Drums
& Equipment - Cymbals - Splash Cymbal
A splash cymbal is a small cymbal used for an accent in
a drum kit. Splash cymbals and china cymbals are the main types of
effects cymbals.
Most splash cymbals range in size from 6" to 12" in diameter, though
some splash cymbals go as low as 4". Some makers have produced cymbals
described as splash cymbals up to 22" in diameter but these would be
better described as medium thin crash cymbals. The most common size is
10", followed by 8".
The name "splash" gives quite an idea as to how the cymbal sounds, the
word rhyming with crash but a literal splash (in water) being very
small. The normal function of a splash cymbal is to provide a short,
often highly syncopated accent. For their size, they are hit relatively
hard to produce a quick attack and decay. They tend to have little taper
so as to provide the necessary strength for this, the bell being little
thicker than the rim, with the inevitable result that the tone has
little richness.
For softer passages where a richer tone is required, some makers produce
thin splash cymbals with a sound and taper similar to a crash cymbal.
These specialised cymbals have exceptionally thin rims and will break if
played badly or too loudly.
Another use of a splash cymbal is to mount it stacked with a larger
cymbal, that is the two are mounted between a single set of felts with a
large part of the smaller top cymbal in contact with the other. This
produces a sound partway between that of a closed hi-hat cymbal and a
sizzle cymbal.
China cymbals 12" or less in diameter are sometimes described as china
splash cymbals or more rarely as mini chinese.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splash_cymbals
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