I've used my 22" inch vintage K, like the one pictured, to propel an orchestra (full symphony). It's not clean though!

Matt you did a fine job on that cymbal, the lathing is a dead ringer for original. You are a true artist! Excellent weight on that one, I bet is sounds wonderful.

Gary

first off bos i simply said brass as a use of expression not as a fact i know what they consist of and i also know what sounds good and i also know what aging does to metals, so i do understand the meaning here as a instrument the cleaner one is the nicer it looks but i also know what dirt and grime and mold and aka Patina can do to the crispness of a bronze alloy cymbal, and I also know that there are many experts out here not just on this forum based on studies done the alloy metals (cymbals) through time from there inception succumb to environment changes some for the good some for the bad i was just complimenting you on the work you did don't get so technical this is supposed to be a informal and friendly site I for one have some of the greatest pies (is that better but then again there not dough r they ) and my hats that i match up for sound get sent all over the world i know sound and quality as the best sorry for any misunderstanding gary

Picked up a 50's K a few months ago sight unseen/heard and I think it was recently cleaned before I got it, barely any patina. Wish it wasn't cleaned, will take another 50 years to rebuild patina, but at least the metal has had all this time to relax which coupled with patina, a light weight and K hammering makes the K sound so desirable to jazz bo's.

That said, your pie looks GREAT!! :)

Now you have to wear rubber gloves to touch it. If you don`t, it`ll look horrid after a month.

what was done in the sixty's by some company's was to coat cymbals in a clear coat to stop the finger print thing, some examples still exist today it was very popular as a option i believe from Ludwig not a 100% on that though and i don't know the consequences of that for sound

Thanks for the kind words. And yeah, I know some will hate me for what I did. And, that's OK.

I took this baby to the lathe for two reasons:

1) $$$

2) Fun

I got her cheap on eBay. Just me and one other dude bid on her. Why? Because she was a 2900 gram pig of a cymbal with casting flaws. Very few want an Old K that heavy, and nobody wants flaws that look like they may be cracks.

She was perfect for me. From years of dealing with Turkish cymbal blanks, I could tell that the flaws on this K were merely cosmetic. And, I'm all set up to remove those flaws, and put piggy-piggy cymbals on a proven weight loss program. The real trick is to be able to take off a bunch of weight without messing up the stamp or leaving the cymbal with too little tension.

As far as ruining 40 years of patina goes.... Usually, I respect patina, and leave it alone. However, you don't see clean Old K's very often, and really, the vast majority of those old recordings we love weren't done with grimy, grungy, heavily-patina'd K's. They were recorded using shiny, clean cymbals. So, I don't mind releasing one back into the wild every so often looking like her creators intended.

To keep fingerprints at bay, I used the same thing that I use on the new cymbals that I make. Lemon Pledge. It oxidizes the surface very slightly and coats the surface without any noticeable effect on the sound. Gotta be the real deal, though. I've tried cheaper off-brands, and they just don't do the trick.

I'll have a videofile of her later today that I'll be using in her eBay auction. I'll post it here, too.

Thanks again,

Matt

Well the world won't miss one cleaned up old vintage k !! I personally like many others wouldn't want them de/re virginised ?!...? Help2 am poking fun at my own attempt on wit here, but respect to ya cos it is interesting to see one of the old uns how it would look ' back int day'

Anyway I bet that wonderfull thing sounds great anyway does it not?

She does sound great!

Check her out...

[ame]http://youtu.be/VYzLgbTsmt4[/ame]

Thanks,

Matt