Should<\/em> you use WD-40 to clean guitar strings?<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\nWD-40 is pretty magical stuff and is a great product with myriad uses. It\u2019s one of two items (the other being duct tape) that should be in every household. It works as a cleaner, a protectant, a lubricant and it\u2019s fairly inexpensive. All characteristics one might look for in a quality guitar string cleaner. However\u2026 there are a lot of things to consider before you go slathering it on your strings.<\/p>\n
First, you can find many people on both sides of the WD-40 argument. Lots of listicles for \u201cbrilliant\u201d uses for WD-40 include it as a guitar string cleaner. I take those with a grain of salt because the authors are not likely avid guitarists or one of the fine chemical engineers at WD-40 Company. Some of those same lists recommend using it to clean dog crap out of your boots by spraying WD-40 on the mess then scrubbing it off with an old toothbrush. I assume this same idea exists on someone\u2019s listicle for 18 Brilliant Uses for an Old Toothbrush. But I digress.<\/p>\n
Go to any guitarist forum and you\u2019ll find cautionary tales about using WD-40 to clean strings interspersed with plenty of shock that someone even came up with the idea.<\/p>\n
In short, bloggers generally recommend it, guitarists generally do not.<\/p>\n
2nd, WD-40 is odoriferous. And like the smell of horse sweat and patchouli, some people (me included) have a closeted appreciation for those aromas. But just because I appreciate those smells doesn\u2019t mean I have any desire to smell like them. And that is exactly what will happen. You put WD-40 on the strings then start playing and it gets on your fingers. You then wipe your hands on your shirt or pants, touch your face and your hair. Inevitably you and those in close proximity will be smelling it long after you\u2019ve put your guitar down.<\/p>\n
3rd, WD-40 stains. It is a petroleum product, not entirely different from wax or petroleum jelly. It stains clothes and most importantly it stains wood. If it gets on your fretboard it will discolor the wood and the only way to fix it is to sand it out or treat the whole fretboard. Treating the whole fretboard of course leaves you with more of problem #2.<\/p>\n
Now let\u2019s talk about the magical properties. WD stands for \u201cWater Displacing\u201d and WD-40 displaces water better than just about any other product. It will impede sweat, oil, spit, snot and whatever else you might have on your hands from penetrating the windings of your stings. These water displacing properties will also prevent your strings from corroding. And finally, WD-40 is most famous for being a lubricant, which will help keep your fingers from screeching and will lower the friction allowing for quieter, smoother, and faster playing.<\/p>\n
Bottom line, as a musician and a luthier, I do not recommend using WD-40 on your strings. My opinion is that the negatives do not outweigh the positives. Further, the positives can all be achieved with other products that don\u2019t carry all the negatives, eg. products designed for cleaning guitar strings and coated or treated strings.<\/p>\n
There are a few everyday household cleaners that will do the job of removing debris and gack from a grungy set of guitar strings. A proper cleaning routine with a dry cloth before and after playing should eliminate any need for heavier cleaning. There is no downside to quickly wiping down your strings every time you play your guitar. It\u2019s free and it saves you money by extending string life. But there are many potential downsides to using common household items to clean strings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Proper cleaning and maintenance of guitar strings can double or triple their life expectancy. But what can you use to clean them that you may have at home?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,261],"tags":[72,78,79],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}