Just something I was thinking about the other night...

Hats are sold in pairs, but does anyone ever mix combinations to get different sounds happening?

I've got the Sabian Fusian 13" hats, which I've switched to not too long ago as my main pair. The bottom hat is heavy with air holes, and I was wondering what a different top would sound like.

So the real question being, do dealers ever sell just the top halves of hi-hats so you can mix and match for different occasions?

check your interstate catalog (you better be getting it!) youll see that zildjian halves out the higher end hats.   heck, they even markets the k/z pair these days.  paiste doesnt list them individually, but advertise thier willingness.  sabian doesnt appear to outright, but id be surprised if you couldnt get just one.

i usually use a 15" german ludwig standard paiste top, with a 14" swiss ludwig standard bottom.  thats my mixed pair  i also have a riveted 14" top that i sometimes swap with the 15 if i want a brighter sound.

I've seen lots of places offer this. And also, if you ask most, I'm sure they'd be willing to sell you just one half. What are they gonna do, refuse your money? You can order "half" of a hat from Zildjian. That's how the retailers do it anyway, I believe.

I'm more curious to know the successful pairing people use. If you've got 3 sets of hi-hats laying around your house... start matching those up... BAM, you got 9 different configurations to choose from. This possiblity always interested me. The problem is, I feel like a tool in the cymbal room at the drum shop fiddling with 800 different hi-hats. So it's hard to know what configurations work, and which ones were designed separately for a reason.

Man... talk about rambling...