In a drum kit, splash cymbals are the smallest type of accent cymbals. They are often smaller versions of the more common crash cymbals. Splash cymbals and china cymbals are the two main types of effects cymbals.

The most common sizes for splash cymbals are 8 inches and 10 inches. Most splash cymbals range in size from 6 inches to 13 inches, though some are as small as 4 inches. Splash cymbals larger than 10 inches usually sound similar to hi-hats.

Some manufacturers have made splash cymbals as large as 22 inches. However, splash cymbals that are 14 inches or larger are more commonly called crash cymbals.

History

The original and traditional splash cymbal, like many types of cymbals in a drum kit, was created and named by Gene Krupa with the help of the Avedis Zildjian Company.

This traditional splash cymbal was widely used in jazz music during the 1920s and 1930s. It was not commonly used in popular music for many years until drummers like Ringo Starr began using it again. Later, Stewart Copeland, while playing with The Police, helped bring it back into widespread use. After finding a toy cymbal during a trip to Asia, Stewart gave it to Paiste, which led to the creation of heavier splash cymbals better suited for this style of drumming. These heavier versions became widely sold and used.

A third stage in the development of splash cymbals happened when china splash cymbals became popular. These cymbals added new sounds to drumming and also led to the creation of cymbal stacks.

Other types of cymbals, such as bell and salsa cymbals, have gradually been included in the kits of top drummers and in the product lines of major cymbal companies over time. Today, the wide variety of splash cymbals contributes greatly to the colorful sound of modern drum kits.

Types

Traditional splash cymbals, first made famous by Gene Krupa, are 8"-12" in size and medium in weight. They have little or no taper, meaning their edges are thick for their size.

Splash cymbals are used to create short, rhythmic accents. They are struck hard for a quick sound that fades quickly. They have little taper to stay strong, making their bell and rim similar in thickness. This limits the richness of their tone.

Rock musicians often prefer heavier splash cymbals, 6"-12", with slight taper. These produce a fuller sound at louder volumes.

China-type cymbals smaller than 14" are called china splash cymbals when used in a drum kit. They come in many shapes and sizes, 6"-12".

Names for these cymbals are not always the same. For example, Sabian calls their 12" rounded bell china a "mini Chinese," and this design is also available in 14". Paiste Twenty Series has 8", 10", and 12" rounded bell mini china. Saluda Voodoo series calls their 12" square bell china simply a "china," while their 10" rounded bell model is called a "china splash." This is partly because some of these cymbals have little or no taper, allowing heavier ones to act as a special type of ride cymbal at moderate volume.

Sabian's 8" and 10" Rocktagon splash cymbals are smaller versions of their 16" and 18" Rocktagon crashes. These are sometimes called china splashes and have a tone between traditional splashes and crashes.

China splashes were used in Mike Portnoy's original cymbal stacks and are still popular as the top cymbal in a stack.

Examples include:
• Hubei C series china 8"
• Sabian AAX Mini Chinese 12"
• Saluda Decadence China Blast 10"
• Paiste Twenty Mini China 8"

A salsa splash is a small cymbal used with timbales. Traditionally, either a cymbal or cowbell (but not both) is used in timbale playing.

Example:
• Sabian El Sabor Salsa Splash 13"

Thin splash cymbals are 8"-12" in size and have a noticeable taper. Their sound is more like a crash than a traditional splash. They are fragile and not suitable for inexperienced drummers. They are usually only available in B20 alloy and high-end cymbal series.

At the thinnest end, a thin splash is the same as a cymbal designed for hand playing, not sticks. A single careless strike with a drumstick can break it.

Bell cymbals, 4"-8" or occasionally larger, are very thick and produce a bell-like tone. Paiste makes one in 13".

Early bell cymbals were made by cutting down larger cymbals, often to use parts from ones that were damaged.

Bell cymbals vary in shape from deep and cuplike, like a church bell, to almost flat, with many shapes in between.

Small sizzle cymbals and splash cymbals with sizzler attachments create an even shorter, more washed-out sound than traditional splashes.

Specialized thin stack cymbals, 8"-12", are designed for stacking, usually as the top cymbal. They are sold individually or in sets of two or three, including larger cymbals meant for the bottom. These sets offer new sounds but have not replaced the use of china, crash, or splash cymbals as top cymbals. Three-cymbal sets allow multiple two-cymbal combinations and are designed to stack with other cymbals, creating many tonal options.

Despite these specialized stack cymbals, many drummers still use china or splash cymbals as the top cymbal.

Examples include:
• Sabian Max Stax High 8"
• Paiste Noise Works Tripple Raw Smash 12", 14", 14"

Mounting

The splash cymbal, because of its varied usage and small size, is mounted in many ways. Some common ways are:

• On a separate boom stand. This can be of relatively light construction without a counterweight owing to the light weight of the cymbal.
• On an auxiliary boom attached to a stand used principally to support a drum or another, larger cymbal. This is the traditional method.
• On an auxiliary boom attached to the rim of a snare drum or timbales. This is particularly popular for playing Latin rhythms.
• By piggybacking on a larger cymbal. The two cymbals must be separated by an extra felt if they are not to each affect the other's tone and risk damage.
• By use of a double stand that mounts the top cymbal on an extension of the stand that replaces the wing nut holding the bottom cymbal. These are commercially available but more often created by adding an accessory to a single stand.
• As the upper cymbal in a stack in which another cymbal is deliberately in contact with the splash.

Several of these techniques, notably stacking and piggybacking, are very rarely used for cymbals other than splash cymbals. The rim-mounted boom is restricted to splash cymbals owing to the weight of other cymbal types, but similar mounts, traditionally on the top of the rear rim of the bass drum but also on other drums, are occasionally used for other lightweight accent effects, particularly a cowbell and/or a wood block.

A cymbal stack is a combination of two or more cymbals mounted in contact, producing a sound unlike any single cymbal. The effect is similar to a loosely closed hi-hat, or can alternatively be seen as an extreme case of a sizzle cymbal with the upper cymbal serving as a single large jangle. The exact effect is dependent on the tension on the mounting bolt, and with some combinations can be varied from a very short crunch to a much longer buzz.

This technique was pioneered by Dave Weckl, Mike Portnoy, and others, originally using a china splash as the upper cymbal. Portnoy mounted both cymbals bell up, with no spacing felt, to maximize contact between them, and choosing cymbals of sufficiently different profile to ensure that the contact was not enough to choke them completely.

As the technique became established, cymbal makers introduced specialized stack cymbals designed specifically for use in stacks. However, the older technique, using a china splash on top of a crash, china, or another splash, also remains popular.

Stacking should not be confused with piggybacking, in which the upper cymbal is bell down, the lower cymbal bell up, and a spacing felt is used between the cymbal bells, preventing any contact.

Piggybacking is a method of mounting a splash cymbal, mostly restricted to small splashes, by simply placing it inverted above another cymbal, with which it shares the mounting bolt and its sheath, washers if used, and wingnut. A spacing felt is normally used to separate the cymbals, serving as the top felt of the lower cymbal and the bottom felt of the upper cymbal in order to avoid cymbal cracking.

There is an essential difference between this technique and stacking. A cymbal stack produces a different sound to that produced by either cymbal individually. The piggyback, like the double stand, is primarily a method of mounting the splash cymbal, without producing any major difference in the tone of either cymbal.

Advantages of piggyback mounting are:

• Requires minimal mounting space, and therefore produces a more compact drum kit. Allows the drummer to move between the two cymbals of the piggyback in a single motion. A bonus for drummers who play in venues where space is very limited. In very large, extended kits, it allows more cymbals to be within reach of the drummer.
• Requires little or no extra equipment, only the cymbal itself and normally one extra felt for spacing between the cymbals. Faster setup and takedown. Lighter traps cases. Less to buy.
• It is possible to connect the two cymbals tonally by leaving out the spacing felt (but this risks damage and probably voids any warranty on both cymbals).

• Requires the upper cymbal to be mounted bell down. Produces a trashier tone which not all drummers like. Exposes the rim to the stick in a way that the designer did not intend, often leading to damage. Many splashes have a relatively thick rim for their size, and can withstand a stroke that would break a crash cymbal, but thin splashes cannot generally be mounted bell down.
• Restricts playing of the lower cymbal, generally even to making playing its bell impossible.
• Restricts adjustment of the damping of either cymbal. The mounting bolt tension and the size of one felt are the same for both cymbals, as the mounting bolt, wingnut, and this felt are all shared between them.

Many china splash cymbals and some bell cymbals are designed to be mounted bell down, and are particularly suited to piggyback mounting. Other splash cymbals, however, are very rarely mounted bell down except when piggybacked.

Most but not all drummers put an additional felt between the bells of the two cymbals, to eliminate any direct contact between the cymbals and retain the tone of each. However, the slight contact between the bells if the extra felt is not used affects the tone of each cymbal only subtly, and some drummers like the tonal connection that results. Beginners sometimes use this technique for another reason entirely: The mounting bolt may not be long enough to allow an extra felt, or they may simply not have bought a felt when buying their first splash. Unfortunately, the metal to metal contact and the playing of the upturned splash rim both decrease the life of the cymbal, particularly at the hands of a beginner.

The lower cymbal of the piggyback is often a crash, or less often a ride, but larger splashes and even chinas can be used. The upper cymbal could in theory be any cymb