Repair cymbal trigger

[welshsteve]

At the gig last night, my newest cymbal trigger pad started playing up. It's the newest one I have too.
The fault can only be described as an intermittent reduction of gain. Hardest hits result in a light trigger response, bell only, edge too but no bow. Then all of a sudden it's fine again for a little bit. Then back to fault. As I understand they're not the easiest to repair but repair I must.
So anyone with experience with this?

[edtc]

try to resolder the wires to the piezo ...

[edtc]

if its fine then , you can protect the solder by adding some strong glue to the piezo around the wires ....

[welshsteve]

This I understand, but from what I gather they're not the easiest thing to take apart. So was hoping someone might have done it already. Thanks for the reply though!!

I'll post result if it's notable.

[welshsteve]

UPDATE

Well I took it apart, not an easy thing, lots of glue to unstick etc, to reveal no breaks in solder, no cracks in the Piezo, couldn't figure it out why it was triggering but REALLY low, not on the bow edge only at hardest hits. Anyway as matter of maintenance, I cleaned the jack socket with Servisol switch cleaner and lo and behold, it's fine now. Has been all day.

So I have had to stick it all back together, waiting for glue to set overnight, will finish reassembly, test it and will report back how that came out.

[AndyMo]

I need to buy some Servisol switch cleaner! :-)

[Coda]

Nobdy should ever be without switch cleaner! It's the #1 or #2 item in my essential list, right next to gaffa and/or duct tape.

[welshsteve]

Spoke too soon. After I waited a night for glue to set, reassembled the cymbal pad and played it for an hour, the fault returned. I can only assume the piezo has a small crack in it.

So I have stipped it down and decided to buy a SH 14" 2box pad that's for sale nearish to me (about an hour drive) The urgency is that I am gigging on Saturday!

I have a load of piezos lying around 10mm, 15mm and 30mm. Could any of these be used to repair it? The one on the pad is doughnut shaped and without going to 2box for that, is going to be impossible to obtain.

Would I just use one or would 4 x 10mm glued around the hole and wired in parallel be too hot for the module, I think the piezo's in the 14" pad are a little hot as they are.

Thoughts anyone?

[edtc]

Never found a place to buy donut shaped piezos ....

you should try with 2x10mm in parallel if you can fit them ... 4 is overkil i guess , exept if you re running around the cymbal during the gig ...

I did a ride with 2 old cymbals some years ago , with only one 10mm piezo in the bell , and it was ok .Just make sure the cymbal dont spins ...

With 2 , you'll have half of the cymbal with equal triggering . Mark the "good" side of the cymbal to notice if it turns ...

[welshsteve]

Hey thanks for the reply. I'll try the 2 x 10mm on each side. Gotta get me some neoprene for the dampening of the secondary plate first before I give this a go, will report back here.

[LucasPew]

I need to buy some XtraSize https://www.scottmcadams.org/xtrasize-review-results/ Servisol switch cleaner! :-)

Same here! i had some but my friend "borrowed" it and now I need it lol.