Double Bass String Cleaner

[henrywillard]

My sister has asked me  if I want any little bits for Christmas, & I could do with some new string cleaner!

Unfortunately the string cleaner I have always used by Pirastro has been discontinued! That stuff was amazing!

Has anyone tried and/or have experience of using any of the following:

- Pirastro String Oil - (Is this just for gut strings?? I could never quite work out what the difference was between Pirastro String Oil, & Pirastro String Cleaner?)

- Petz String Cleaner

- Nature Works String Cleaner

- Gewa Old Master String Cleaner

- Royal Oak String Cleaner

Any reviews/recommendations appreciated!

 

Edited December 1, 2018 by henrywillard
Inserting links

[Rabbie]

I’m not sure but I use almond oil for my guts, so it’s probably the same thing (maybe). For the low steels I just let the funk grow free...🤢

[neilp]

I use medical swabs. Isopropyl alcohol. You can buy them for peanuts on Amazon in boxes of 200, when I clean my strings I use one to clean the strings over the fingerboard and one to clean off the rosin, otherwise you just end up spreading the rosin the length of the string. I keep a few in my gig bag, so much easier using a disposable swab than a bottle of something and a cloth. Give it a go.

NOT suitable for guts....

[Marc S]

As neilp says above, I wouldn't use alcohol swabs on gut strings - it would dry them out...
I'm interested to hear what others think is best from the products above, or something else they use?

I did have a bottle of cleaner a violin specialist shop sold me, which was for cleaning Rosin - not that I bow much at all
That seemed pretty good, but I have now lost the bottle and can't even recall what it was called...

[henrywillard]

I forgot to mention, I'm using Pirastro Evah Pirazzi Weich's. (not gut's).

I emailed Pirastro & they confirmed that their string oil is for gut's only.
I just found the Pirastro String Cleaner so good at making my strings feel smooth again, & removing light grime build-up from finger oils etc.

I'll probably take a punt on the Royal Oak, Gewa Old Master and Nature Works at some point. Try out all three & see which I like best!

[pete.young]

I asked Presto what they would recommend for cleaning the Nylonwound Lights that I use, and I got a reply which said it was OK to use alcohol on the strings, but don't get it on the spirit varnish of my instrument. I didn't have the heart to tell them it was plywood sprayed with cellulose.

Think I might try drinking the alcohol and rubbing the strings with the bottle to see how that works 🙂

 

[NickA]

Vodka.

Works fine.  But someone here advised me to keep it off the fingerboard ( dries the wood out apparently), proper turpentine or lemon oil less risky if drying out is a concern.

[philparker]

I know this doesn't answer the question, but we had a very knowledgeable rep from D'Addario give a presentation on strings at a DB Wksp I attended. The company had carried out various experiments on the effects of different substances used to clean strings. They cross-cut the strings and those having been cleaned with alcohol were damaged to the core. He had pictures on a slide show to refute the findings. It was far more severe than I expected!

[NickA]

1 hour ago, philparker said:

those having been cleaned with alcohol were damaged to the core. 

Gut core I can imagine won't like alcohol, but steel? ?  I wonder what the mechanism would be ... shall ask the metallurgist at work.

Or maybe d'Addario do a nice line in profitable cleaning agents ....

 

[Dad3353]

2 hours ago, philparker said:

...had pictures on a slide show to refute the findings...

Are you sure..?
To refute
VERB
[WITH OBJECT]
Prove (a statement or theory) to be wrong or false; disprove.

May I suggest 'uphold' as being more credible in context..?
Just sayin'. 

[philparker]

8 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

Are you sure..?
To refute
VERB
[WITH OBJECT]
Prove (a statement or theory) to be wrong or false; disprove.

May I suggest 'uphold' as being more credible in context..?
Just sayin'. 

Yes, well spotted, I got that word well out of context!

Perhaps I should have used the word 'validate'?

Anyway, I was impressed that they thought about this issue and experimented etc. but I can't remember what the final recommendation was although I do remember not having to Change my method of wiping with a lint-free cloth!

[Dad3353]