8/24/12 NEWS from Steve!!!  I am thrilled to announce that we will be opening a Sabian NYC Custom Shop in our Manhattan store. The idea for this initiative came from my desire to help NYC drummers find exactly the right cymbal "voice". As a result, I have created an arrangement with Sabian whereby we will serve as the NYC conduit to Sabian for players looking for a special sound. I am setting up "The Factory on 4" on the fourth floor of my NY store and in this room we will have an array of reference cymbals on hand, and I will work with players to zero in on their sound. Then, I will contact Mark Love, Sabian's "Cymbal Master" and we'll get the cymbal built.

Other Sabian News: I visited the factory in New Brunswick on 8/20. It was good to see Bob Zildjian again and to have a chance to tour the factory and select cymbals. It's amazing to me that Bob created Sabian essentially 30 years ago when he was 59 years old! He's 89 now and still as sharp as ever. It was a joy to sit and talk with him, his wife, and all of the Sabian "family".

Sabian still hand hammers the high end cymbals, and no one else in the USA does this. This is truly "old school" cymbal makiing and it's absolutely wonderful to watch. I tried my hand at it, and let's just say that I know for certain that there is no career opportunity awaiting me in the cymbal hammering world! I gave it a shot, but it was comical at best. I do have a superb rememberance of my visit and my pathetic attempt at hammering: Bob Rupp, my Sabian rep, grabbed the cymbal I "hammered" when I wasn't looking and snuck it around all day, got Bob Zildjian to sign it for me, and then presented it to me at dinner. That one will be framed and will be up on the wall in "The Factory on 4" at my NY store.

Mark Love is Sabian's "Cymbal Master" and he obviously has a deep love for these instruments, and he has a great ear. He and I spent a long, long time in Area 51 where all of the interesting prototype work is done.  We've got a ton of cymbals coming in from Area 51 and Mark and I worked out the broad details about how we'll work together as we start up our Sabian NYC Custom Shop operation in Manhattan.