String care in a hot and extremely humid climate?

[PerlNinja]

Tried some searching but didn't really find anything that gave me my "ah-ha" moment, so ... thread.

I've got the fun problem that the place where I live has a stupidly hot and humid climate, the normal temperatures range from 35 to 40C, with 95 to 100% humidity. As you can imagine, things rust up a storm here. After playing I rub down my strings with a cotton cloth and lightly oil them, but they still start rusting after about a month. Just hoping there's an easier way to prevent this short of building some sort of locker for storing my bass...

(side note: rusty strings do tend to have their very own unique sound...)

[mmbongo]

Might want to look into coated strings like DR ExtraLife.

[PerlNinja]

Originally Posted by mmbongo

Might want to look into coated strings like DR ExtraLife.

I went that route, but none of the stores I've been to around my parts stock them; they could order them but it'd cost me about $30 on top for shipping, plus the usual "expedience fees" one is expected to pay the customs people down here... but I guess if there's no other way, then that'll have to be it

Thanks!

[Drewski9]

On recomendation from a guitar player I started using a Blitz brass polishing cloth (about $5.00 US at army surplus) between sets, or whenever I picked up my bass. Doubled the life if my strings and removed that sticky feeling that my Rotosounds developed in high humidity. Very light lubrication and cleaning. Cheep too.

[PerlNinja]

Drewski, would any brass polishing cloth work? Given my location I'm not going to find Blitz cloths here, but there's some stores around here that sell some generic no-name made-in-some-nearby-location brass polishing cloths. Might as well give them a shot, can't get worse than it is now

[MNAirHead]

Iv'e used very fine grit sand paper to knock off the rust...

[ghiadub]

I have used 0000 steel wool on flats to remove rust. Wrap it around and lift so it does not touch the fretboard. If any of the wool gets on your pickups, remove it with masking tape.

Honestly, I would be more worried about the bass in that climate. Humidity and wood are not a great combo.

[ghiadub]

also, there is a TB guy making his bass specific wipes with "brasso" or somthing like that built in.

thread here:
Bass Brites String Cleaner

[shtik]

I live and perform in a very humid and hot country. Less than you I must admit, but not very far from it. Regular strings might die on me in 2 weeks or a month (I like the sound of new strings better).

I use elixirs. They last about 2-3 times longer (depending on how much you play), but what's best - what's causing them to die is normal wear from playing and not the humidity...

Try Ebay, Maybe you can find some decent way to have them shipped to you, so that you don't pay a fortune.. Expect them to cost a little more than normal strings. But it's worth it.

[ehque]

Hi OP,

I'm from Singapore, so the same sort of tropical climate.

My DR strings (Stainless Steel) have never rusted in this climate, although guitar strings are fair game. Do try a good stainless set and see. I don't even wipe my strings down after I play, and they still last about a year. My basses are stored in their soft cases when they are not being used.

I place strings that i'm not using in a dry box set to 30% along with my camera stuff.

[PerlNinja]

Hi guys, thanks for the replies

@ghiadub: it's actually doing alright, it doesn't warp at all, I'm not too worried about it since I picked it up for $125 new. If it was a 2 grand jazz bass or something, that's a different story

@ehque: I think I sweat battery acid then, mine start rusting within 2 months, if not less, and I need to replace them every 4 months or so, because the amount of rust just .. yeah. I store mine on it's stand, but it's in a dark corner of my "office" at home, and never in direct sunlight. I have nickel strings though so maybe a switch to stainless is in order...

[Jay2U]

Car polish might be worth wile to try.