Do You Wash Your Hands Before Playing, and if so, Do You Think It Helps Make Strings Last Longer?

[TSJMajesty]

less opportunity to scratch em up.

I've purposely switched my picking hand technique to closed-fingers, in part to help with not scratching the guitar with my fingernails.

Yeah, I'm anal when it comes to keeping a guitar in like-new shape as long as possible!

 

[jellodog]

I generally don't wash my hands before picking up my guitar, but my hands are pretty clean anyway; and I use coated strings too so they last months haha. Don't seem to get grime in the windings.

Now when I was a bass player back in the 80s... that was gross. I remember boiling my bass strings once (as a broke teenager) and the oily crap and dirt that came out of them and floated to the surface as scum was truly horrifying.

 

[James Freeman]

No, the strings will oxidize with or without playing.
I like the tone of old strings and I change only when they break or I do major setup like fret leveling.

 

[PLX]

No, the strings will oxidize with or without playing.
I like the tone of old strings and I change only when they break or I do major setup like fret leveling.

 

[hemmelight]

I nearly always wash my hands before playing. I like to keep my stuff clean, but I'm not obsessive about it.
Maybe once a week I will wipe down the strings with my Dedicated Guitar Sock™ to keep them a bit cleaner. That does help them last a bit longer I find. Plus it's nicer for the frets I would assume?

 

[itchyfingers]

I am a greaseball Italian and I live about 10 miles from the Pacific, its not a good combo. Not only do I wash my hands before picking up a guitar, I wipe down the strings with an alcohol prep pad before I set it down. I still replace strings every week on my busiest players.

 

[the-trooper]

Always, a as a matter of hygiene and not gunking the fretboard. But I use Elixirs and have no idea if it extends strings life.
Also wipe everything down after playing.

 

[Metron]

Yeah I wash my hands or rinse if I know I'm about to play. I sometimes wash mid way too depending on how long I've been playing.

I'm not a clean freak or anything, slightly the opposite in fact, but my guitars and kitchen are the exceptions. I'm very strict with keeping them clean. It's one of the main reasons I don't like to buy used. I don't want a guitar that's embalmed with someone else's toejam and smegma.

Don't really know if this helps my strings last longer.

 

[Sascha Franck]

What's that "washing" thing y'all are talking about?

 

[megametal7]

PandemicI do, and I even kinda look like Mr. Clean. Figure it helps with string life but I do it to minimize smudges, overall. Less wiping down equals less opportunity to scratch em up.

look at mine after im done with it

Shes been well used and has plenty of scars from previous battles.

You’ll be like this around my guitar

 

[duzie]

I am a greaseball Italian and I live about 10 miles from the Pacific, its not a good combo. Not only do I wash my hands before picking up a guitar, I wipe down the strings with an alcohol prep pad before I set it down. I still replace strings every week on my busiest players.

Hahaha

 

[FuzzyAce]

I didn't know this was even a thing? I never wash my hands as a matter of course before playing guitar. But I do know I don't like to play right after my hands have been washed, whether they were just rinsed off at the sink or from a shower. The skin is weakened somewhat so doesn't make good sense to me.

 

[la szum]

Nah. I wait and wash my hands after playing with myself.

 

[la szum]

I don't even wash my hands before I eat a sandwich.

I apprenticed with a Plumber who would go work on someone's toilet
or drain and then grab his lunchpail and eat his sammich without batting
an eye.

That dude was gross as fuck and never missed a day of work due to being sick.

 

[PLX]

I apprenticed with a Plumber who would go work on someone's toilet
or drain and then grab his lunchpail and eat his sammich without batting
an eye.

That dude was gross as fuck and never missed a day of work due to being sick.

My immune system can put most people's immune system in a headlock, and then pile-drive it into the mat.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I apprenticed with a Plumber who would go work on someone's toilet
or drain and then grab his lunchpail and eat his sammich without batting
an eye.

Go to Mumbai. Visit a public toilet and inform yourself about some toilet-related habits in those cultural circles. Then have a look at how folks are selling you food and how you are supposed to eat that food.
Need more details? I really don't hope so...
In comparison, that plumber would look like a 100% antiseptic surgeon ready to work on your innards.

 

[aerial7]

At the risk of being vaguely on topic, I used Elixirs for many years despite not liking them....for reasons....but they did allow me to go forever between string changes.

But some time ago I switched to NYXLs and have been very happy with them overall....and they last plenty long enough for me. With 4 guitars, I generally have to change their strings maybe 2 or 3 times a year and I never see any ick or corrosion on them. I'm sure that would be very different if I was a gigging musician sweating on them every night.

[Every time I watch an LT video, I stare at the guitars in the background and wonder just how he keeps up with the string changes.]

 

[la szum]

Go to Mumbai. Visit a public toilet and inform yourself about some toilet-related habits in those cultural circles. Then have a look at how folks are selling you food and how you are supposed to eat that food.
Need more details? I really don't hope so...
In comparison, that plumber would look like a 100% antiseptic surgeon ready to work on your innards.

#cholerabuffet

 

[Sascha Franck]

#cholerabuffet

Kinda. Just worse.

 

[jellodog]

look at mine after im done with it

Shes been well used and has plenty of scars from previous battles.
View attachment 19680

Um... is that UV light?