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Istanbul Agop’s heritage stretches back to Zildjian’s old Turkish K factory, where founder Agop Tomurcuk worked

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• Review

Istanbul Agop is a small, family-owned company that has been making cymbals for over a quarter of a century. Its reputation for producing high-quality, handmade instruments is no secret among drummers.

Istanbul Agop (pronounced ‘ar-gop’) was founded by master cymbal-smith Agop Tomurcuk and his partner Mehmet Tamdeger in 1980. Agop spent his life making cymbals starting at the age of nine in Zildjian’s original K factory in Istanbul. By the time the factory closed in 1978, he had risen to the position of foreman.

After the demise of the Zildjian factory, he set about creating the Istanbul Agop range. The company has since been particularly successful in America. It has a healthy roster of endorsees there which range from Blue Note stalwarts such as Idris Muhammad through to mainstream freelancers such as Matt Chamberlain and Joey Waronker.

Agop’s death in 1996 led to his two sons, Arman and Sarkis Tomurcuk, stepping in to run the company. In time, original partner Mehmet Tamdeger decided to split from Arman and Sarkis and he now runs his own cymbal company, Istanbul Mehmet.

Casting off

The cymbals that we have for review are a selection of Traditionals (Istanbul Agop’s flagship range) and Empires – one of the company’s six custom lines. Regardless of their eventual tunings and voicings, all Istanbul Agop cymbals are cast individually from the company’s own B20 bronze alloy. Considered by many to be the premium alloy for cymbal making, the high tin content (20 percent) of B20 makes it soft and malleable, infusing it with richness and warmth.

After initial machine rolling and pressing the cymbals are hammered and lathed by hand. The finished cymbals are rigorously inspected before being sent out. Any that fail to meet the standard go straight back to the casting room to be melted down.

Trad for it

The Traditional range is Istanbul Agop’s and features many models over various weights. Of these we have two pairs of hi-hats, three crashes and two rides to test. These numbers barely scratch the surface in terms of the models available (there are five varieties of Traditional hi-hat alone), but give a good idea of the flavour of the series.

The Traditional cymbals are lathed conventionally on both sides and plenty of hammer marks are visible beneath the grooves.

Kicking things off is a pair of 13" Regular hi-hats, which partner a Medium top cymbal with a Medium-Heavy bottom. They are bright, crisp and pleasingly rounded, especially for a smaller diameter pair of hats. Their response is understandably quick and they give a very positive ‘chick’ when stepped. They are also capable of a good level of volume. This, combined with their tonal qualities, makes them an impressive pair of cymbals.