WD-40 for your strings?

[Radon]

After playing, my guitar player always sprays WD-40 oil over his strings and them wipes it out with a dry cloth.

He says it has almost double the life of the strings!!!

The label of the oil says it doesn't harm wood, and my friend has not seen any noticeable change in his freatboard.
In fact it maybe good, oiling your board (with almond oil) prevents it from drying out and cracking, maybe WD-40 does to.


Has someone tried this? Would you recommend it?

[Spike]

I used to use fast fret for years, but when my last one ran dry I topped it up with WD40, and have been using it ever since.
I do NOT spray it onto the fret board, I use it from the fast fret applicators, Sparingly, and then wipe down the strings. WD40 on a cloth would be just as good though.

Works just as well as fast fret for me and have not noticed any problems in the two years or so I’ve been using it.

[Radon]

Thanx Spike,

Is it really worth it? Does it improve your strings useful life?

[odie]

I would be interested to hear how this works out for others who have tried it.
Keep us posted on what you find out. In theory it sounds like it may work, Im just not sure of the effect on the wood.

[Spike]

Radon,
I am convinced it does improve the life of my strings, otherwise I wouldn’t bother with it.
Give it a try, but keep it off your woodwork.

[cannon]

I own a Zon Legacy Elite, and the manual recommends using WD-40 to clean the fretboard (phenolic). So come cleaning time, I take the strings off and clean the board. Then I soak a corner of a towel with WD-40 and run my strings across the corner, pinching the string between the towel and my fingers. (bad explanation but you know what I mean)It does a great job of restoring the strings. I use a clean dry section of the towel to wipe the excess oil off. Also, the WD-40 should help repel moisture and corrosion from the strings. Definitely worth it!

[Herm]

Originally posted by cannon
I own a Zon Legacy Elite, and the manual recommends using WD-40 to clean the fretboard (phenolic).

That might be OK for phenolic - which isn't wood, but I'm a little leary of doing that with rosewood, or any other normal exotic fingerboard woods that are uncoated.

Best fingerboard dressing for wood, that I've used is Orange oil, but that's a whole nuther thread not suitable for this forum.

String wise, I have the luxury of changing strings frequently, so I can't help you there.

Why did I post this?

[cannon]

I wasn't real clear on the Zon manual reference. Since I had to use the WD anyways, I went ahead and tried it on the strings. I don't know how regular wood would react, so for everyone else be sure the excess WD is off the strings, and clean the strings off and away from the bass.