The Complete Guide To Guitar And Bass String Cleaning And Care

Dead strings will ruin your instrument’s tone. No matter how well your action is set, your pickups are dialed in, and your amp is ready to rock—dead strings will make everything sound bad. With a pack of guitar or bass strings ranging from $6 to $50 or more, taking care of your strings will save you money in the long run

Luckily, caring for your strings is easy and inexpensive. Just like tuning up before you play, cleaning your strings should be part of your regular guitar playing routine. All of the cleaning tips in this guide can be used on uncoated and coated electric, acoustic, classical guitar strings, bass strings, and more.

What Causes Guitar Strings To Go Dead Or Wear Out?

The natural oils and acidity in your skin and sweat cause your strings to oxidize and corrode. This causes dirt, grime, sweat, and dead skin to build up on the strings and between the windings, preventing them from vibrating fully. Over time, this will result in a lack of brightness and less sustain. The strings will also feel slower and bend unevenly across the frets.

Humidity also accelerates this process, especially on the bronze and copper in acoustic guitar strings. Over time, strings can tarnish, corrode, and even rust, further affecting their sound and longevity.

What Are The Benefits Of Proper String Care?

Most importantly, with clean strings, your guitar will play and sound better. You’ll also get a longer life out of your strings, saving you money. Additionally, your frets and fretboard won’t need cleaning as often, saving you from difficult deep cleaning or potentially costly repairs.

What Are The Key Performance Factors For Guitar Strings?

Fresh and clean strings have a bright and responsive tone when your pick hits them. Notes will jump out of the guitar and have a long, full sustain. Clean strings also bend better and snap back in tune more easily than dirty, worn strings. If your strings sound muted or feel rough, they need to be cleaned to perform better.

How Will I Know My Strings Need To Be Cleaned?

If you see visible dirt and hear less sustain and brightness, it’s time to clean your strings. New strings need to be cleaned too. If your fingers turn black after playing new strings, you need to remove the dirt and corrosion they have picked up since leaving the factory.

How Do I Increase The Life And Performance Of My Guitar Strings?

Washing your hands before playing helps remove excess oils and dirt that will be transferred to your strings. However, washing your hands alone does not stop the acidity and oils from building up on your strings—but cleaning your strings will. When rehearsing or playing on stage, give your strings a wipe down with a microfiber cloth like our 2 ‘n 1 Beyond Plush Players Cloth or Microfiber Suede Polishing Cloth. The low pile microfiber gets in between the windings and cleans out the sweat, oils, and gunk before they have a chance to deaden the string. It’s easy to do between songs to keep your guitar playing great. But to get the most life and playability out of your strings, you need to deep clean them.
Washing your hands before playing helps remove excess oils and dirt that will be transferred to your strings. However, washing your hands alone does not stop the acidity and oils from building up on your strings—but cleaning your strings will. When rehearsing or playing on stage, give your strings a wipe down with a microfiber cloth like our 2 ‘n 1 Beyond Plush Players Cloth or Microfiber Suede Polishing Cloth. The low pile microfiber gets in between the windings and cleans out the sweat, oils, and gunk before they have a chance to deaden the string. It’s easy to do between songs to keep your guitar playing great. But to get the most life and playability out of your strings, you need to deep clean them.

How Do I Clean My Guitar Strings?

Before tuning up, it’s a good habit to give your strings a clean before and after practicing or a gig. Cleaning your strings before you play will not only make them play and sound better, they will play faster too.
  1. Use a microfiber cloth like 2 ‘n 1 Beyond Plush Players Cloth or Microfiber Suede Polishing Cloth to wipe the surface of the strings to remove excess dirt and grime.
  2. Use a string cleaner, like String Fuel to do a deep clean. Rub the applicator over the strings to remove the dirt and oxidation. String Fuel’s special formula not only removes the dirt, it rejuvenates and lubricates the string for a faster feel with less finger noise and squeak as you play.

The String Fuel applicator also contains a microfiber cloth to clean your strings between songs or to remove some of the String Fuel oils if you prefer a more traditional feel.

  1. For deep cleaning, clean the underside of the strings. For this deep cleaning we recommend The Nomad Tool. It’s thin and flexible with a microfiber pad to clean the top AND bottom of the guitar strings in seconds. It also cleans the frets and fingerboard at the same time.

How Do I Clean Wound Guitar And Bass Strings?

Since wound strings hold on to dirt, grime, and dead skin more than unwound strings, they require more pressure to get clean.
  1. Give the wound strings a wipe down with a microfiber cloth like our 2 ‘n 1 Beyond Plush Players Cloth or Microfiber Suede Polishing Cloth. The low pile microfiber gets in between the windings and cleans out the sweat, oils, and gunk better than a cotton cloth. Use your fingers and the cloth to give them a good scrub and remove the dirt out of the windings.
  2. For heavy wound strings, The Nomad Tool is perfect for really getting the built-up grime on the top and bottom of the strings.
  3. Follow up with a few passes of String Fuel for final cleaning and lubrication and your wound strings will sound and play better.

How Do I Clean Coated Or Tapewound Strings Like Elixir, DR Strings, Or La Bella?

You can clean these strings just like uncoated strings, but using less pressure to prevent damaging the coating or tape.
    1. Give your strings a gentle quick wipe down between songs with a microfiber cloth like our 2 ‘n 1 Beyond Plush Players Cloth or Microfiber Suede Polishing Cloth. The low pile microfiber cleans the coating giving the strings a longer life.
    2. Use a string cleaner, like String Fuel to do a deep clean. Just like uncoated strings, with a deep clean coated and tapewound strings will last even longer. Just a few passes with String Fuel works great on coated strings, it removes the dirt and lubricates the coating for longer life and faster playing.
    3. Cleaning your coated strings before and after playing will significantly extend their life. String Fuel also acts as a lubricant, making coated strings play faster and slide easier with less finger noise.

How Do I Clean Nylon Classical Guitar Strings?

You can clean nylon strings just as you would electric or steel string acoustic strings, but use less pressure to avoid damaging the more fragile windings and core.
  1. Give your strings a gentle quick wipe down between songs with a microfiber cloth like our 2 ‘n 1 Beyond Plush Players Cloth or Microfiber Suede Polishing Cloth to remove the sweat, oils, and gunk
  2. Use a string cleaner. String Fuel also works great on nylon strings. Just a few passes with the special applicator removes the dirt.
  3. Essential for playing classical guitar, String Fuel also lubricates the strings to play faster and slide easier with less finger noise.

How Can I Reduce Finger Noise And Squeak On Guitar Strings?

Lubricating your strings with String Fuel will eliminate annoying finger noise when you play. The light lubrication makes it easy for your fingers to glide across the strings silently as you play, making it easier to play faster. It’s a must when using heavy distortion or playing an acoustic guitar with a piezo pickup.

How Can I Play Guitar Faster?

Lubricating your strings with String Fuel will also let you play faster. The ultra light oils leave a thin coating that lets you slide across the wound and unwound string with no resistance, making it easier to glide up and down the fretboard and make quicker chord changes. Without the windings slowing you down, playing is smoother, faster, and more comfortable. Since String Fuel is also finish safe many musicians apply String Fuel to the back of the neck allowing your hand to slide faster. This is great for glossy necks which tend to play slower than matte finish necks.

How Much More String Life and Performance Will I Get By Using A String Cleaner?

It’s hard to say exactly since there are so many variables, such as playing style, environmental factors, string brand quality, player hand cleanliness and chemistry, and the quality of the string cleaner used. Countless String Fuel users report that their strings last two to three times longer compared to uncleaned strings.

Can A String Cleaner Bring String Performance Back To Life?

Yes! By cleaning and removing the dirt, grime, and corrosion build up with a cleaner like String Fuel the string will be revitalized and will vibrate again more freely.

If a string is very old and dirty, the wire of the string may have been damaged. If you clean the string and performance is still lacking, it has been damaged or the metal has fatigued and should be replaced. By cleaning your strings regularly, you can extend the life of the strings and improve their performance right out of the package.