Cleaning and polishing cymbals

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Rimshot

Rimshot

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I am not a neat person, but I can be a little compulsive about maintaining instruments.I like my cymbals to be clean and polished. This requires several hours every few weeks with rags and Noxon polish. I've been doing it this way for years. THERE HAS TO BE AN EASIER WAY!!

....This is the one thing I never asked another drummer about. Do any of you have a simpler way of doing this? And are there any tricks that you use short of spraying them with lacquer to keep them polished longer?

I have a couple of dozen cymbals.(No, I don't use all of them on a kit at a time)

I'm old. I'm getting lazy in my old age. But I can't bear playing on tarnished cymbals or dented drumheads.

Any advice?
 
I've used and orbital buffer with a long wool pad, you know the kind they buff cars with. Worked well
 
I used to use stuff called brasso on my brass instruments in high school. It works pretty good on the brassier cymbals. You just pour it on, let it soak and wipe the grime away. But be careful on the decals, it will peel them right off too.
 
Here is what it looks like, you can pick it up in most grocery stores in the cleaning supply aisle.
 
i've heard of a spray that you can just spray on your cymals. it's kinda like an oil i think that will keep them from tarnishing.
 
Okay, an orbital buffer is an idea. I've actually used one of my polishing wheels but I don't want to use any of the rouges for fear of taking too much of the matel away each time and hurting the cymbal. So maybe just a big soft wheel.
Thanks,I also use Brasso and sure it works well. But the idea that I'm trying for is to get away from the overwhelming ammonia smell that that I get all through my home and all over me.

A spray???!! Now that sounds like a real possibility . Do you by any chance know what it's called?
My local drum shop guys are just giving me the advice of what I've been doing for the past 30+ years. (that's probably the way everyone else does it too, but I'm getting lazy in my old age)
 
Hey JBlount,

That's a great site thanks. I may have even discovered an answer for the pesky bathtub stain :)

I want to share a possible solution (no pun intended)with all of you that I disovered this evening. This constant cleaning and polishing has been on my mind
(not that I don't have other things in my life to worry about), but anyway, I was doing some shopping this evening and I came accross a product: "Power Powder Instant Copper Cleaner" manufactured by Siege. I figure that coppe r is the main metal in bronze and brass, so why not give it a try. It was only $1.99 for a large cannister. I tried it on an old Ziljian hi-hat bottom that was really brown. Rinse in water first and while still wet, sprinkle with this powder and gently rub with a damp cloth or sponge, then rinse immediately. IT SMELLS LIKE MINT and it works like "black magic". I've done all of my cymbals with it and it took less than an hour. Yipee!

I may try the spray stuff, but I don't want to use a lacquer. That way, I may be spared from doing this every couple of weeks.

I'm also gonna try some of that other stuff from that site and see if I can fix my tub.
 
The only problem with using an orbital polisher to clean your cymbals is that you could "burn" (heat them up too much)them....which could change the sound of the cymbal a little.

I use Paiste's, and have never cleaned them in a chemical cleaner...I just rinse them in soap and water, and they look just like the day I bought them.
Why?
Because Paiste's come from the factory with a wax coating on them so that they stay shiny-once you clean them with a brass cleaner, it removes that coating.

I have 1 Cymbal, a Paiste Rude from 1981 that I cleaned with brasso and a very fine steel wool pad. I wantedf to lose that nasty green color that the rudes have, and man this cymbal has so much copper in it that it is ORANGE! IT's wild, but it sounds so much better.

I also use brasso to clean my 32" Paiste Gong.
It's from the early 70's, and the paint was so worn, that I just removed the paint. Now, I'm planning on repainting it.



Tim
 
Once you get them good and clean, a quick wipedown with any one of the sprays from Sabian, Zildjian, Paiste, Trick, etc should keep them looking good for quite awhile before you have to do a more thorough cleaning.
 
No prob, rim. I have purchased old cymbals and had to scrape 30 years of gunk off before. So as long as you wear a oxygen mask, you should live!

ps, does Tim work for Piaste?
 
I too have used orbital buffers for over 25 years, and I have not had any bad experiences with tonal issues changing on my cymbals.
That may be because I tend to use cymbals that are thicker than most, but it is a tried and true tecnique that I will not be changing from soon.


VI
 
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