It's been a rough year for William S Punter. Back in January I had to refuse an OBE in protest against Bob Geldof's non-inclusion in the honours jamboree. Then I was physically forced to go to a place called Frankfurt where I caught herpes from one of an innumerable number of peregrinating ad men engaged in the promiscuous habit of thrusting their oily hands into yours, and holding it there while demanding immoral favours of a journalistic nature.

Then my wife wouldn't believe me.

One such shop is Busker Music, one half of which is separately known also as Busker Music, but which is, in fact, an independent business altogether.

Why, you may well ask, is the prospect of reviewing a cymbal shop such a daunting one? Well look at it this way. Apparently the best cymbals, are hand hammered, or so I learnt from copious discussions with the staff soon after descending the stairs into the pleasantly shaded recesses of the basement, and therefore each one has a different sound.

Seeing as how it's customary to thoroughly test out the helpfulness and knowledge of a shop's staff, it therefore befell me to put up a convincing performance as a buyer of cymbals, and thrash my way through 10 'trees' full of cymbals; from Sabian hand hammered and machine hammered, original K Zildjian Turkish cymbals that had apparently been in store since 1963 and were the only ones in the country, Avedis Zildjian cymbals, four racks of German machine-made cymbals, and a tree full of secondhand cymbals of all makes and descriptions.

Upon announcing my intention of purchasing two crash-type cymbals, I was offered a choice of light and heavy sticks and I er... started at the beginning. After about 10 minutes of solid thrashing, doing the whole bit of hitting the things and running away, spinning them round and getting the shop's young partner to do a bit of hitting, I quite frankly was getting a bit fractious. Not so the staff, who informed me that when Jazz drummers come in, they frequently spend two or three days there determinedly sorting out the instrument of their choice.

An alternative to becoming one-such crashing bore, would be to take the cymbals away and test them in your own house or studio, then return them should they prove unsatisfactory. This Busker Music do allow, and cymbals can be returned or replaced after 14 days should the customer be unsatisfied. The shop has rather a low ceiling, which as the staff pointed out tends to emphasise the overtones of the cymbal, so it's really just as well that this option is open to the customer.

The rest of the shop is filled with a pleasant assortment of drums, hand percussion, stands and accessories. They deal mainly with Pearl, Premier and the French Capelle brand, as well as holding a number of second-hand kits. Second-hand items – including cymbals – are mainly bought in part exchange deals. Hand-percussion is something of a sideline and the shop does not intend to compete with Pro-Percussion in this department.

Access and Visa credit cards are accepted, and the company has credit arrangements with HFC.

Finally, after some 25 minutes of bronze and brains punishment, I gave up. After recalling the shop assistant – at that moment helping another individual in a choice of hi hats – I dealt a twin punter blow by asking for a pen and paper to note down likely cymbals, while adding that I was on my way up to Pro-Percussion to see what they had to offer. He took the blow like a man, and I came away with the spurious notes safely in my pocket, apparently as well wished as when I had entered the place.

All in all far better than I had imagined, I mused, upon regaining the relative peace of the Fulham Road. Things are looking up. How about getting back to work on my unfinished novel, 'I married A Turkish Cymbal Tester'.

BUSKER MUSIC (Contact Details)