how do YOU care for your cymbals?

[_brian_]

hello lads, just realised it's been a little while since I've annoyed you all so I thought I'd come back on to my favourite drumming forum .

I only have a... cost effective cymbal pack Stagg CX (13" HH, 16" Crash, 18" Crash/Ride) they cost £50 . I don't know if they sound good or not, perhaps I'll post a sample later on, mabye you'll NOT cringe .

I'd like to upgrade sometime (at least the hats) and would like to get into good habits before I go spending money. I'll be ONLY handling cymbals while wearing cotton gloves & cleaning/ polishing them. I've seen a few cymbal care kits on ebay as well as the little cleaning spray bottles, groove juice, sabian, paiste etc.

What do you all use to care for your cymbals?
Why?
How many products have you tried?
Will I be better just digging out some old brasso?

Over to the percussive masters

[toobalicious]

cotton gloves? lol.

i do clean mine, but NEVER polish them. i get the gunk off so that the green death stays away, but i let them tarnish up naturally. "patina" they call it. it darkens and drys a cymbal a bit, and makes for sounds that suit me and my style--- gives them some character, if you will. if you like really bright modern sounds, you probably should polish them. mothers billet polish works better on a cruddy cymbal than any "cymbal" polish i have tried. the groove juice stuff is a chemical (acid i think?) that literally "eats" a micro-thin layer off of the cymbal surface. leave it on too long, and you might have trouble. i use a soapy sponge and warm water only. gets the gunk off, but leaves the patina in tact.

BTW, i dont know what stagg CX is made of, but if it isnt bronze, the above might not be the best advice for you.

[_brian_]

"BTW, i dont know what stagg CX is made of, but if it isnt bronze, the above might not be the best advice for you."

Hah, don't know what they're made of either, probably the cheapest material Stagg could get their hands on, recycled & compressed plastic bags?

[_brian_]

just found out - they're b20 apparently. The set is better known as CXG although the cymbals & packing only have CX on them.

For those of you interested

[PhilGood]

For a long time they used to say cleaning your cymbals was bad. You have to remember this was back in the day where the only thing available to clean your cymbals was Brasso. Brasso was highly abrasive and you'd spend hours and hours scrubbing them to get them clean. This is where the whole "don't polish your cymbals, it'll change the sound" senario came from.

Today is a whole different story. There are cymbal cleaners by Sabian (my favorite) and others which you spray on and they counteract the oxidation on the cymbal surface and remove it without scrubbing at all. I just wipe the surface down with my bare hands, rinse it with cold water and towel dry it. They come out beautifully! Modern cymbals are also more forgiving to polish, especially those with brilliant finishes. They come clean more easily and don't require a lot of scrubbing. If you want the finish to remain fingerprint free for a while a light coat of car polish keeps the oxidation away and doesn't change the sound because it's so thin and light. Cleaner cymbals just sound brighter and better to me, plus looking up at new looking cymbals can make you enjoy playing even more.

[TamaSabian]

I´d clean mine too, I use Zildjian cleaning cream. After a gig I wipe them with a cotton cloth, I always avoid manage them with my fingers, I hold them using a cloth.

[PhilGood]

Originally Posted by TamaSabian

I´d clean mine too, I use Zildjian cleaning cream. After a gig I wipe them with a cotton cloth, I always avoid manage them with my fingers, I hold them using a cloth.

How do you do cymbal chokes?

[Elton Bear]

Originally Posted by _brian_

Over to the percussive masters

You spelt percutive wrongly!

I have 70s (I think) cymbals, very nice, quite sought after, and anybody who has played them always tries to steal my ride (the swines!). Anyway, they have about 30 years of gunk on them and that's how I like it! I have one Stagg crash which, surprisingly, fits in very well with the Zildjians. I brasso'd that once and nearly destroyed it. All that achieved was adding green oxidisation, not removing it!

NEVER use brasso or any other abrasive cleaner on your Cymbals. Zildjian, Sabian, and Paiste all make good cymbal cleaner, but like I said - I don't bother, and my cymbals sound great.

[santiu]

Another fan here of letting cymbals get a nice patina, but it's not for everybody. Can't say I've ever cleaned any of my cymbals ever (the oldest one I have being a 10" Zildjian A Custom splash that's almost 15 years old now). My favorite cymbal in my kit now days looks like someone crapped on it and let it sit in a garbage dump for a few years, although to be honest, it came that way (Zidjian K Custom left-hand ride).

[Dogman]

Mine sit in a room on stands...that is the only maintenance I do on them...besides smack em once n a while....

[_brian_]

Originally Posted by santiu

My favorite cymbal in my kit now days looks like someone crapped on it and let it sit in a garbage dump for a few years, although to be honest, it came that way (Zidjian K Custom left-hand ride).

Ahh, so now we are all getting to know Zildjian's secrets, i saw a bit of scrap copper pipe lying around here last week, where's my hammer?

[Seafroggys]

I like my cymbals dirty

[TamaSabian]

Originally Posted by PhilGood

How do you do cymbal chokes?

I use somebody else cymbals...........
To be honest I don´t choke them that much, and I can´t stand that somebody else put his fingers on them. I´ve been playing on 2-5 bands gigs and you have to be fast to set up everything. So I take a deep breath and let other hands, even mine leave their mark.

[_brian_]

TamaSabian, I have the perfect solution for you & your crew;

http://www.giftmonger.com/acatalog/w...ves_spots3.jpg

They are in fashion apparently

[Rimshot]

I use "Power Powder" Instant copper cleaner on real dirty and tarnished cymbals and then I'll use cymbal wipes on them after they get a few smudges and before I put them back in the cymbal cases. I keep my drums clean and polished too. I just think it looks better on stage.

[_brian_]

With all due respect, i'm a complete newbie with cymbals - please don't take this the wrong way as I'm asking to learn not offend .

I keep hearing how drummers carefully select their cymbals. Compairing one after another to get the sound they want. So if you buy a cymbal & don't clean it because you want it to develop a patina (to develop the sound your looking for) does this not mean that you have selected the wrong cymbal to buy in the first place? Perhaps a cymbal that was more darker etc would have been a better choice in the first place? Then you can keep it nice & shiny !!

[PhilGood]

The thought process behind that is that cleaning a cymbal (with the old abrasive cleaners) alters the sound more than just letting it patina. Of course now a days we know that's not true. The oxidation is a buildup which alters the sound just as badly. Since the newer cleaners remove it without removing metal or generating heat and changing the tempering of the metal, cleaning them brings them back closer to their original sound.

Of course, if you are a jazz hound, the patina adds to the dryness of cymbals, like the old K's. That can be a very good thing and is considered an improvement.

[Supercreep]

You hit them with sticks. Don't go overboard with the cymbal care, lol.

[_brian_]

"You hit them with sticks. Don't go overboard with the cymbal care, lol."

Look, if i buy some 2002's i'll be hitting them with feathers to preserve them!!

[Rimshot]

Those are sheet cymbals y'know. They aren't cast like Zildjian, Sabian, Bosphorous, etc..
I have a couple of old Formula 602's that I purchased in 1968 and they are pretty good, but they are fragile.

[PhilGood]

Originally Posted by Rimshot

Those are sheet cymbals y'know. They aren't cast like Zildjian, Sabian, Bosphorous, etc..
I have a couple of old Formula 602's that I purchased in 1968 and they are pretty good, but they are fragile.

I have broken more cast cymbals than I have sheet ones. I think the record stands at 6:1. I have one Sabian that survived a thrash metal band, the rest - RIP. Went back to Paiste and haven't looked back. The only Paiste I've ever cracked was early in playing them and a friend actually started it.

602's will break if you look at them funny, though.

[_brian_]

Originally Posted by Rimshot

Those are sheet cymbals y'know. They aren't cast like Zildjian, Sabian, Bosphorous, etc..
I have a couple of old Formula 602's that I purchased in 1968 and they are pretty good, but they are fragile.

yeah I know they're sheet, I was told by an ex pro friend that they were the way to go as that's all he ever buys. I'm a light player anyway . I don't really have a good ear for good or bad cymbals yet so don't want to buy something then find out they're overpriced crap. I've already explained the rotten selection of cymbals in shops round about be in another thread, I'd have to travel a long way to try out cymbals & I can't afford to go on long random trips like that!! I listened to the samples on the paiste website & was impressed but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have crap samples!! It's very confusing the amount of manufacturors & product lines those manufacturors have for drums esp for a non equipment savvie player!!

[_brian_]

The main problem I've got is that although I can tell the difference between my cymbals and great sounding cymbals if you like, I can't tell the difference really between cymbals of the same apparent quality. The only exception to this rule is the more outlandish models - which I couldn't afford anyway!! Do you think Paiste 2002's are overkill, a good choice or is there better options out there. The only reference I have is websites with samples.

PS never having played quality cymbals do they "feel" different to play?

[Supercreep]

Originally Posted by _brian_

The main problem I've got is that although I can tell the difference between my cymbals and great sounding cymbals if you like, I can't tell the difference really between cymbals of the same apparent quality. The only exception to this rule is the more outlandish models - which I couldn't afford anyway!! Do you think Paiste 2002's are overkill, a good choice or is there better options out there. The only reference I have is websites with samples.

PS never having played quality cymbals do they "feel" different to play?

If you can't tell the difference, then one is much the same as another - since your ear is the one to please.

[PhilGood]

Originally Posted by _brian_

PS never having played quality cymbals do they "feel" different to play?

I think they do actually, but it's more of a mental response. I'd call it "workability". Cheap cymbals seem to be restrictive dynamically. They usually have one sound that's hard to play with in a musical way. A really good cymbal will give you very nice sounds at a very low volume, build nicely, and be explosive when you need it. The cymbal reacts to your emotion and doesn't let you down, so in a way, it feels what you feel. So yes, it feels different.