[File:zil-a-laser-stamp.jpeg|640x480px|Year 2000 A Zidjian Laser Stamp]]

or this K version of the stamp:

[[File:zil-k-AJ-laser-stamp.jpg|567x640px|Year 2010 K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

then you can find out when your cymbal was manufactured. For example, in the Avedis stamp the serial (below the Made in USA) begins JJ so that is 2000. The year is encoded by 1 = A, 2 = B, up to I = 9 and J = 0. The K version shown above is AJ so that is 2010. 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 008 in the case of the A Zildjian stamp shown above, so this is the 8th cymbal from the batch 11236.

The laser trademarks look rather scruffy when magnified because the laser is just doing a "good enough" resolution. The image is made from lots of little dots and/or strokes of the laser.

'''Year and Letter Code'''

* 1994 ID
* 1995 IE
* 1996 IF
* 1997 IG
* 1998 IH
* 1999 II
* 2000 JJ
* 2001 JA
* 2002 JB
* 2003 JC
* 2004 JD
* 2005 JE
* 2006 JF
* 2007 JG
* 2008 JH
* 2009 JI
* 2010 AJ
* 2011 AA
* 2012 AB
* 2013 AC
* 2014 AD
* 2015 AE
* 2016 AF
* 2017 AG
* 2018 AH
* 2019 AI
* 2020 BJ
* 2021 BA
* 2022 BB
* 2023 BC 400th Anniversary since 1623 see also special prefix below
* 2024 BD
* 2025 BE <<<<<<<<< you are here

Until at least the year 2002 (JB) the laser serial number appears at 12 o'clock just like the pre laser trademark stamps did. After that it moves to 3 o'clock. However, there are exceptions. This pair of 10" Special Recording Hats is from 1996 and have a 3 o'clock laser stamp. If you look at the amount of surface taken up by the upside down ink logos you can imagine that having the laser stamp clear of that area made 3 o'clock a good choice. The other informative aspect to these is that the batch numbers for top and bottom hats are different and they have letters included not just digits.

<gallery>
File:z-10-sr-hats.jpg|Special Recording Hats
File:z-10-sr-serial1.jpg|Serial Number 1
File:z-10-sr-serial2.jpg|Serial Number 2
</gallery>

'''Unusual Laser Stamps'''

Most laser stamps follow the standard convention of encoding the year in the first two letters. But just when you thought it was going to be easy to get the year from the serial number on any cymbal after 1994...there are a few exceptions. The first celebrates the new millennium. I don't know how many of these exist, although this one has unique id 0698.

[[File:zil-millenium-stamp.jpg|480x640px|Millenium K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

In addition to the one off millennium laser stamp there are a few recorded which don't have the usual pattern of two upper case letters. These are thought to be special endorser cymbals but we don't really know for sure. In some cases they certainly seem to be:

[[File:zil-elvin-stamp.png|663x539px|Elvin Jones Laser Stamp]]

In other cases they could just be typos when telling the laser what to print

[[File:zil-laser-Ji-stamp.png|402x442px|Year Ji K Zildjian Laser Stamp]]

This could be a 2009 typo (JI) or it could be something else.

'''Special Prefix 400th Anniversary'''

In honor of the 400th Anniversary there is a 400 prefix written using the Turkish numerals on some models

[[File:zil-400th-laser-stamp.jpg|663x539px|400th laser Stamp]]

[[File:zil-turkish-numerals.jpg|663x539px|Turkish Numerals]]

Main Page

2024-12-18T19:42:18Z

Zenstat: /* Welcome to Cymbal Wiki */

==Welcome to Cymbal Wiki==

A free hypertext [https://archive.is/kp1Wf Cymbal Book] brought up to date for the 21st Century. The old Paiste-only Wiki is in the [[Paiste]] portal with lots of new additions. [[Avedis Zildjian]] and [[K Zildjian Istanbul]] are coming along, although there are some temporary external links back to pages on [http://black.net.nz/avedis.html Black.net.nz] during the changeover. The other manufacturers are coming. Creation of user accounts is not automated until we can overcome some technical issues which mean we are stuck on an old unsupported version. But you can contact me if you want to volunteer to help. WARNING: if you use a gmail address the wiki won't be able to send you emails so we urge you to come up with some other email address for registering.

You may notice some broken links as we are working, but the site is growing daily!

== About Cymbals ==

* [[Alloys]]
* [[Manufacturing]]
* [[Modification]]
* [[Shape and Sound]]
* [[Words and Sounds]]

== Manufacturers List ==

* [[Avedis Zildjian]]
* [[Sabian]]
* [[Paiste]]
* [[Meinl]]
* [[Italians]]
* [[Chinese]]
* [[K Zildjian Istanbul]]
* [[Modern Turkish]]
* [[Independent Cymbalsmiths]]
* [[All the rest]]

== Cymbal Care ==
* [[Cymbal care|Cymbal Care]]
* [[Wiki cymbal cleaning supplemental|Cymbal Cleaning]]
* [https://youtu.be/SaiSD6NNOMg?si=nCO8UIY5melyCOTP Removing Permanent Marker From Your Cymbals] (Video)

A Zildjian China History

2024-11-02T00:33:46Z

Zenstat:

In the early 1980s this was the range of cymbals called Special Effects. Many people seem confused about the number of different names and models, so we'll start from here are then work backwards and forwards with changes.
 
 
[[File:Special Effects Cymbals Zildjian 1983 Catalogue p12.jpeg|640px]]

A Zildjian China History

2024-11-01T22:40:43Z

Zenstat:

File:Special Effects Cymbals Zildjian 1983 Catalogue p12.jpeg

2024-11-01T22:37:17Z

Zenstat: not sure whether this came out in 1982 or 1983

== Summary ==
not sure whether this came out in 1982 or 1983

A Zildjian China History

2024-11-01T22:32:38Z

Zenstat:

In the early 1980s this was the range of cymbals called Special Effects, which grew out of the China
 
 
[[File:Z-1983-cat-p12.jpg]]
 
 
In the early 1980s this was the range of cymbals called Special Effects. Many people seem confused about the number of different names and models, so we'll start from here are then work backwards and forwards with changes.

A Zildjian China History

2024-11-01T22:30:01Z

Zenstat: Created page with "In the early 1980s this was the range of cymbals called Special Effects, which grew out of the China 800px In the early 1980s..."

In the early 1980s this was the range of cymbals called Special Effects, which grew out of the China
 
 
[[File:Z-1983-cat-p12.jpg|800px]]
 
 
In the early 1980s this was the range of cymbals called Special Effects. Many people seem confused about the number of different names and models, so we'll start from here are then work backwards and forwards with changes.