What are your bass care tips?

[basselfman]

I've noticed a very small amount of rust on the pick ups on one of my basses, it's gotten me thinking, what are must know tips in terms of looking after our basses? 

 

 

[TheGreek]

Keep 'em dry???

[Musashimonkey]

Don’t feed them after midnight???

[Coilte]

Following on from what TheGreek said....always keep them in their gig bag/cases...along with some silica gel sachets.

[pbasspecial]

Don't drop 'em or let the guitarist hold it (same thing)

[TheGreek]

Don't let your wife/girlfriend/ significant other know that you just bought another.

Safeguards the bass and your nads.

[basselfman]

1 hour ago, Musashimonkey said:

Don’t feed them after midnight???

I should probs stop taking mine into the bath with me..

 

does anyone here do fretbored care like lemon oil? Or is it all just a con

[Grangur]

I do oil rosewood fretboards with "Boiled Linseed Oil".

Lemon Oil for fretboards might me ok, but I once tried to use it to oil and oil-finish body. The whole bottle disappeared and the body looked no different to the bare wood. So I stick with Linseed.

[Trueno]

When the strings need changing it's time to sell it and buy another one.

[Grangur]

16 minutes ago, Trueno said:

When the strings need changing it's time to sell it and buy another one.

I guess this is the solution for some folk, when you're looking at the bass and thinking, "I bought it for £70 and the strings cost £30 to replace. Plus £30 setup..."

[TheGreek]

47 minutes ago, basselfman said:

does anyone here do fretbored care like lemon oil? Or is it all just a con

IIRC you shouldn't use Lemon oil on Maple...can't remember why though.

[Grangur]

Just now, TheGreek said:

IIRC you shouldn't use Lemon oil on Maple...can't remember why though.

Maple fretboards are lacquered. So oil won't soak in. It'll just sit there on top as a greasy mess.

[Dan Dare]

Keep it clean and, er, that's it. 

[Skybone]

4 hours ago, Coilte said:

...along with some silica gel sachets.

Those sachets are excellent. Normally you'd just chuck them out, but you need to leave at least one or two in your case. They'll absorb any residue moisture from the strings, and generally keep the atmosphere in the case reasonable for the bass (or guitar).

I also keep a bar towel in my case, handy for wiping any excess sweat or anything off the bass (or guitar), and also stops the bass moving around in the case (if it's an after market case).

Edited February 17, 2018 by Skybone

[Cat Burrito]

A tip for the OP - Very light surface rust can be removed by gently rubbing the screw head (or other chrome part) with a dry brillo pad. 

[basselfman]

11 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

A tip for the OP - Very light surface rust can be removed by gently rubbing the screw head (or other chrome part) with a dry brillo pad. 

Ah thanks cat, I just got some boiled linseed oil for the frets.

[Cato]

4 hours ago, basselfman said:

I should probs stop taking mine into the bath with me..

 

does anyone here do fretbored care like lemon oil? Or is it all just a con

I use lemon oil on my rosewood boards if I think that they're looking a bit dry ,maybe once a year.

I also clean and polish my natural finished guitars and basses with Dunlop 65 if they're looking a bit grubby. For the solid colour finishes I just use a damp cloth.

Edited February 17, 2018 by Cato

[jacko]

If you've oiled the fingerboard, put the old strings back on for a few days playing otherwise you're nice shiny new ones will pick up all the leftover gunk you've not been able to clean off.

[radiophonic]

Lemon oil on the rosewood board. Don't leave it in the car overnight. Always transport it in at least a gig bag. Put it on a stand.  All the dings my Stingray has are due to me not doing the latter in the first couple of years I had it. There is some blackening to the pole pieces on the pickup on my Stingray, which I assume is oxidation of something other than Iron.

[steantval]

As soon as your gig has finished, make sure your bass goes into the case first.

[walshy]

1 hour ago, steantval said:

As soon as your gig has finished, make sure your bass goes into the case first.

This 👍🏻

[Adrenochrome]

I thought lemon oil cleans but dries out fretboards as it is mainly solvents?

[Delberthot]

I bought a litre of proper lemon oil from an olde fashioned DIY store 25 years ago and there's still loads left.

I absolutely detest scratches and dings, dongs or marks of any description and don't understand how some basses get in such a mess. Nitro finishes will age naturally but poly finishes are really hard wearing and I imagine it would take a lot to damage the finish.

My bass is the last thing to get taken out of it's bag once everything else is set up and the first thing to go away.

Once a year during a string change I take off all 4 at once instead of one at a time and treat the fretboard with the lemon oil, leave it for a minute then wipe off the excess with a clean cloth.

I then clean the bass with car polish - I've been using the same bottle of dark blue Colour Magic since the mid 90s on all of my dark basses.

This is the same time that I change the battery whether it needs to be change or not so I can concentrate on playing and not worrying about the battery going half way through a song.

That's it - plus no one gets to touch it, let alone play it.

It's coming up for 2 years old and still looks brand new

Edited February 18, 2018 by Delberthot

[Grangur]

20 minutes ago, Delberthot said:

I then clean the bass with car polish - I've been using the same bottle of dark blue Colour Magic since the mid 90s on all of my dark basses.

Don't know what car polish @Delberthot is using, but don't ever use a silicone polish. Beware of car polish and certainly NEVER use spray silicone furniture polish, like "Mr Sheen" or "Pledge". The furniture industry curses spray polish as it wrecks the finish and makes it sticky and prone to attract dirt.

Silicone is almost impossible to remove from the surface and will make it impossible to re-spray if you, or a future owner, ever needs to re-finish the bass.

If you wish to clean a lacquered bass, simply wipe it over with a soft, damp cloth with a little detergent soap, and buff it up with an old towel. If there are sticky marks from stickers, use a little white-spirit to get that off.

[ped]

I use Dunlop 65 on my poly finished basses, and WD40 on the fingerboards when I change strings (graphite necks) which makes them come up all nice and shiny. My other bass has a natural Tung Oil finish and apparently a wipe with a damp cloth is all that's needed, though I'm open to any suggestions as to a 'one shot' product I can use.