I used to be one that had to have my cymbals gleaming. My tastes have changed and now all I use is soap and water. At first I thought no way, but it is very affective.

Thats been my experience. I use a mild liquid hand soap and filtered tap water on the few occasions I've cleaned them

I use Dawn Liquid soap and warm water, wipe dry with soft cloth - polish a bit with a soft cloth sometimes.

I use Bonami and the back of my cat, when I can catch her.

Seriously, I really don't clean my cymbals unless I pick one up that's dirty funky.

I think I saw that tip in the book, "Fifty ways to use a dead cat". Would have tried it but I'm allergic.

I don't either except for the same reason. And then its a very mild cleaning!

Only felt the need to do it a few times in my life. And I started playing a very long time ago, with a 15 year hiatus that started when I got married and ended when my son turned 10. I got him his first set for xmas and resumed my playing at the same time. Now he's 21 and majoring in jazz performance, with drums as his main instrument. Didn't see that one coming Mind Blowi

Same here. I've been at this for around 45 years and I can count only a few times when I really needed to clean a cymbal. They were purchased or given to me in a seriously funky state. I cleaned 'em up and then beat the hell out of 'em. Fun times. I'm not a polisher but I did a few times foe some very high profile gigs. My boys were looking good for the peepers of the gliteratti. The paiste's I've owned over the years never needed much of anything. I wiped them down with a cloth and put them back in the bag or back on the cymbal tree. Love those paiste's.

I am by no means a 'player', rather a long-term learning novice on the drums. Then I put together my first vintage kit (70's blue Vista's, complete with a full set of Zildjian hollow logos).

I CAN tell you that (after spending a good 1 1/2 hours scrubbing a ride cymbal) I was thrilled to find out that I (and apparently a whole lot of others) prefer a naturally aged patina, both aesthetically and sonically.

I've never "polished" (not to be confused iwth simply 'cleaned') a vintage cymbal since.

Still, like my brethren of the non-dark side, in order to satisfy my occasional urge to play nice, shiny cymbals, I acquired a SEPARATE set of Paiste Sigs.

So now I can have it either way simply by swapping metal... a solution I highly recommend!

My cat is also immensely relieved.

J.

I'm glad for your cat. And while after your experience you seem to prefer not polishing cymbals, retaining the patina was only one of the reasons I prefer to leave vintage cymbals uncleaned (exept perhaps for some light cleaning of really grungy ones.)

I also avoid purchasing highly polished vintage cymbals. As I've stated, the reason is you can never know how the cymbal was cleaned. There is the concern of chemical damage, or the application of too much heat from the friction of an electric buffer, or surface sctratching due to abrasives, or at the extreme the physical removal of metal. But in the end. I also just like the look and sound of a nice patina.