The SSZ was a shortly lived, rivet series that was only ever classified as a prototypes series. The SSZ was our first attempt at drilling various patterns (not just for rivets).

These three special pictured cymbals above represent the prototype SS Xotica series. The SS Xotica series was a heavily modified cymbal line with a lot of hand crafting as far as shaping the alloy, lathing and hammering. The SS Xotica series was supposed to eventually replace the SSX  (shown below) series but this never happened before the SS line was discontinued.

The SS alloy had undergone to many changes to keep the SS name. Officially the SS5 alloy is considered our SSX series. SS stood for Saluda Silver (due to its silvery color) Xotica. The abbreviation for Xotica ('X') was included in the new name, but Xotica wasn't actually shown as a logo since this was not a true SS Xotica cymbal. The SSX series also had a throwback to the black pad pressed logos. This nightmare system for applying logos was only around for a few months, which was later replaced with a vinyl type graphic before fully switching over to the 2005 engraved logos.