Virtual Cymbal.com grew out of my obession with vintage cymbals and drum gear - especially vintage K Istanbul cymbals from Turkey. After buying and selling many vintage plates I developed my own system of thinking about and characterizing the sonic characteristics of quality cymbals.
Formally Front Range Bronze
In May 2008 we changed the name to Virtual Cymbals from Front Range Bronze - for a variety of reasons most of which have to do with marketing. Nothing else changed - same people, same service, same great cymbals.
The Virtual Cymbals Experience
We don't sell everything at Virtual Cymbals- only the things we like. That allows us to learn as much about the products we sell and pass that knowledge onto our customers.
Here at Virtual Cymbals we take a unique approach to cymbal selling in which we try to accurately describe the sound and characteristics of each cymbal we sell. To help match your sound each cymbal is listed with weights, soundfiles, and videofiles that are as true as possible. We also include a physical description of each cymbal including an assesement of how we think the sonic characteristics will change with age.
Our aim is to make the online cymbal buying experience as quick and easy as possible. Please email us for more info or with questions
About the Virtual Cymbals website
After much deliberation - and consternation - we just updated the Virtual Cymbals website (March 2008). Rather than fancy graphics, flash animation, and other hoo hah, we decided to keep it simple. We also didn't want to pass the cost of expenive web deign onto our customers. We opted for a template site and shopping cart with the simpliest navigation we could devise. One problem we faced was finding the best mechanism for delivering the multimedia materials attached to each cymbal. Though it is more work we decided that the best way to accomodate ALL our customers - even those still in the web-stoneage - is to provide both audio and video files for each cymbal. We implemented the jukebox as a way to more easily view and compare these files. In the end we hope that our efforts have improved your Virtual Cymbals experience and - most importantly - save you some time. Of course, we are always open to suggestions.
Virtual Cymbals staff
Chris Fisher - Virtual Cymbals Supreme Commander Chris has been playing drums since he was 6 years old. During his teens he marched with several Drum Corps in the Pacific Northwest. After a brief stint as a music major Chris bailed to pursue a more 'lucrative' career as an archaeologist, attending graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (a town he fell in love with when he was there for the DCI champanships in 1985). Chris is currently an assistant professor of anthropology at Colorado State University. "I founded Virtual Cymbal for fun as a natural extension of my cymbal collecting hobby. I treat each cymbal as I would an artifact which helps our customers create 'their sound'".
Learn more about Chris's research here - some of which is funded by FRB. Kiki Gilderhus -- Sometimes Virtual Cymbals CEO Kiki is an art historian, not a drummer. She runs FRB when Chris is off in the wilds of Mexico pretending to be Indiana Jones. She grew up listening to her dad's collection of jazz and blues records. These days she prefers garage rock but she still thinks Elvin is super foxy.
Hanna the cymbal packer
Our location
Virtual Cymbal.com occupies several rooms of a ranch home in a sleepy suburban area of Fort Collins Colorado, USA. Nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains our location gives us access to great beer, food, and wilderness - all of which we attempt to enjoy often. If you are in the area please come visit - contact us for details.
