I'm going to be honest: If it weren't for him constantly saying to go easy on the logos and the comment section tearing him to pieces for it, I would have accidentally taken the logos right off my cymbals.
Alright people, listen up. I just found an amazing way to refinish old stick-mark stained cymbals and I want to share it with you. I was having a hard time giving my old 14" Zildjian Z Custom Hi-hats and my Sabian B8 ride a "like new" finish. Both were stained with stick markings and no matter how much Zildjian polish I used I couldn't seem to remove those marks. I was thinking maybe a stainless steel wool? Whatever it is, it cannot be abrasive (scotch Brite pads, steel wool, etc) so I knew that much at the very least. I took a look under the kitchen sink looking for anything to fit my criteria. What I found was a Mr. Clean magic eraser. That's right. It's perfect. It gets into the pores of the metal and gets rid of any oil, dirt, or surface markings. I grabbed a spray bottle and mixed 50/50 water and white vinegar. With the straight edge of the eraser you can get right next to the logos, but be sure that you DO NOT go over the logos with the eraser, especially not with cymbal polish. There you have it. I'm extremely happy with the results. Hope it helps you with your own gear and be sure to spread the word. Cheers.
My problem with this video is he doesn't use a cymbal that has stick marks/nicks on it or one that is heavily tarnished. That cymbal looked brand new, except for fingerprints. Hell, it didn't even need a polish. I'm a life-long Zildjian player and have used Barkeepers helper for a number of years. It works a lot easier than these "polishes" that'll give you an arm work out in the process. My oldest Zildjian that I still use is 30+ years old.
I'm a life-long drummer and like his cymbals just as clean as the next drummer's. I've used a combo of cleaners over the years. A few things I discovered about this Z cleaner: it's about $16 for an 8 oz. bottle. I could probably use close to a full bottle for my cymbals to polish them all, and I have 7. I also noticed the cymbals he's cleaning have NO stick marks, and look pretty new without much tarnish or oxidation. I think Zildjian creates a racket for people to buy this polish for a lot of money. I use BARKEEPER'S FRIEND for my cymbals, and it gets everything off. And it's a lot cheaper. My oldest Zildjian is a ride that is approaching 35 years in age, and it still look reasonable good using BARKEEPERS FRIEND.
He's cleaning a brand new cymbal with a barcode sticker and with finger prints from potential buyers. This video is meant for cymbal cleaning to put it back on your store showroom. Not for drummers with marks from the drumsticks.
i do this same type of polishing but at the end, after rubbing all the surface and achieve the shiny finish, i wash the entire cymbal with some water and liquid soap, rubbing with a sponge, to remove any excess of the Zildjian cream. Then i dry the cymbal very quickly with a large towel to prevent any oxidation or corrosion and they end up looking amazing, natural or brilliant finish.
I'm not going to lie. I think you guys waited way to long to release this. I knew that there was a zildjian cymbal cleaner, but did not know if it was worth it. I know there are a lot of reviews, but it does not help until you see the manufacturer put on the show. Great video and now I know weather or not to buy your product haha. (That means just will)
The easiest, quickest, and safest way that I've found to clean cymbals is Original Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner. Squirt it on...wait a few minutes...rinse it off.
I have burnt off plenty of logos with similar polish. At one points I just buffed my cymbals but had no idea they had lacquer on them. I wish I could send them off to Zildjian to be re lacquered.
I've always found the best way to help keep my cymbals clean is to use cloth gloves when handling them, setting up set down; same with the hardware; that way cleaning them is easy regardless of what product I use.
Great tip! Wearing gloves while handling is definitely recommended to avoid getting fingerprints and skin oils on the cymbals. If you do a lot of choking, be sure to wipe them down after playing.
All my brilliant Zildjian cymbals came with a little notice that said NOT to use cymbal polish on the cymbals but ONLY SOAP and WATER. So I am confused, and this guy works for Zildjian and has been there 25 years.
You may absolutely use the polish as demonstrated in the video if you have brilliant finish cymbals. Do not use the polish on any K Constantinople, Kerope, A Avedis, ZBT, Gen16, or L80 cymbal lines, as there are no brilliant models within these lines. K Zildjian has 1 brilliant cymbal, which is the Crash Ride. Most brilliant finishes are found in the A Custom and S Family cymbals, with some present in K Custom and FX.
ZXT and as a backup ZBT. Are you saying none of these have brilliant finishes? They all came with a card on it that said NOT to use polish on these cymbals but only soap and water.
Hi, #ZildjianFamily! I know this question is asking a lot, but I really want to know how to clean a traditional finish cymbal. I got an Avedis fast crash that is covered with fingerprints. I really want to make it look great again. Please, if you can told us how to clean traditional finish I would be grateful. Greetings! Keep on.
Will this cream also work on zildgian/sabian that is traditional finish? I have a lot of finger marks and tarnish. If not, what would you recommend for an overall cleaning product? Thanks!
Is there a recommended method for traditional finish cymbals? Could you use the same technique? I wouldn't want to clean them regularly but once every few months or so.
generatrix999 right. I have cymbals I've had for 20 years and I've spent 3 days trying to shine them back up so I can sell them. I'm probably damaging them more than cleaning them. Even with their cleaner.
Doing exactly what was shown in the video, but adding a last step of wiping down with a slightly damp towel or damp paper towel would get the cymbal to shine like a diamond???
Maybe have a video showing how to polish cymbals that have actually been used in bar gigs for years... cigarette smoke, beer spills from roadies and whomever, weather from outdoor gigs... this cymbal had finger prints on it. Is this from a music store? Window cleaner, or maybe even nothing but a clean cloth, would clean the cymbal in this video. This is useless.
I cleaned my Zildjian 20th anniversary ride cymbal with the zildjian polish, but the black gunk made the white logos all dirty. How do I get that cleaned off? Please help Zildjian.
Do you guys offer logo stencils or know of a place that can replace logos ? Send me an offer as a stencil or something regarding this I figured that Zildjian offered something as well. All my A custom Lokos have either fade it or they're completely gone over the years
Many people do, example: I clean my crash and splashes cause I like'em bright sounding but, not my rides because of the character they develop and to control wash nor Chinas because the excess tin fence noise is sometimes to much for my ears. those are my reasons, I don't presume yours are not valid nor that every drummer should sound like me.
CLEANING/POLISHING 1'S CYMBALS HAS NOTHING 2 DO WITH THEIR SOUNDS ISIOT !! IF ANY OTHER DRUMMER OUT THERE SOUNDED LIKE U , THEY SHOULD SELL THEIR KIT !!!!!
I don't know why you write in all caps you should instead learn how to spell and refrain from giving opinions on what you just plainly demonstrated you know nothing about with your stupid reply, ...MORON!
when I do this I spend a lot of paper towels, and I get alot of that black tar out, and at the end they do get brilliant enough, how do I clean regular K cymbals
So in the last shot right before it fades out; what's the dark marks that didn't come off? Caused by specific sticks, or is it just not cleaned well enough and would come off if you kept at it, or what's suggested to get _everything_ clean?
After reviewing all the leading contenders besides "Groove Juice" which I am familiar with, I bought a bottle of the Zildjian and gave it a test on my K splash and my K custom hybrid. Naturally, very light on the logos. It seems that the polish retains itself deeply in the groves making it a real challenge of buffing out the dark haze that is left after application. I really had to buff it hard many, many times before all the dark residue finally disappeared. It took twenty -five minutes for the one side of the K custom, I was so glad to stop! I can only conclude that I must have applied too much pressure when applying the creamy polish. Otherwise, I have no idea how that Jeff guy gets his cymbals cleaned so quickly. I will give it one more shot tomorrow using less pressure but I must say that I'm not impressed at all with this Zildjian product. It's just like the old cream stuff I used to use in the 60's
I just used the zildjian cleaning polish to cleaned my zildjian cymbals, they're really shine as brand new. but after 2 weeks, those cymbals start looking from shiny surface change to dark yellow from the edges to inside. anybody knows what happened? or did I do somethings wrong?
