Brass bottlenecks - shiny or dull?

Subject: Brass bottlenecks - shiny or dull?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 May 07 - 10:22 AM

Recently I lost my brass bottleneck - perhaps its rolled under the microwave, who knows.

Not being a hard man to please with this particular item - I went down to the music shop and got another medium John Dunlop.

Anyway when I got home I was amazed how much nicer the clean brass sounded - than the shitty old one I had lost. Makes sense really - after all new strings sound better.

does anybody else like a clean sound and if so - what do they keep the bottleneck in pristine condition with.

Also I suspect Iwould like to try a bottleneck with the surface of emery paper - has anybody got anything like this?

Subject: RE: Brass bottlenecks - shiny or dull?
From: Mooh
Date: 06 May 07 - 01:27 PM

A product called Brasso and a good rag. Only use paper abrasives if you can feel rough spots. Fwiw, I like mine real clean and smooth simply because I believe (sorry, no documented empirical evidence) it sounds and plays smoother on the strings. I don't use a brass slide as much as glass or ceramic, but at times brass has the sound I want.

Peace, Mooh.