Resoldering the 3.5mm socket onto the pcb is very difficult, the solder points are tiny and dont take much heat to actually take the solder tabs off the pcb, you can try getting a new 3.5mm socket (mono) and soldering it to the other side of the pcb, the points are there but you may need a tiny drill bit to create the holes for the solder pins to go through as they are only drilled on one side. This is also pretty tricky but the best option from where you are right now. The only other option is a new cymbal which we do have in the parts store if you want to give that a try

Thanks for the nice comments about the site

first of all congratulations, this website is great!

I have the same problem as Hugh. I am sure it is the 3.5 mm socket that is loose.

I already tried to put some rubber beneath the socket so that it would be pushed against the PCB and won’t be loose anymore but that just made things worst and when I tested it, the cymbal had no response.

After removing the rubber, the cymbal was again responding intermittently depending on the wire position.

I want to try the resolder solution but I am afraid I will just ruin the cymbal for good… Are there any videos showing how to resolder the socket?

Thanks for the help!

Thanks for answering my question.
i think it was definitely caused by some ‘enthusiastic’ drumming.
it looks like i’m going to have to get my hands on a soldering iron and kit.
i think i’ll try re-soldering the socket onto its current position, it sounds like its the least fiddly.
if that doesnt work, i’ll attempt to drill some pads for the socket on the other side and scratch tracks out, but i hope it wont get to that!
thanks again steve

Well thats some good fault finding you have been through there! It is quite common for the 3.5mm socket on the pcb to become loose and loose its connection (often it is fine while the cymbal wire is in one position but it the cymbal wire moves a little bit it looses the connection) This is caused either by the vibration of enthusiastic drummers or by having moveed the cymbals while the wires are still connected. You can resolder the 3.5mm socket back onto the PCB if you believe this to be the case but it will not take much heat before the solder points on the board come away so only use a very low powered soldering iron (15W) and be quick about it!

Another thing you can do is to put a new 3.5 mm socket on the other side of the PCB (you can see they use the same PCB for left and right side cymbal) but this often involves drilling holes in the other side to put the solder pins through the board and then you will need to scratch the coating off the PCB around the holes you drill to reveal the copper surface under the green coating which you need to solder onto. This is a difficult job involving a tiny drill bit and some very delicate scratching (DJ Hero pun anyone?) but can be done. Otherwise you could look at hardwiring the cymbal by soldering the cable directly onto the sensor wires but this is even more difficult and you will not be able to take the cymabl off to move the drum kit anywhere.

Hope this helps – tell us how you get on

If it is not yet a proper crack in the cymbal then I would suggest using the glue to cover the crack and try to reinforce it before the crack starts to spread. Superglue works well on the hard plastic

I first noticed the crack when my cymbal started registering double hits when I hit it once–I think the crack is causing that, anyway.

Thanks for leaving a message!