Does cleaning your cymbals brighten their sound?

Found this quote from the drummer's bible:

Age Matters: All cymbals do mellow with age - keep this in mind. No matter how much you clean them or how, they will still mellow. So you may want to buy them a little brighter than you would otherwise like. Many seasoned pro's will seek out used cymbals for just this reason, they want the mellowed tone as it takes all the guess work out of what you'll end up with.

Obviously he is saying that they don't have the same sound forever, but it seems to suggest that by cleaning them properly that it does affect the sound. Is that right?
 
All I know for sure is that cymbals do mellow a bit over time and I never clean cymbals with anything but soap and water only if needed. Metal mellowing and patina are just part and parcel with the aging process and I don't care about them staying shiny and keep the corrosive cleaners away from my pies please :}
 
So are you saying you wouldn't use something like Paiste's cymbal cleaner? They'd hardly make it if they were going to damage their own cymbals.
 
I would use Paiste on Paiste cymbals only...they have a different finish than other cymbal brands. And I would use Zildjians cleaner on Zildjians.

With my set of Radias from Sabian I have no idea how I will ever clean them when I do...mainly due to the scarring techniques on them...
 
So are you saying you wouldn't use something like Paiste's cymbal cleaner? They'd hardly make it if they were going to damage their own cymbals.

I use no cleaner other than soap and water on my uncoated B20 bronze Turkish pies including my whole set of mid 80's Istanbul pre-splits. Patina and the aging process are both my friends :}

Paiste cymbals have a film applied to their cymbals in the factory that keeps them shiny longer for the "I like my cymbals shiny" crowd and their specific cleaner does not remove that protective coating when used. Probably the same deal for the Zildjian cleaner.

As far as corrosive cleaners i'm talking heavy duty metal cleaners like brasso and such. That thick black stuff you see coming off on the rag when using these corrosive metal cleaners is actually part of the cymbal being removed. No thanks :{
 
I use no cleaner other than soap and water on my uncoated B20 bronze Turkish pies including my whole set of mid 80's Istanbul pre-splits. Patina and the aging process are both my friends :}

Paiste cymbals have a film applied to their cymbals in the factory that keeps them shiny longer for the "I like my cymbals shiny" crowd and their specific cleaner does not remove that protective coating when used. Probably the same deal for the Zildjian cleaner.

As far as corrosive cleaners i'm talking heavy duty metal cleaners like brasso and such. That thick black stuff you see coming off on the rag when using these corrosive metal cleaners is actually part of the cymbal being removed. No thanks :{

Hehe, true that. I just thought maybe soap and water wouldn't do the job, whereas proper official cleaning fluid would shimmer it up a bit. The thing I hate most about nylon tips is the ugly marks they leave over everything. I'm not one to get overly fussy about how your drum heads look or how shiny the cymbals remain, but when they look as if they're covered in bird shit you gotta get it sorted.
 
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