Opinions vary, and are sometimes strongly held. However, evidence remains weak. No well designed research on this has been done that I know of. Perhaps somebody else can point us to a good quality experiment. Just because I haven't seen one doesn't mean a well controlled experiment doesn't exist.

Some people love their cymbals to be highly polished and believe they lose highs if cymbals have patina.

Some people are opposed to cymbal polishing and love the patina. They may also believe that this makes for a more mellow sonic profile. Or they may just like the look.

Some people don't believe strongly one way or another. I'm usually a non cleaner although I've got cymbals which are old and crusty and some which look fairly new (because they were made in the last few years). I'm never a polisher.

And I'm agnostic on the sonic effects of one road or the other.

I have only ever cleaned one(years ago) that had heavy patina. it sounded brighter to me. but maybe I expected it too. the mind is a powerful thing. I cleaned some gunk off of one recently. I did not polish it or try to remove any patina. I did notice a difference in gram weight before and after however.

mike

Thanks Mike. Difference in weight? I haven't got a scale that accurate. I couldn't even detect the weight loss due to cutting out a small crack (and I thought I might).

I too have cleaned just one hi hat top which was very covered in gunk (probably beyond what would be called just patina). It was a 602. I didn't seem to make a sonic difference I could detect, and I was sort of thinking that it was so gunked up cleaning it might make a sonic difference. It did look different. (see below)

I'm reminded that if the tonal grooves are completely gunked up then you might notice a slight difference if you do a little clean (soap and water) to remove that. But cleaning is not the same thing as polishing something to a brilliant shine. Different ends of a wide spectrum. And the only way to find out if cleaning makes a difference to what you hear is to try it. The only thing is that if you clean hard, it is a whole new project to put an artificial patina back. I've also got some pics of a big fail I had recently in that department too...

before: very gunky top (under the SE bottom hat). Only the top of the top was like this. All 3 other surfaces looked very clean as the SE bottom does in the photo. My guess is that the hats sat set up on a kit in a smoky environment for years. So that is tar which didn't go into somebody's lung. But I'm not sure tobacco being the culprit. I haven't done any research on it.

[img]http://black.net.nz/cym2011/14SEhats.jpg[/img]

after: splotchy and streaked with fingerprints -- didn't wear gloves when spreading artificial patina gel around

[img]http://black.net.nz/cym2014/blotchy-14-SE-top.jpg[/img]

When I get time I'll redo this and get rid of the streaks and fingerprints. I have done a few others successfully.

I would say that it does affect the sound. When bronze oxidizes, it changes color and takes on a slight texture. It could be argued that the subtle surface texture helps diffuse or blend the sound generated by the cymbal, thereby making it sound mellowed.

Or not. I'm no expert.

I believe it does some for the better some for worse imo

Don't confuse patina with a dirty cymbal. A dirty cymbal can sound brighter after cleaning if the grooves have enough accumulation to keep them from doing their job.

Coffee Break2

I like to "paiste clean" some of my B8 cymbals so they do not retain some of the dark character that can be attributed to that much copper in the alloy. With any of my Zildjian B20s I just leave them be.

I don't like dirty cymbals. Cymbals should be clean and bright, without removing metal if possible. I also don't like stamped logos, either, but that's another tale. I keep my cymbals clean. Do I think clean cymbals sound any different? I don't know, and I don't care. They look better... clean.

The first old K that I ever bought was when I was rather young, and when I brought it home I loved it and loved the sound. Not being aware of any such cleaning controversy, I decided to clean it, like I always had cleaned my A's. Immediately afterwards, I hated the sound. I know this isn't scientific, but it is sorta blind, because I never knew there was any such controversy, and was fully expecting it to sound the same or possibly a tiny bit better. I was surprised that it sounded different, and for the worse. Scientific or not, now if I like the sound of a cymbal, I don't clean it.