String Question

[dpresti]

I play elixirs and after i play i usually wipe down my strings. will this make the coating come off?

[PilotC150]

No, it will prolong the life of the strings. This is a good thing to do.

[dpresti]

why doesnt it take the coating off? logic tells me that it would.


and a 100% cotton sleeve would safice for wiping them down?

[PilotC150]

The coating is bonded to the string, unless you have extremely acidic oils on your hands it shouldn't be a problem at all.

And yes, a cotton sleeve should work just fine. All you wanna do is get rid of the extra oils on the strings that your fingers left on them.

[dpresti]

so just a very light rub down?

[PilotC150]

well are you scrubbing them really hard? It shouldn't take anything except to run the cotton sleeve up and down the strings a few times. If you really want you can get some of that cleaner/spray but it's probably not necessary to do everytime.

Also, I'm sure the coating is made so that it doesn't rub off. D'Addario's, on the other hand, I have found they gunk up much quicker than Elixirs.

[dpresti]

yes i have been scrubbing them very hard.

from now on, i'll do it very lightly

thanks for you help!

[nonewdirections]

i think the only way you'd easily strip the coating off was if it were made out of sandpaper or steel wool. that or play it a lot for a bunch of months. if you look when it peels off occaisionally, the coating has the same consistency and appearance of a laminated surface, though it's much thinner and less "hard."