How To Clean My Electric Bass Guitar

Information technology'southward no secret that after a while, a bass guitar can get pretty dingy. While it is merely unpleasant to await at whatsoever dirty instrument, did you lot know that the cleanliness of your bass can actually affect the fashion it sounds or plays?

To quickly clean your bass, remove the strings and wipe downwardly every surface with a clammy microfiber cloth or a paper towel. Be sure to completely dry whatever metallic parts such every bit screws, pickups, strings, etc. to forestall rust from forming.

While this is the most basic way to clean off your bass, I always similar to go through and thoroughly make clean everything. With that being said, allow'south take a await at every component i by ane and how to clean them properly.

What You'll Need

To do a basic cleaning chore, you lot actually wont demand much more than than a few newspaper towels and some water! While these 2 things are the minimum, here are a list of things that I always employ when I clean my bass:

• Water
• Microfiber cloths
• Dry paper towels
• MusicNomad All in 1 Cleaner Polish & Wax
• GHS Fast fret

The last two things on that listing are the main things that I like to use when cleaning off my bass and they actually requite it a shine that just a damp paper towel alone won't do.

Basically the NusicNomad All in 1 Cleaner is just a dainty smelling shine and wax which will requite your bass a glossy shine and adept feel and the fast fret is a string and cervix lubricant. You can go both of these for around $30 and they both last a really long fourth dimension.

In my stance, it's a groovy investment and I've had both of them for years and haven't ran out of either withal.

Some additional things you might similar to accept if yous want to make your bass as clean as possible is:

• Lemon Oil.
• Fine or Medium grade steel wool.
• A mechanical pencil.

These are but extras but they can assist a ton with certain parts of the neck and headstock, nosotros'll talk more virtually that after though.

Wash Your Hands

Before you commencement cleaning your bass, I would recommend that you launder your hands with warm water and lather and and so but brand certain that you dry them off afterward.

This volition take some of the nasty sweat and oils and whatever else off of your hands and volition stop you from making your bass muddied while yous're cleaning it.

It might non sounds like a large deal but trust me it makes cleaning your bass easier.

Remove the Strings

Since we are going to talk well-nigh how to clean the entire bass and all of the parts, yous're going to have to take off all of the strings so that you can have access to parts of your bass that would either be much harder to reach or even impossible.

Before you go and just take all of the strings off your bass y'all should know that this sudden change in tension on the cervix might crusade the truss rod to go out of alignment.

The truss rod is just a metal rod inside of the neck on your bass that tin exist adapted to go on the cervix on your bass straight. Once you have off the strings, the neck on your bass isn't use to the cord not existence on there and information technology might lead you to needing a truss rod aligning.

If y'all desire to make the risk of this minimal, you can slowly offset to untune your strings over the course of about a day or so. This will slowly ease up the tension on the cervix and will keep the neck in-line.

Clean the Strings

Before nosotros talk well-nigh how to make clean the actual bass itself, we'll just apace go over some ways that yous tin as well clean your strings while you're at it.

Cleaning your strings volition assist bring back some of the original tone that they had when they were brand new. I usually don;t clean my strings but if y'all do, you can pretty much double the life of them which can save y'all some coin.

Let'southward talk most some of the ways that y'all tin clean your bass strings.

Rubbing Alcohol

The outset method that I've seen people use is to wipe their strings downward with rubbing alcohol. This is a great pick believe it or not and it will assist go off a lot of the clay and oils off of your strings.

This should help the strings sound more than like when they were new and they should likewise be easier to play on since in that location isn't as much crud on the strings equally before.

One thing that I volition say about the rubbing alcohol method is that y'all have to make certain that you lot wipe down your strings with a dry newspaper towel later on you put rubbing alcohol on them.

Rubbing booze actually contains a modest amount of h2o which can crusade rust to form on your bass strings. For this reason, they have to exist thoroughly dried off. If at that place is rust on your strings they will need to be replaced completely.

Boiling Your Strings

The next method for cleaning your bass strings is to literally throw them in boiling water. How does this clean the strings though?

It basically has to do with the simply principle that things expand when they get hot. When your bass strings get really hot, they expand just like anything else. This plus the water allows any dirt or crud to be released from your strings which brings back their tone.

Luckily, boiling your bass strings is easy! All you'll need is some boiling h2o and a towel to dry them off with.

To boil bass strings, bring a pot of h2o up to a low boil and throw the strings in one at a time. Make sure that the strings are completely submerged in the water at all times. After 12 minutes, take the strings out and allow them cool. In one case cooled, dry out them off to forestall rust from forming.

Brand sure that the strings don't stay in the h2o for whatever longer than 15 minutes or you can actually end upwards ruining them.

Utilize caution if you plan on boiling your strings, they will be extremely hot when they come out!

Merely Buy New Strings

This is what I do just about 99% of the fourth dimension. In my opinion, buying new strings is just more than convenient than going through the hassle of cleaning old ones.

New strings will have a better tone to them anyways so if you want your strings to play equally best every bit possible, go alee and get a new set. I unremarkably similar to clean my bass each fourth dimension I change strings.

Make clean the Headstock

Once you have your strings cleaned and you lot've got everything you need, you're ready to actually start cleaning your bass! We'll tackle everything on the instrument one time piece at a time in the order that I always clean my bass.

First nosotros'll start with the headstock and so nosotros volition somewhen work out way downwards to the body! Let's jump right into information technology.

Car Heads

The very beginning thing that I always like to clean on my bass are the machine heads. If you don't know what that means, the machine heads are simply the tuners.

Usually, all you'll need to do to clean your machine heads is wipe them off with a damp cloth. Water will work fine but I similar to apply the all purpose cleaner that we discussed earlier.

In one case you lot practice this, y'all should e'er make sure that you accept a dry newspaper towel and wipe down the machine heads to forbid them from rusting. If there'due south once thing you lot don;t want to rust, it's your machine heads because they move more than just about whatsoever other part on your bass.

For older instruments, you might discover that your machine heads volition lose their shine and will get-go to look pretty dull. Don't worry though because I have a quick fix which will literally brand them shine like new.

To make your machine heads polish similar new, take some fine class steel wool and get it clammy in warm water. Very lightly rub the steel wool on the metal of the machine heads only. Dry out them off one time yous're done.

That's it. If you do that 1 little trick, yous're motorcar heads will sparkle similar new. I wouldn't recommend doing this every time you clean your bass. Maybe one time per year tops to avoid long-term wear to the metal.

Lubricate the Nut

The adjacent pace to keeping your bass make clean is to brand sure that the nut is lubricated. Luckily this is super easy and will literally take y'all ten seconds to practice.

All you have to do to lubricate the nut on a bass guitar is to have a mechanical pencil and rub some graphite in each of the grooves in the nut. Yous can wipe off whatsoever excess graphite powder with a dry paper towel or microfiber textile.

This will stop the strings from sticking to the nut which will make tuning your instrument a breeze in the futurity. Information technology will also help save the life of the nut because of reduced friction.

Simply similar machine heads, you should only have to do this well-nigh once per year or so, and so don't worry near doing this each fourth dimension y'all clean your bass.

The Headstock Itself

I the machine heads and the nut are done, you tin wipe off the front and back of the headstock. I like to utilise the all purpose cleaner simply y'all can apply a clammy paper towel or a microfiber cloth.

Make certain that you also clean the edges of the headstock and try to avoid touching anything with your bare hands so that you don't leave fingerprints.

Make clean the Cervix

Once y'all clean the headstock on your bass, you tin can work your way over to the neck. In this department, nosotros will embrace the entire fretboard, all of the frets, and the neck itself.

Smoothen the Frets

Over time, your frets are going to lose their shine. This has happened to literally every bass that I've owned at one bespeak or another and dull frets tin can make your whole instrument look pretty ugly.

Luckily though, you tin can use the exact same method we used on the automobile heads! But lightly brush the frets with some damp steel wool and they'll smoothen like new.

Y'all need to be a little more careful when yous are polishing your frets though because if you lot press downward too difficult with the steel wool or smoothen them besides much, y'all might grind down too much metallic and you'll need to have your frets re-dressed which tin can toll upwards of $150.

Equally long every bit y'all employ common sense, you won't hurt your frets, only don't article of clothing the metallic down too much and don't polish your frets besides often.

Yous should too exist careful to not scratch the woods on the fingerboard.

Clean In-Betwixt the Frets

If you take one 2nd to look at your bass, y'all might find that in that location's really a ton of clay wedged in-between the frets and the fingerboard. This is pretty mutual and it'due south something that a lot of people overlook when they go to clean their bass.

If you simply wipe down the cervix, y'all'll end upward missing near of the dirt that'south wedged in-between the frets and the fingerboard which tin atomic number 82 to a build upwards of crud over time.

Every time I clean my bass I thoroughly wipe downwards both sides of each of the frets to forbid any buildup from happening.

Hydrate the Neck

Maybe once or twice per year, you should as well put lemon oil on your neck. This essentially stops the forest on the fingerboard from drying out and information technology keeps it looking healthy.

Lemon oil tin can exist bought online pretty cheaply and will come in a tiny bottle. It'due south important that if you apply lemon oil to your neck that you lot don't use too much.

three-4 drops of the stuff is enough for the entire neck. Just spread the drops out beyond the neck and wipe them off with a microfiber textile.

Do non use lemon oil if you take a maple cervix considering it won't have the same effect that information technology will on other types of forest. If yous do accept a maple neck, you lot can replace the lemon oil with a few drops of water. This will go on the neck hydrated.

Make clean the Residual of the Fretboard

In one case yous've cleaned all of the stuff out from between the frets and the fingerboard, you lot can wipe down the rest of the fingerboard with a damp paper towel or microfiber textile.

Just like with everything else, you lot can use the all purpose cleaner as well as h2o. Make certain that you dry off the fingerboard in one case you're don't to forbid rust from forming on the frets!

Back of the Neck

The back of the neck is always super easy to clean because there aren't any parts that go far the way.

Merely wipe the back of the cervix thoroughly with your all in 1 cleaner or a clammy paper towel. I e'er like to wipe the surface off with a dry microfiber afterward just to make sure that there are no water droplets left anywhere that might exit h2o spots.

Make clean the Body

Believe it or non, you're most done, all that yous have to exercise now is make clean the front and back of the body! With that being said, the body has the most things to make clean then it'll probably take you longer than the neck and headstock did.

Pickups

When it comes to cleaning your pickups make sure that you don't actually spray any liquid on them! The last thing you want is for h2o or some other liquid to seep into the within of your bass.

Instead of spraying the actual instrument, you should dampen whatever textile you program on using whenever you clean any electronics just to be safe.

Chances are, your pickups will take some kind of exposed metallic showing so please make sure that yous completely dry off the pickups. Other than that, you can but clean them commonly.

Saddles

In case you aren't aware, the saddles on your bass are the little metal pieces near the span that look like this:

When you make clean this piece, information technology'due south piece of cake to miss a lot of the hard to reach places simply if you don't go over absolutely everything at least once in a while, a lot of dust can start to build upward.

Also, since this piece is made completely out of metal, you have to make sure that yous completely dry it simply similar whatever other metal pieces on your bass.

Bridge

For almost basses, the bridge and saddles volition come together in one piece but in some cases, the bridge is a carve up slice that will be located correct backside the saddles.

You can get ahead and clean this piece the verbal same way, simply make sure that you dry information technology off because it will exist made of metal.

If y'all notice some of the spots hard to reach, you tin actually have a Q tip and get into whatever tight spaces that fashion. You don't even have to get it wet, the main purpose is just to get any grit out of the places that you lot tin't attain.

Switches and Pots

Taking a wait at the switches first, you lot will likely only have i switch which let's you choose a pickup. In my case, I have 4 switches that I tin can each toggle on or off that permit me to select any pickup combination I'd like.

Either way, something to know virtually your switches is that they are actually made of metal which is usually covered up by a slice of plastic. These metallic parts are what make the switch itself work and then you don't desire this to get wet.

For this reason, make sure that y'all don't spray any liquid on the switch. You can make clean it off with a clammy fabric, so make certain that you dry out it off with a dry cloth.

The pots are likewise pretty similar in the fact that underneath the plastic part that you run into, information technology's actually pretty much all metal. You don't want water getting under your pots either so brand sure that you lot clean them the aforementioned way that you would clean your switches.

1 other matter to know most switches and pots is that sometimes, the plastic covering can be popped off and so popped back on. This can make these pieces easier to clean.

Strap Buttons

The strap buttons are the little pieces of metal that stick out the edge of the body. There'due south usually 1 straight behind the bridge and another apply tin can normally exist found right where the body meets the neck.

I tin tell you from feel that these pieces rust really easily and then it's important that you dry them off. I actually own a Les Paul Custom and I didn't dry off my strap buttons. Just as you might expect, they developed rust spots which is something that nobody wants.

You tin make clean these in about 2 seconds, but a quick wipe and dry out and they're practiced to go.

Output Jack

Nosotros've been talking a lot about metal pieces all throughout this post only don't worry, this is the last i, I promise. It'southward extra of import that yous don't spray annihilation on the jack because there's a giant pigsty that goes right to a bunch of electronics!

Only similar every other metal piece, I like to merely take a damp microfiber, wipe information technology off and and so wipe information technology again with a dry out newspaper towel.

Front of the Body

Alright, we are done with cleaning all of the main components and then all that's left now is the actual body itself. Since the body is the principal affair that people look at, this is when I e'er like to use a good amount of polish and wax.

The shiner you can get the front of the torso to look, the better, and then don't be agape to employ quite a bit of cleaner. When you are cleaning the front of the body, you're also going to terminate up cleaning effectually all of the other components we just talked about.

Just like how clay tin can build upward where the frets meet the neck, clay tin can build up where the components meet the body and so make certain that you wipe everything down especially where any body components meet the wood.

If you lot have to, y'all tin employ a Q tip which might make cleaning these areas a niggling easier for y'all.

Too, I know it'll be difficult, simply effort to refrain from touching the forepart of the trunk with your hands to avoid getting finger prints on the finish. They are ugly and super easy to spot!

Something else that you should keep in mind when doing the front of the body is that in that location is likely going to be a few screws holding your pickguard in place. Trust me when I say that these will rust and so if you lot don't desire them to look bad, brand sure you manus dry each of the screws, information technology should but take a few actress seconds.

Edge of the Body

Real rapidly, you tin can also become over the edge of the body. This should take more than just a quick wipe down and there likely won't be much dirt most the jack or strap buttons due to the fact that your hands aren't nearly those pieces nearly as much as the neck or the front of the body.

Dorsum of the Body

The back of the body is super easy to clean and is honestly the almost satisfying in my opinion which is why I ever save it for terminal.

Just like the dorsum of the neck, yous don't accept to worry near cleaning anything other than the woods. Information technology'due south but a flat shine surface and it'south actually easy to make it shine like new.

Final Wipe Down

Once yous feel as though you have gone through and cleaned everything, it's never a bad thought to take a dry microfiber and just wipe everything down one more fourth dimension.

This will remove any finger prints y'all might've accidentally left behind while you were cleaning your bass and it should too pick up any clay or grit that y'all missed.

Once you lot practise your concluding wipe down, yous're done! From here we are all going to want to keep out basses make clean but in reality, they are merely going to become dirty again so don't freak nearly information technology.

It might seem like quite a bit to clean every function of your bass but in reality, you tin do a total thorough cleaning in about 10 minutes or so as long every bit yous have everything you demand ready to go.

I hope this helps!

Source: https://sharpenmyaxe.com/how-to-properly-clean-your-bass-guitar-step-by-step-guide/

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