Common Sabian Cymbals Mistakes to Avoid

Even experienced players make avoidable errors with Sabian cymbals — from series mismatches to mounting mistakes that shorten cymbal life. Catherine Allen covers the most common ones and how to avoid them.

Buying the Wrong Series for the Playing Style

The Sabian cymbals range is designed with specific musical contexts in mind. Buying an HHX setup for a metal band, or AAX crashes for a jazz trio, is a genre mismatch that will leave you fighting the instrument rather than working with it. HHX is designed for dark, complex tonal response — excellent for jazz and nuanced acoustic contexts, but lacking the cut and projection that loud rock and metal require. AAX is built for brightness and attack — it projects through a wall of distorted guitars, but in a trio jazz context it can sound harsh and unsubtle. Match the series to the actual music being played.

Over-Tightening the Wing Nut

One of the most common causes of premature cracking in cymbals of all types — not just Sabian — is mounting them too rigidly. A cymbal must be free to flex and move when struck. The wing nut should be finger-tight only, seated on the top felt washer with the bottom felt between the cymbal and the stand arm. If the wing nut is over-tightened, the cymbal cannot flex, stress concentrates at the contact point, and a crack develops at the bell over time. This is particularly damaging to thinner cymbals (crashes and hi-hats). Check the mounting every few sessions.

Using Abrasive Cleaners

Standard household cleaning products, steel wool, scouring pads and many generic metal polishes are harmful to cymbal surfaces. They remove not just tarnish and fingerprints but the surface finish that contributes to tone and that distinguishes a lathed from an unlathed cymbal. Sabian cymbals should be cleaned only with dedicated cymbal cleaner applied with a soft cloth, following the lathe lines in concentric circles. Unlathed and raw finish cymbals (HHX, some Artisan models) should not be cleaned with standard cymbal cleaner at all — a dry or barely damp cloth is sufficient.

Striking with Incorrect Angle

Cymbal cracking from incorrect technique is preventable. The most damaging strike is a straight-on impact at the edge — the stick tip hitting the edge perpendicularly rather than at an angle. This concentrates impact stress at a single edge point and causes a crack to propagate inward over repeated impacts. The correct technique is to strike the cymbal edge with the shoulder of the stick at an angle (typically 30–45 degrees), allowing the cymbal to deflect naturally. This is both tonally better — producing a proper crash — and mechanically safer for the cymbal.

Not Cleaning After Playing

Fingerprints, sweat and hand oil left on the cymbal surface corrode the bronze over time. This is not immediately apparent but accumulates — cymbals that are regularly handled and never cleaned develop pitting and dark spots that are difficult to reverse. The fix is simple: wipe down the cymbal surface with a clean, dry cloth after every session. Full cleaning with cymbal cleaner is needed less often but should be done when the surface looks visibly dull or spotted. This routine takes less than two minutes and significantly extends cymbal life.

Buying Cymbals Without Listening First

Within any Sabian series, individual cymbals of the same model and size can vary noticeably in character — particularly in the HH and HHX lines where hand-hammering means no two cymbals are identical. Buying online without auditioning can result in a cymbal that is technically the right model but tonally not quite what the playing situation needs. Where possible, listen to the specific cymbal before purchasing; at minimum, listen to multiple recordings of the model from different sources rather than relying on a single demonstration clip.

Ignoring Cracks

A cracked cymbal should be taken out of use immediately. Cracks propagate with every impact — a small crack at the edge becomes a large crack within a few sessions, and the cymbal will eventually break apart. A broken cymbal edge is sharp and dangerous. Continuing to play a cracked cymbal in the hope it will "hold on" is both futile and a safety risk. Small keyhole cracks from over-tightened wing nuts are particularly treacherous — they grow quickly under playing stress. If a Sabian cymbal develops a crack, stop using it and replace it.

Bottom Line

The most common mistakes with Sabian cymbals — mismatched series, rigid mounting, abrasive cleaning and incorrect striking angle — are all straightforward to avoid once identified. For buyers still choosing which series to get, the buyer's guide covers the full range.

Frequently Asked Questions