Scummy Marks on My Cymbals?

Soldato
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Hey, i've noticed for a while now there were some dark marks on my cymbals, I decided to clean them today with 'Groove Juice' cymbal cleaner and it made them worse?! What is it?

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Associate
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leave the dirt on there, adds to the sound!

got bored of rubbing the print off my cymbals, and usually crack them before they have time to get dirty now anyways.
 
Soldato
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It's just a bit of oxidation/patina on the cymbals. Comes around from dirt and sweaty hands :p

Some people like the "ageing" effect it can have, usually mellows up the cymbal a bit. The best thing for cymbals is just a little dust off after practises, and washing them with warm, slightly soapy water every month or so. Maybe use a cymbal cleaner from Zildjian (I assume you use Zildjian's) if you want a bit more cleaning power.

lozza23_uk said:
leave the dirt on there, adds to the sound!

got bored of rubbing the print off my cymbals, and usually crack them before they have time to get dirty now anyways.

I hate to sound like an old man, but if you are cracking cymbals regularly it's a sign of bad technique. Get it checked out. Even hard hitting players who have correct technique can keep their cymbals for a long time.

http://www.paiste.com/faqs/#faq78 is a good little link. :)

(if you were being sarcastic I apologise, it's late and I've been working all day!)
 
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Soldato
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Looks like corrosion from water or your sweaty fists flailing about. Brasso should clean it if you go with the grain of the cymbal.

Cleaning cymbals does change their sound, tends to make them like they were brand new, you might like the worn in sound so think before you stick any cleaner on it. :)
 
Soldato
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William said:
Looks like corrosion from water or your sweaty fists flailing about. Brasso should clean it if you go with the grain of the cymbal.

Don't clean with Brasso - it removes any protective layer your cymbal has too. This leads to the same thing happening, but in a shorter space of time.

If you use Zildjian use the Zildjian cleaner, as it will keep the protective layer in tact. Although I'm not sure what the layer is like on Zildjian's, but Paiste offers a cleaner and protector to keep the cymbals from getting dirt inside the grains of the bronze.

starscream said:
:eek: I'm impressed with the number of coherent sentences in a thread full of drummers ;):D

I'm almost as impressed as the time that our two guitar players were actually playing in tune :p
 
Associate
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The marks are due to the fact that cleaning cymbals removes the protective coating that the manufacturers put on them.
If you dry them properly after cleaning, and try not to handle them too much, then it should help.

Although I don't know why you're cleaning a traditional finished cymbal. A little bit of dirt add to the character.
If it was a brilliant (reflective) finished one, I could understand.

I don't clean any of my cymbals myself. I prefer it when they look used.

lozza23_uk said:
got bored of rubbing the print off my cymbals, and usually crack them before they have time to get dirty now anyways.
Dave's right. You shouldn't be cracking cymbals at all if you have good technique. Unless you're using Ahead sticks, in which case you might as well be hitting them with baseball bats.
http://www.paiste.com/faqs/default.php?faqcategoryid=3&faqid=78#faq78
Remember, always a glancing blow.
 
Soldato
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Dave said:
Don't clean with Brasso - it removes any protective layer your cymbal has too. This leads to the same thing happening, but in a shorter space of time.

No problems here but then again my cymbals are pretty crap anyway. The products made by the respectibe companies are not that expensive anyway.
 
Soldato
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True, always best using the named stuff as it's not an absolute rip off :)

I remember using Brasso on my old Zildjian Scimitar ride (fairly crap) and it was fine and shiny straight off, but a couple of months down the line it was more oxidised than before.
 
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