[IMG]http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp231/kaaawa2000/GREEN.jpg[/IMG]
In the 90's I used this (above - the one on the right) 18" AZ as a doorbell.
There was a rope hanging down outside of my workshop and it went up, over a stainless steel pulley, through the side of my house and then down another pulley where it suspended that cymbal. There was a drumstick attached to a beam on the ceiling of my workshop and when you pulled the rope - voila - doorbell.
It worked nicely except for a few bozos that liked to overdo it (the same guys that ring doorbells repeatedly) and I used it for maybe 7-8 years until I painted my house and got rid of it.
Since the whole thing sits about 50 ft from the ocean there was some, er... showing of the green - Luck of the Irish!
Of course I wish I hadn't done it now. There's probably someone out there who would pay MORE for this cymbal, especially since it was done by genuine Hawaiian salt air. Someone really out there.
I've tried cymbal polish and Whink and I think a belt sander (36 grit) might be required on this puppy... the tone is about the same as my car door.
I sold a set of 2002 red ink Paiste crinkle fries to a friend and he stored them in a storage room here (probably 99F & 99% humidity) and they turned completly a sick red (like a penny) and there's nothing I can imagine would be able to remedy that as the grooves are gone.
In my studio stuff doesn't rust at all, because of the air con and my electronics gear keeps it fairly dry. I've had sheet metal screws on my rack for 20 years that aren't rusted at all and they'd be totaled in a month if they were outside here.
The cymbal polish I got was Blitz and it worked ok sorta... really about the same as others I've tried.
I've never been a cymbal cleaning guy... I never bought much into the sound improvement thing, I think funky cymbals look more mysterious, and old instruments always sound better (well almost always).
But if you see some tarnish doing something nasty, I'd probably clean that. I don't think that cleaning cymbals is really ever a problem, it's when someone gets overzealous about it and wants to see them really shiny, or does it to a really special cymbal.
I've had my old K's since the early 70's. When I got them I knew nothing about the different Zildjian companies, but right off the bat I realized that they were in a different league than the AZ's for me. In the 35+ years I've had them, I've used small amounts of cymbal cleaner on just spots maybe twice - to remove the gunk that gets on there from your hands on the underside when you take them off of a stand. I've never "gone for it" and polished them - no way!
But I would do some super-judicious maintenance on them every 20 years or so. It seems, to me, like the right thing to do.