Help with Gretsch hammer brass 8x14

MontyBurns

Junior Member
Hello everyone!
I recently purchased a gretsch full range hand hammered brass snare 8x14 :) love it. But I'm kinda picky when it comes to cosmetics of my drums and i noticed it has small spots of tarnish on the shell and a few scratches also. I was wondering if anyone knew if this particular shell has a poly or lacquer on it and if so, what the least abrasive way to remove it, polish out the spots, and then re apply a fresh coat. Any advice would be a real big help cause I bought some Maas metal polish and I heard that stuff works wonders, and I wanna do this right ;) thanks a bunch
 
I've got this same snare in the 6.5 deep version, and it has the same spots, so I'm thinking it probably never had a protective coating. I've never tried to get the spots off, but some sort of cleaner/polish made for brass should do. I would start with the least harsh product you can find to start off with. If that doesn't work, then you can move to a harsher polish, just test it on a small area first.
 
I would email Gretsch and ask them if there is a coating before using any abrasives on it
 
Thanks so much guys! I used Maas metal polish that worked great, it took the tarnish of but also whatever clear coating seemed to be on it. Unless that was grime built up, but I'm almost positive that it's some sort of clear coat. I'm trying to figure out what clear coat it is so I can buy the appropriate thinner to remove it and also to re-apply. What do you think?
 
gonna have to try that with mine one of these days. The coating is probably some sort of wax like they use on cymbals. You could probably just spray some sort of clear lacquer on it just for a sealer.
 
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