Clean Guitar Strings

Your guitar strings are an integral part of your instrument: you can't play a thing without them. However, strings can become easily and even invisibly dirty, which can negatively impact their longevity and the quality of music you can produce. You can keep your guitar's strings in optimum condition by knowing when to clean your strings, removing grime from them, and then lubricating them.

Steps

Removing Grime from Your Strings

  1. Position your guitar. Free up your hands to do work by resting your guitar on its back. You can use a table, a box, your guitar case, even your own lap. Alternatively, if your guitar has a neck strap, wear the neck strap and turn the guitar face up. Make sure the guitar's head is not touching anything to ensure that your tuning pegs don't get messed with in the process, and ideally place it on a block to stabilize it.
  2. Select a rag and cleaning solution. Some people prefer to use a paper towel, microfiber cloth, or dry dish towel that they fold into eighths; other people prefer to use a clean cotton diaper.[1] Any number of cloth or paper products will work, you just want to make sure that it's clean, dry, and relatively soft. Instead of applying the cleaning solution directly to the strings, which will also result in your guitar being sprayed, spray the solution onto your rag first. This will prevent any excess cleaning solution from gathering and being difficult to remove.[2]
    • For a guitar with nylon strings, a non-dampened towel or one slightly dampened with water will suffice.
    • For guitars with steel strings, there are guitar string cleaners that are manufactured for use like Fast-Fret String Cleaner, Dunlop Ultraglide, Dr.Stringfellow, and the like. However, you do not have to use these products if you cannot afford them. 70-90% rubbing alcohol can also be effective, as can pre-shaving gel.[3]
  3. Position the rag. With your rag now wet and ready to clean your strings, slide half of the sheet underneath the guitar strings near the bridge or bottommost portion for the strings.[4] Then fold the remaining half of the cloth over so that the entire cloth covers both sides of the strings.
  4. Slide the folded rag along the strings. You want to make sure that you go all the way from the bridge/saddle area up to the nut of your guitar. [4] Pay special attention to the portions of string located on the fingerboard as you most assuredly touch these every time, and, if you finger pick your instrument, the portions over the soundhole. Apply downward pressure to clean the top portion, and pull upward some to be sure that you get the underside as well.
    • It is important to clean both sides of the strings just as it is important to clean both sides of your teeth.
    • Don't worry if the head gets lifted off its mount; even if the tuning pegs get a little messed up you can always retune your guitar.
    • You will probably notice that your guitar strings change color a little, or that the cloth comes away with grey streaks.[2] This is a sign that your efforts are working.

Lubricating Your Strings

  1. Determine what your strings are made of. For guitars that use nylon strings, lubricating your strings is unnecessary. Nylon strings are already corrosion resistant.[5] If you have a guitar that has steel strings, however, you'll want to use some lubricant to keep them from getting sticky, dirty, and corroded.[6] You can check the product packaging for the strings you have to find out what they're made of.
    • If you do not have the product packaging anymore, a good rule of thumb to follow is to consider the kind of guitar you have and the genres it's made to play. Acoustic and flamenco guitars that focus on classical and folk music usually possess nylon strings; electric and bass guitars associated with blues, country, and rock and pop music are more likely to have steel strings.[7]
  2. Spread some lubricant onto a rag. You can use the same rag that you used to clean the grime off from before by flipping it over and using the clean side. If you feel it's too dirty and the oils from your hands have sunk into the "clean" side, then you can use an entirely new rag for this portion of the cleaning process. You will want to select a lubricant that doesn't contain a petroleum base when treating your guitar; these can have penetrating properties which may cause damage to your guitar over time.[8]
    • Dunlop Lemon Oil, Tone Finger-Ease String Lubricant, or GHS Fast Fret are all commercial oiling products you can buy that are made specifically for guitars.
    • If you need something cheap and readily available, you can try olive oil, baby oil, or Vaseline.[8]
    • You never want to apply the lubricant directly to the strings as there is a good chance you'll get excess grease on the fretboard which will be difficult to clean up.
  3. Run the rag across the strings. Position and fold the rag the same way you did when removing the grime and run the cloth or towel from the bridge and saddle area to the the nut. Apply pressure to both sides of the strings using your fingers. When done properly, the strings should end looking noticeably shinier. They should also be oily and smooth to the touch.

Determining When to Clean

  1. Clean after every session. Your skin produces natural oils that combine with dust and dirt from the environment to create grime that can stick to your guitar strings.[9] You may not even see the grime that is building up on your guitar strings, but that doesn't mean it's not there, causing extra stress to the strings, making them become dull. By cleaning your strings regularly you help slow down the process of oxidation that breaks down the material in your strings.[10]
  2. Clean during sessions. Particularly if you're having a performance in a hot, humid, or dusty place; under lights that might make you sweat; or during an exhibition when you might be nervous and prone to sweating, it's a good idea to clean your strings during your sessions. Whenever you take a break between songs, especially to get new sheet music or a drink of water, take a moment to clean your guitar strings.
  3. Clean before sessions. Particularly if you let your guitar sit in an open-air stand and it's been a long time since you last played it, you may want to consider cleaning it before you use it. This will ensure that any dirt or dust that has settled from the air is removed before you begin playing, preventing the sweat and natural oils from your hands from combining with the particles.



Tips

  • If you decide that the feeling of the oil is unnatural and greasy to you, you can take a dry paper towel, fold it in half, and remove the excess oil from the strings in the same way you cleaned and oiled them.
  • This technique is applicable to most types of guitar. However, when dealing with a bass guitar, due to the thickness of the individual strings, you will be better off cleaning each string individually for a better result.

Warnings

  • If too much pressure is applied to the strings during cleaning your guitar may go out of tune. In this case, you will need to retune your guitar before you play it again.
  • Never use WD-40 on your guitar. This is a cleaner, not a lubricant, and it can either ruin your guitar or mean that you will need to get expensive repair work done.[11]

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.ringmusic.com/tips/stringcare.html
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9ZdZFhTxoI
  3. ↑ http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?193114-Good-homemade-string-cleaner
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://jensenguitar.com/Jensen_Music/classical-nylon_guitar_files/classical-guitar.png
  5. ↑ http://music.stackexchange.com/questions/674/is-grease-good-or-bad-for-guitar-strings
  6. ↑ http://music.stackexchange.com/questions/16959/do-most-professional-guitarists-use-string-lubricant
  7. ↑ http://www.firstguitar.com/resources/nylon-or-steel-string-guitar/
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 http://www.professorstring.com/archives/guitar_string_tuning_lubricants.php
  9. ↑ http://www.dummies.com/art-center/music/guitar/how-to-clean-your-guitar/
  10. ↑ https://www.chordbuddy.com/guitar-learning-system-for-everyone/how-to-play-the-guitar-for-beginners/guitar-maintenance-care/#2
  11. ↑ https://www.steelguitar.com/lubricate.html
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