Anyone tried this: The String Cleaner™

?

Don't bother. Wipe your strings down with an old T-shirt after playing and change the strings frequently IMHO.

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Stage Guitars: '80s Thin line LP Custom, '70 LP Standard, '83 Squier Black Headstock Strat w/ Dan Torres pickups, '59 Black Danelectro DC, sometimes others.

Pedal Board: Nady UHF 10 -> TU2 -> Rocktron Big Crush -> 70s MXR Phase 100 -> Cry Baby -> Bad Monkey -> Early '80s Rat -> Early '80s Ibanez CS 9 -> Ibanez DE 7 -> Behringer Dr 100 Stereo Reverb

Stage amps: '63 Blonde Tremolux w/ two original 2X10 cabinets with a '60 Ampeg Rocket/18 watt VTB Marshall clone/ Epi VJ into a Mashall 1965A

Yeah, this little device seems pointless to me as well. Alcohol prep pads are the way to go.

To polish frets to a shine, I use dry "Blitz Cloth". It leaves a residue, so you need to wipe down the board/frets when finished. And it's mildly abrasive so you might want to protect your fretboard as well (I don't bother).

Now that I have switched my main guitars over to Stainless Steel frets, I no longer have to polish frets at all. SS frets sound exactly the same as clean/polished nickel if you were curious. They're no fun to work on though (stainless is very hard on your tooling and hands, at least compared to nickel which seems like "Silly Putty" by comparison). This is why manufacturers and repairmen are less than enthusiastic about providing stainless steel.

Once a year, I'll clean my rosewood/ebony fretboards with a rag wetted with Naptha (lighter fluid). Not enough to soak the board, just enough to break up the 'funk'.

When my Rosewood or Ebony fretboards start looking dry, I'll oil them. I use Gibson's Fretboard Conditioner. Once a year or as needed in the winter. My main guitars stay pretty well hydrated from the oils from my fingers, but my neglected collection of misfit guitars can dry out fairly quickly (even faster for the ones that live in more porous gig-bags).

Between string changes, I hit the nut slots with graphite powder or pencil lead and wipe the strings with an alcohol prep pad (the kind you find in a "First Aid" kit or in the diabetic supply section of your local pharmacy).

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Gregg | OK Hemingway
Warmoth Strat > Tube Screamer > Line 6 M13 > 100 Watt Marshall 1959 SLX (Plexi)

Holy Weasel Bottoms!

DO NOT DO THIS.

A mild hand soap will remove every single bit of 'funk' at least as effectively, is php balanced and won't leech the natural oils out of the wood.

What to subsequently condition the wood with is more negotiable but even when the fretboard looks like the bottom of a Ukranian tractor driver's boot hand soap works fine.

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Thanks - but I've always been happy with the result, and it's not like I'm soaking the board. A tiny bit of dampness on a rag is all that is required - you should never "wet" the board no matter how you choose to clean it (friction is what gets most of the work done).

I've tried soap/water in the past after reading Dan Erliwine's (spelling?) various articles on the subject many years ago. I found it time-consuming and ineffective. It just left more of a residue that I had to go back and clean repeatedly.

I've been doing this for 20+ years, and have yet to see/feel/hear any damage on any of my necks (though in the interest of full-disclosure, I've only got 3 rosewood boards that have been with me that long, although I've got several others that have passed their 5, 10 or even 15 year marks with no ill-effects).

Your mileage may vary. And I'll certainly concede that anyone who is new to this should probably err on the more conservative side. I'm gonna keep my Naptha though .

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Gregg | OK Hemingway
Warmoth Strat > Tube Screamer > Line 6 M13 > 100 Watt Marshall 1959 SLX (Plexi)

Just don't catch fire while your doing it ;0. The real concern would be the effect of the solvent on elaborate bindings and inlays on may guitar IMHO. I think Nofro pictured some noob reading your post and soaking his neck in lighter fluid. People do strange things.

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Stage Guitars: '80s Thin line LP Custom, '70 LP Standard, '83 Squier Black Headstock Strat w/ Dan Torres pickups, '59 Black Danelectro DC, sometimes others.

Pedal Board: Nady UHF 10 -> TU2 -> Rocktron Big Crush -> 70s MXR Phase 100 -> Cry Baby -> Bad Monkey -> Early '80s Rat -> Early '80s Ibanez CS 9 -> Ibanez DE 7 -> Behringer Dr 100 Stereo Reverb

Stage amps: '63 Blonde Tremolux w/ two original 2X10 cabinets with a '60 Ampeg Rocket/18 watt VTB Marshall clone/ Epi VJ into a Mashall 1965A

What you mean like this guy?

hendrix_fire.jpg

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Gregg | OK Hemingway
Warmoth Strat > Tube Screamer > Line 6 M13 > 100 Watt Marshall 1959 SLX (Plexi)

Back on topic, this just looks like a micro fiber pad folded beneath the strings. Seems easy enough to replicate without buying The String Cleaner.

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Stuff I use:
Standard Strat with Lace Hot Golds; Standard Ash Tele; Fulltone OCD, Line6 M9
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honestly it looks easy to replicate but it looks like it would do a better job as it looks like it covers more of each string. If you wanna try it there's no harm in getting one and trying it.

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Hamer Sat2 or Jackson JRR-94 Rhoads>Laney gc80a or hc25(practice).

Hamer(standard tuning) Ernie ball Slinkies
Alvarez Dana Scoop (standard tuning) D'adarrio 10's
LTD EC200qxm (standard tuning) EB Slinkies

Seen em but not tried them. I use Fast Fret String Cleaner as the stick lasts for ages and it does the job.

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PA Hire In Peterborough And Friendly Guitar Forum

I actually work for ToneGear (hence my user name), so my opinion is obviously a little biased, but I can say that The String Cleaner definitely does a better job than just trying to get a microfiber pad, as it clamps around all the strings, getting all the way around each (simultaneously as well, so it's much quicker).

Do the undersides of your strings get that dirty before you change them? Honestly, I've never looked at mine thoroughly enough to make a determination.

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Stuff I use:
Standard Strat with Lace Hot Golds; Standard Ash Tele; Fulltone OCD, Line6 M9
My Music

hells yes they do. mine are like black on the underside.... i must have super acid fingers or something, because my buddies never have the same issue as me. but yeah it happens.

honestly, as far as the string cleaner goes, it seems like a decent product, but i have no use for it. i just use my fingers to clean off each string, and a special rag for the fretboard. that works great for me. to each their own, i suppose

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I swear by that Fast Fret string cleaner. Been hooked on it for 10 years
So easy to use, and the stick last forever. I'm only on my second stick.

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