ZYN BRIEF HISTORY

Zyn cymbals were first introduced into the marketplace by premier drums in 1948. They were a budget cymbal to go with the premier drum kit range. Britain was still amid post-war austerity and the general public had little if any disposable cash. The ethos behind Zyn was to produce a cheap accessible product, low production cost over tonality was the criteria here. Zyn cymbal production ran for many decades even producing a professional range in B20 alloy but they were never a match for the high-quality Turkish cymbals. 

 

Premier finally stopped production of Zyns in 1984 when they started the distribution of Zildjian cymbals.

There were to be two more iterations of  Zyns the first revival being the German-made Zyns in the late1990s and the Chinese-made Zyns for the last revival in 2006. Both revivals were to be unsuccessful and production ran for only a brief period. 

 

ZYN NEW CONCEPT

The concept behind the new Zyn range is to make an accessible affordable product like before but that's where the similarity ends. The new Zyn range is made in Turkey using heritage factories using the best traditional techniques and materials to produce a cymbal to the highest possible standards, unlike the cheaply made poor-sounding original Zyns. 

 

ZYN PRESENT DAY 

Rubix is in a unique position to raise Zyn cymbals from the forging ashes.

 

Rubix has spent many years working with many of the top Turkish cymbal manufacturers, investing heavily both financially and time-wise into R&D. The only way you can achieve the sonorous characteristics one is after is by pure experimentation. There is no magic formula or CAD program to produce the perfect cymbal.  

 

Experimenting with Alloy composition is a major part of cymbal design. It is common knowledge that cymbals throughout history have been generally made from a copper-tin alloy, B20 being a popular alloy for many high-end manufacturers. The percentages of the base alloy and the introduction of other trace elements even 0.5 percent can have a significant effect on the sound and fatigue life of the cymbal. Heat and chemical treatments, forging processes, and lathing techniques also fine-tune cymbal performance.  

Rubix has experimented with all the above (Too lengthy to go into detail here) and continues to experiment with little alterations in every process to create a cymbal with the perfect tonal palette to suit any genre of music. 

 

INDIVIDUALITY

Due to the handmade nature of the product, even in the same series, it would be almost impossible for two cymbals to sound identical adding to the unique nature of the product. Every batch of cymbals is essentially an evolving prototype to suit the end user. 

 

Rubix puts a lot of emphasis on customer feedback and sees it as a priority. The individual nature of music and musicians with their ideas of how they want an instrument to sound means there are no definitives. If they want a darker or brighter sound we can change the design to cater to this. Different sizes, weights, and other detail changes can all be accommodated and welcomed at no extra cost, as it all improves the diversity of the basic product. It would not be financially viable to design and make an infinite range of cymbals, no manufacturer would do this but Rubix has the flexibility, in essence, to cater to this with its bespoke service.

 

ZYN PRICING

The very nature of making any handmade product is that it is much more time-consuming than a machine-made product. The days of cheap Labour are now gone so there is an attendant increase in cost, increasing the gulf between handmade and machine-made products. Material costs have also gone up significantly adding further to production costs. 

 

Justifiably, you might ask the question, how is it Rubix can offer a handmade Turkish cymbal at a much lower price than the big manufacturers?

Well, the simple answer to that is handmade cymbals are overpriced. 

Big manufacturers put large markups on all their products, I accept they have high running costs but their prices are unacceptably high in our view.

 

Because of Covid, the world stood still for 18 months. The music industry and entertainment and hospitality industries were hit particularly hard with reduced crowd numbers enforced long after covid finished. Who knows the far-reaching effects it might have on the industry? The ongoing global financial crisis and political instability further add to the problem. People have less disposable income now, times are not too dissimilar from when Zyn was first conceived in the late 40s.

 

Rubix is a multifaceted company involved in all aspects of the music industry and over the last few years have witnessed the decline in the industry in all areas firsthand. Unless there is a concerted effort in the industry to have affordable products the decline will get worse.

 

If you desire the highest quality handmade cymbals at an affordable price the new Zyn range is the perfect solution.