a swig of brasso makes the world taste good
Tuesday, January 31st, 2006I had no specific use for 8 ounces of Brasso other than my scheming, but I decided it might be worth the $3.90 I spent. Plus, the cotton rounds were only a dollar. If this experiment were to be a bust, then I wouldn’t cry over the financial damage.
My inspiration was this. I have a 20GB 3rd generation iPod just like Dailey, and I thought I would give the D.I.Y. fix a try. Granted, my iPod was nowhere near front lines wounding, as are other 3G iPods I’ve seen around. From its conception (aka the grande box opening), my iPod has been kept in pristine condition, even more so in its iSkin case. But, I’m not perfect 40something percent of the time, so there have been incidents when I’ve dropped the kid on concrete, asphalt, blacktop, tile, and the occasional padded surface. So, my iPod is in good shape, I would say, but not flawless.
Since I’ve begun to take my iPod around outside of its iSkin case, and recently entirely ditching that now-ghastly silicone coating, I’ve wanted to clean up the iconic digital music player for my aesthetic pleasures. Thus, came forward the Brasso into the spotlight. I was hoping it would remove the worse scratch/smearing on the screen and also would finish off the chrome back to a smooth gloss.
And how did it go? Mm.. well. I tried taking pictures of before and after, but as you can see from Dailey’s attempts with the 3G, it’s difficult to see any difference via camera angles. My iPod is definitely cleaner in my eyes, particularly shinier than ever, but I’m not sure if a passerby would catch an equal glint of old-school newness as I would. To be honest, scaling the success of this Brasso job from 0 (no success & satisfaction) to 10 (ultimate success & satisfaction) I would give it a 6. Maybe more due to the fact that I spent pennies, really, for the cleaner. The biggest triumph in this experiment would be the polished finish my iPod now has.
On old roommate stopped by last night and, knowing he equally being interested in maintenance for his iPod, I showed him my results. He took it from its perch where it had been relieving the fumes of a past Brasso bath. While he looked it over, I grabbed the Brasso container to show him the material and welcome him to his own iPod-Brasso experimentation. I said, “Really, it just seems incredibly polished and smooth. I don’t remember it being this smooth when I had it brand new.”
His response: “Yeah, I’ve almost dropped it two times already.” I may have the first iPod in history to be able to pass for an inverse-colored hockey puck.
As a quick hint for those wishing to try this fix out: remember Brasso is a metal polisher and that you should go easy on the actual application phase; pay more attention to the polishing than in putting lots of Brasso on. Ok. Enjoy.