I like 'bright' cymbals, always have. If I'm going to use it, I clean and polish it to release the beast within. If it's not a keeper, I dust it. If it's cruddy, I use warm water, diluted dish soap and a couple old washcloths to de-crud the thing before I sell it.

Well, this has turned out to be a real good discussion. Of course, this topic has been discussed many times over in these forums, but I still I appreciate your thoughts very much so.

I must share with you, as it will likely liven up the discussion even more, is that the cymbals in question, some early 70s Hi Hats

SOLD on Ebay for the BIN

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320852154456?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1562.l2649#ht_1287wt_1270

which is more than I thought the bidding would get up to and more than I expected to make on them. Thing is, I did NOT clean them, I in fact made a video to show how darn good they sounded despite their dirty look (which some, evidently, perceive as beauty!).

Meanwhile, to stimulate perhaps even MORE discussion, right in due time here, I unloaded a drum set wanting cash, but decided to take the guy's offer of a bunch of cymbals on trade. These are all older B8s and now I intend to flip them all. So, here I am with all these B8s, which are NOT known to sound that good, I decide to have a little fun and experiment a bit. After reading about it and seeing that video on You Tube, I used ketchup to clean this cymbal (See pics). I will continue to do so with the others (Scimitars and Sabian B8, and a ZBT) but have decided, with these other ones (didn't with this first one) to soak and clean them in Dawn+h2o beforehand so the ketchup can hit/touch all the surface, including the metal underneath the dirt, so as to not created 'missed spots'. People have reported that one of the problems with this method is an uneven clean. Perhaps as a preservation measure, I will apply some Pledge so as to keep it clean in the future. I have chosen to do this because I have also read opinions that cleaning using a chemical reaction DOES NOT remove a significant amount of metal and should not be noticeable in sound due to lost metal. At the same time, if it does sound different, due to lost metal or simply cleaner metal, either one is fine by me as with these particular models, brighter would be fine, especially when the darker tones of a cymbal of that quality (lacking) would not make it sound much better, as there is not a high quality rich tone underneath like an old B20. Footnote, I tried this on a hollow logog Zildjian ride and found that it did NOTHING to it. Perhaps you guys have learned something here which you did not have the cymbals to risk (most can not afford to be experimenting like this when they do not want to suffer any backfiring!)

The only risk I run in this case is to get results that I like more than my selling option, and I really don't need more cymbals nor do I really honestly anticipate adding these models to my arsenal, as I do not expect great sounding results beyond what they sounded like when new.

In the interest of usable research, what I did was spread the ketchup on the surface of the cymbal with my fingers, getting it in all the grooves, and letting it sit for 15 minutes, then rinsed with water, followed by a bit of a wash with dish-soap to ensure no -sticky- and a good dry job of course.

There......now we finally have more raw data to discuss ;) (as if we needed more!)

Have fun! Loving the discussion!!

John

Bump.....eager to hear what you all have to say about Ketchup. I have been using it all day on several cymbals. I add salt and some sugar and it tastes like really good potato chips on the sweet side. (Insert pie joke here)

John

It`s pretty cool how the catchup holds the vinigar suspended allowing it to work better and wash away easier, I would have done the whole cymbal though !!

I eventually did and the results can be seen on my ebay auctions. No, they did not come out as well as I would have liked, but the imperfections are caused by marks/stains that were caused by something other than the tarnishing....and the ketchup did not do anything to those issues.

I would like to hear more experiences from others who have used ketchup to clean cymbals. Please do tell if you have.

Thanks,

John

burgers & fries to go please for the cymbal cleaning party!

Sorry - forgot to show you where that is.....

http://www.ebay.com/sch/johnbarber333/m.html?item=320855589564&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649&_trksid=p4340.l2562

The cleaning process took a bit longer than I wanted - but I was able to get enough cleaning to list some. The best results to see (including the half cleaned one) is the HHs. The half cleaned one was the outside of the bottom. The Sabian B8 did not respond to it as well (nor did a 70s A crash) as it did not have the brilliant finish. You can't expect something to be better than it is! I still will be listing a Scimitar Bronze 20 Ride and a 16 crash of the same kind.

John