Sabian
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sabian".

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Sabian
Type Private
Founded Meductic, New Brunswick, Canada (1981)
Headquarters Meductic, New Brunswick, Canada
Key people Robert Zildjian
Website http://www.sabian.com/
10-Inch AA Splash
10-Inch AA Splash

Sabian is a Canadian cymbal designer and manufacturer. It is one of the largest in the world, along with Zildjian, Paiste and Meinl.

The company was founded in 1980 in Meductic, New Brunswick, Canada by Robert Zildjian, son of Avedis Zildjian III, the head of the Avedis Zildjian Company. Family tradition had it that the head of the company would pass the company down to the oldest son. After Avedis Zildjian III died in 1979, Armand (who was President of Zildjian at the time) became Chairman of the Board. This led to a family feud and a legal squabble between Robert and Armand, resulting in Robert leaving Zildjian to form the rival Sabian company. The companies continue to be rivals, and are both among the world's most popular cymbal brands.

The settlement gave Robert Zildjian the Canadian factory that at that time produced most notably the entire K. Zildjian line, all manufacturing in Turkey having ceased by this time. Robert agreed not to use the Zildjian name or to claim that his cymbals were the same. Some say that the most notable difference between Zildjian and Sabian cymbals is that Zildjian uses a softer, mellower sounding alloy while Sabian uses a more tin-based alloy. Others state that the cymbals of the two companies can be distinguished by sound somehow fairly easily, stating that Sabians are relatively thicker for their advertised weight, having longer sustain (with some exceptions) than their Zildjian counterparts, and Zildjian having a faster response (or attack) tending to be mellower in sound overall. All those opinions state that the differences depend on the individual cymbal models.[1][2]

Robert Zildjian formed the word "Sabian" from the two first letters of the names of his three children Sally, Billy and Andy, and initially released two lines of cymbals, HH and AA both of them of the traditional bell bronze alloy.

The HH or "hand hammered" line are regarded as being an attempt to replicate the K. Zildjians of the time. However it was the other line, only slightly cheaper in price, that caused a sensation.

The AA (doubling the 'A' from the Zildjian 'A' - or 'Avedis' - series) line were machine-made bell-bronze cymbals. They introduced a subtly different sound that appealed to many drummers, and also a level of consistency which was at that time new in a line of bell-bronze cymbals.

Currently, Sabian has ten different series of cymbals. Their B8 series and B8 Pro series are regarded as student-level or entry-level cymbals. Their Xs20 series are regarded as intermediate-level cymbals. Their APX cymbals are modern cut cymbals, being very cutting soundsTheir HH series and the AA series of cymbals are regarded as vintage-professional-level cymbals. Their AAX series, HHX series, Vault series and Neil Peart signature Paragon series of cymbals are regarded as modern-professional-level cymbals. Further, cymbals from the Signature series are models developed in assistance with Sabian-endorsed artists, the price and quality of which vary from cymbal to cymbal.

Notable Artists

References

  1. ^ http://www.sabian.com/EN/setupbuilder/
  2. ^ Zildjian.com - EN-US

External links
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