Well, this has been covered many times but here's the short answer.

Maybe. Aging of a cymbal does take place and patina (the tarnish you want to remove) can make a cymbal mellower and warmer. However, aging of the alloy itself probably has a part to play as well. Cleaning up a vintage cymbal does brighten it up somewhat from my experience.

When someone talks about polishing I get scared. Bronze alloys will change characteristics when heated and cooled, that's part of the cymbal making process, heat treating (along with hammering) is used to create a balance between hardness and flexibility with a direct impact on sonic properties of the finished product.

If you power buff a cymbal you can get the metal hot enough to change its properties, possibly affect sound and possible weaken the cymbal. I know many people have cleaned in this way and will claim that it hasn't affected anything, but I tend to want to err on the side of safety.

That said, if I clean, I use Paiste Cymbal Cleaner, but Groove Juice and others do a fine job also. Not to much hand rubbing. Once it's clean you need to put a protective coating on it to maintain the finish. Car waxes do a nice job, but no need to rub the heck out of it. Just take it easy.

Final comment would be to recommend to leave the cymbal as is if you're looking to sell it. From a collector point of view patina is desired. And if the buyer wants to clean it, leave it up to them. Ok, I'm done. Good luck with it.

Thanks for your answer Drum Dad - I think I leave my cymbals as they are. Thanks again

I dunno. I agree with Drum Dad on risks of machine buffing and other aggressive approaches that may overheat the metal, and/or wear down the grooves. You can't polish anything without removing some of the surface, so that can be a risk.

But, then, we go an beat on our cymbals with sticks--surely some cognitive dissonance here--even wood tips will eventually wear down metal.

Given that my cymbals do by times suffer from spills, sweaty fingers, drops of rain, even blood once in a long while. I gently polish them every couple of years. Some of these noxious substances at least speed up the oxidation.

Since they are my cymbals, and I aint selling them, I take care of them. I figure by the time I reach the age of 202 or so, my polishing ministrations and all the stickwork will have smoothed down the grooves enough for the difference to be audible, if I could hear.

Good luck,

Patrick

[COLOR="DarkRed"]Oh, gosh yes...don't machine buff or ***elry rouge buff a cymbal....you will be sorry.

If it has a patina and you like it's sound, leave it.

However, if it is growing grass or is just caked with what looks like crud, I say clean it if you like.

I have had a lot of old, dirty cymbals come thru which were a bit less responsive than I thought they would be. By using Wrights copper cream on 'em, I was able to remove the patina, etc, in STAGES and stopped when I got the cymbal looking still quite vintage, but significantly cleaner. They became a bit livelier sounding, too (brighter).

It takes a good 3 or 4 applications of Wrights to get a typically patina'd '60's cymbal back down to looking "brand" new.

Sabian Pro Cymbal Cleaner, and Groove Juice...will strip it all in one or 2 applications, because they are acid-wash cleaners.[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Wheat"](did this website really just auto-edit out the first 3 characters of the word j-e-w-e-l-r-y ???? That's just precious...)[/COLOR]