Thread: Saroyan Zills - which ones?

I'm looking to buy a pair of Saroyans, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the differences between them except for the diameter. I'm just learning to zill, but want a pair around 2" in diameter that I can work into pro-style routines. Soo.....WWB-buy/which pairs do you like, and why?

Here's the 6 I'm looking at
1) Professional Zills
2) Turkish Delight
3) Arabesque
4) Arabesque II
5) Tinker
6) Nefertiti

Amazon.com: Saroyan Mastercrafts - saroyan: Musical Instruments

Go here:

Saroyan Mastercrafts

They have sound clips so that you can hear the difference.

The tinkerzills are going to be way too small - they are made for children.

ah, brilliant!! Thanks TamraHenna!

I really like my Arabesque's. I got them two weeks ago and I love em. I am a beginner as well with small hands and they are working well for me.

hhmm, now that I've listened to them, I'm between Nefertiti and Arabesque....

I'll have to listen to the clips again later, as I think my head might burst if I play them 20 times each again!

Arabesque are my favorites!

Another vote for Arabesque. I have a silver set that I use all the time. I still need to get around to sewing the elastic for my bronze set.

I have Pros Arabesque ans Nefertiti's. Its kinda hard to judge until you get them on as well.
Some peple prefer the confort and usability which you wouldn't know until you try them.
I have tinker zills and I wouldn't use them for performance. They are VERY small and I bought them purposly tfor use at workshops and teaching so I can hear. They are also a bit harder to play since they are small you have to move your fingers more to strike them.
xoxo,
-NJ

I have arabesque IIs and I love them to bits

I have the Grecian brass and I love them. However they are a bit quiet for some venues

I have the Grecian and the Nefertiti and I love them both. I like my Grecian best, but for performance I usually use my Nefertiti because they are louder.

I have to be different, even when I don't know I am... I have the Turkish Delights. I'll have to go to the website and listen to those Arabesques!

I have the Professional Zills and the Nefertitis--they are both fantastic, but for different occasions. The Professionals are my favorite "all purpose" zills for most performances. They have a nice weight to them, they have a gorgeous tone, and they are easy to play.

The Nefertitis are the ones I prefer for smaller/more intimate venues. They're the first set of zills I got, and they were the perfect set to learn on. They're also good for when we practice 4's in class, because I really struggle to get my bigger zills moving that fast.

I used to have a set of the Tinker zills, but they drove me nuts and I sold them. You'd think they'd be easy to play since they're so light, but I had the exact opposite problem. They don't have enough weight to bounce off each other well, so I had to work my fingers twice as hard to play them. And forget about using these in class; they get drowned out so easily, you can't hear yourself play.

I love my arabesques for most situations-good for class good for performance in restaurants.For bigger venues I use my proffessionals or arabesque 2. i've got a collection of them-couldn't stop at just one type

I'm a bit of a zill freak, so I have many of these styles...I have The Turkish Delights, the Turkish Pros in silver and in brass, the Arabesque 1 in silver, and Arabesque 1 brass, and the Arabesque 2 in brass, and the Grecian.

For indoor venues and new-ish zillers, I'd vote for the Arabesque 1 in brass as the best over-all. The weight and size are great, and the tone is beautiful in the brass ones. The silvers are a little high-pitched for me, so I put them into my "student zills" basket.

For students, I love the Turkish Delight small version. It's quite light, but the same size as the Arabesque 1, not too tiny. The sound is not as loud, so students will not be overwhelmed, but they still have nice tone. Good zill for small venues, too.

The Turkish Delight Pros are my favorites of all, for larger venues or outdoors. They are LOUD! They are great for marking time in class when students need to hear the pattern you are playing. I like both the brass and the silver, but the silver sounds a little teeny bit better to me.

The Arabesque 2 is great for the same reasons as the Turkish Pro, but when I got the Turkish suddenly I stopped using the Arabesques.

The Grecian is very very low in tone, so it's good if you like a large zill but don't want to be loud. Good for indoor performances when a high pitch is maybe not so good.

Next on my list are the Afghani Brass...drool.....g.:

I have the Tut's in German Silver and love them. A couple friends have them in brass and I like those too. :)

Great info on zills!! loving this thread.

german silver arabesque...

I started with the Nefertitis, which is what I practice with and take to class, I have silver arabesques but don't use them often.

I do use my minizills in my Friday restaurant show, but that is because that restaurant is SUPPER tiny and my zilling hands will often be less that a foot away from a patron's ears. At it's most crowded (3 weeks ago) I only had a 50 cm wide runway between chairs...too close for louder zills.

Looking once more at the Saroyan Zills, I think I might want to move from the minizills to the low pitched Grecians. Anybody a Grecian lover?

Originally Posted by najla86

I'm looking to buy a pair of Saroyans, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the differences between them except for the diameter. I'm just learning to zill, but want a pair around 2" in diameter that I can work into pro-style routines. Soo.....WWB-buy/which pairs do you like, and why?

Here's the 6 I'm looking at
1) Professional Zills
2) Turkish Delight
3) Arabesque
4) Arabesque II
5) Tinker
6) Nefertiti

Amazon.com: Saroyan Mastercrafts - saroyan: Musical Instruments

I use the mini-zills for going fast (and I have child-size hands, so that's appropriate). They are the same size as the Tinker-zills, but not as obnoxiously high.

Now that my hands are stronger, I should look at some bigger Saroyans...,r:;

Originally Posted by ozma

I started with the Nefertitis, which is what I practice with and take to class, I have silver arabesques but don't use them often.

I do use my minizills in my Friday restaurant show, but that is because that restaurant is SUPPER tiny and my zilling hands will often be less that a foot away from a patron's ears. At it's most crowded (3 weeks ago) I only had a 50 cm wide runway between chairs...too close for louder zills.

Looking once more at the Saroyan Zills, I think I might want to move from the minizills to the low pitched Grecians. Anybody a Grecian lover?

I am! I really like them - they're mellow enough for small spaces, and they're pretty light, too.

Originally Posted by ozma

Looking once more at the Saroyan Zills, I think I might want to move from the minizills to the low pitched Grecians. Anybody a Grecian lover?

I had the Grecians, but I sold them along with my minizills. I had the same problem with both--they were both so light, they don't bounce off each other as well as heavier cymbals. So my fingers had to work harder.

The Grecians do have a nice low tone, though. I had a hard time hearing them in class, so judging from that I'm sure they'd be appropriate for smaller restaurants. ..g.:

I have the Pros--the tone still hasn't grown on me after a couple of years. I gave my Nefertitis away to a new dancer. My favorite set are the ones Azar had Saroyan make for Mystic Sun Studio--they are smaller than the Pros, larger than the Nefs and have a nice mid-level sort of ring.

I have the silver tut's and I love them for all situations...and I always get compliments on their tone.

just got my arabesques, a birthday gift from my wonderful bf!

the sound is sooo much more beautiful than what I expected from the sound clips on the website. I just need to adjust my elastics, then I'm good to go!

I used the Turkish Delights for teaching and the Professional for performances.

i got silver pros for bigger or outside shows, and arabesques for more intimate venues

Just invested in saroyan ghawazees (made of bronze) which are as big as the pros but have a lighter and prettier tone, haven't used em in performance yet, but did in class n loved 'em.....nice multi venue zills

I play the Afgani zils he offers. They are great with live music.

I just got a set of Arabesques, because I am doing a workshop in a couple of weeks that said "BYO zills and earplugs" so I thought something quieter than the Arabesque IIs might be a clever investment. They are really lovely too, same quality, beautiful sound, but easier on the ears.