What Brand/Proof of Denatured Alcohol is recommended?

invisiman · #1 06-10-2006, 03:08 PM

I'm going to finally buy some, but I don't want to accidentally get anything that would be to too weak to get the job done well.

Thanks in advance for the help guys!

FunkSlap89 · #2 06-10-2006, 03:30 PM

Its all basically the same... ethanol with methanol added so that its poisonous to humans.

invisiman · #3 06-10-2006, 03:59 PM

The reason I ask is that the only stuff I can find around here is %75, is that high enough to be an effective string cleaner? Or should I do some deeper searching for something in the neighborhood of %90?

SirChronique · #4 06-10-2006, 05:56 PM

You can still off some of your own ethel alcohol in a homemade alembic fairly easily if none is avaliable to buy at the store. Some electric home water distillers can also be used for this.

SamJ · #5 06-11-2006, 03:42 PM

I also wonder if the "proof" or % of the brand matters? I used regular rubbing alcohol recently and found that the positive effects of the cleaning wear off fast, could that be due to the water content of the 70% Isopropyl alcohol?

invisiman · #6 06-11-2006, 04:38 PM

My dad is commenting that antifreeze is essentially the same as denatured, or isopyrpyl alcohol. Is this true? Or is there additives in antifreeze that make it worthless for htis task?

SamJ · #7 06-11-2006, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by invisiman

My dad is commenting that antifreeze is essentially the same as denatured, or isopyrpyl alcohol. Is this true? Or is there additives in antifreeze that make it worthless for htis task?

The base of anti-freeze is alcohol, but God no! Don't use it, it's filled with all kids of specific additives which would coat your strings!

bigd4207 · #8 06-12-2006, 03:30 AM

hell, if you are gonna start using automotive stuff go for the good ol gasoline, or better yet, some nitro/emt octane booster or injection cleaner. that will clean your strings garunteed

Puru · #9 06-12-2006, 07:10 AM

I bought a can of denatured at the local Ace hardware. It works fine.

SirChronique · #10 06-12-2006, 10:49 AM

I wouldn't recommend the isopropyl. It isn't as fun to drink!

And the alcohol must be high proof to clean strings because it has more cleaning properties at the higher %.

It is also useful for making tinctures at a high proof.

invisiman · #11 06-12-2006, 06:13 PM

We're having a heck of a time trying to track down anything to suit our purpose (Blame Canada?). The closest thing we've found is methyl hydrate, but the stuff we found doesn't have any information pertaining to what's in it, or the intensity of the substances.

And, as such, I'm throwing in the towel on the local searh, and asking, is there anywhere I could find/buy the right type of stuff online?

SirChronique · #12 06-12-2006, 07:35 PM

A reflux still is the only way I can think of to get alcohol in that pure of a percent and the right quantity. You can just run some vodka through it and it will make it purer ethanol.

**bassybill** · #13 06-13-2006, 01:54 AM

Antifreeze over here in the UK is based on ethane-1,2-diol (ethylene glycol, HOCH₃CH₃OH) as this is much less volatile than ethanol ("regular" ethyl alcohol, C₂H₅OH) and so it doesn't get boiled out of your car's coolant system so fast. Unfortunately this means it will take an age to evaporate from your strings and may leave other additives as residue as well, so avoid this stuff!!

Denatured alcohol (also called "methylated spirits" or just "meths") is usually 90-95% ethanol with 5-10% methanol (methyl alcohol, CH₃OH), added to render it unfit for human consumption (in fact, it's highly toxic, be warned). There's not usually water added as far as I know, unlike rubbing alcohol which is generally a solution of propan-2-ol (isopropyl alcohol, CH₃CH(OH)CH₃) in water.

Only trouble with denatured alcohol might be the purple dye they add (over here anyway) to put people off drinking it - not sure whether this would leave anything behind once the alcohol has evaporated from your strings. Does your USA denatured alcohol have this dye in or not? I'm interested to know more about this.

BTW, to explain the names used above for the non-chemists here, I've used the "systematic names" for these chemicals in the above posts, followed by the older name and molecular formula in brackets. Hopefully this will clarify and avoid ambiguity as I know the fact that different people use different names for the same stuff can actually drive you mad.

62bass · #14 06-13-2006, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by invisiman

We're having a heck of a time trying to track down anything to suit our purpose (Blame Canada?). The closest thing we've found is methyl hydrate, but the stuff we found doesn't have any information pertaining to what's in it, or the intensity of the substances.

And, as such, I'm throwing in the towel on the local searh, and asking, is there anywhere I could find/buy the right type of stuff online?

I don't know exactly what the methyl hydrate is exactly either. I just use the stuff available at Canadian Tire or Home Depot and it works as well as anything to clean strings. If I just want to do a quick clean with the strings on the bass I wet a cloth with the alcohol, wrap it around the strings and clean them. This works well to get finger gunk off if you use it often.

I've also taken strings off, put them loosely coiled in an appropriate iszed Tupperware type container, and let them soak overnight. That really seems to get the deeply embedded gunk out.

The methy hydrate also works well as a general cleaner when I want something that evaporates quickly. Be careful getting it on old nitro finishes ot nitro pickguards though. it will dissolve them.

Methyl hydrate available in Canada works well enough for me and has other uses besides cleaning strings. It's cheap and good for what I need. It's sold mostly for use as a shellac thinner but I find it dries way too fast to use when brushing it on.

Keep the container tightly sealed as alcohol absorbes water from air rapidly.

SirChronique · #15 06-13-2006, 10:57 AM

Methanol in small doses is not highly toxic. Many home distillers have small traces of methanol in their final product if they use a mash that is high in pectin, such as fermented grapes or berries.

In high doses though methanol can cause blindness and mabey worse, i'm not sure.

**bassybill** · #16 06-13-2006, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirChronique

Methanol in small doses is not highly toxic. Many home distillers have small traces of methanol in their final product if they use a mash that is high in pectin, such as fermented grapes or berries.

In high doses though methanol can cause blindness and mabey worse, i'm not sure.

Yup. TINY amounts it's okay, but even moderate doses can cause blindness, in higher doses it's a deadly poison (quite literally).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oxford Uni Chem Dept

Toxicology
Toxic by inhalation, ingestion or skin absorption. May be a reproductive hazard. Ingestion may be fatal. Risk of very serious, irreversible damage if swallowed. Exposure may cause eye, kidney, heart and liver damage. Chronic or substantial acute exposure may cause serious eye damage, including blindness. Irritant. Narcotic. UK exposure limits: long-term 200 ppm, short term 250 ppm.

Note - Methyl hydrate is yet another name for this stuff!

62bass · #17 06-13-2006, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirChronique

A reflux still is the only way I can think of to get alcohol in that pure of a percent and the right quantity. You can just run some vodka through it and it will make it purer ethanol.

It's probably also illegal, but you'd have to check the laws in your area.

Really, there's no need to go with ethanol. Methyl hydrate is plenty pure enough. Just don't drink it, keep it away from children and pets.

This seems to have been made into a big thing. You're just cleaning strings after all. Dirt and gunk on strings is only one reason strings go dead. They do have to be replaced from time to time if you want that bright top end.

However, I use TI flats and love the broken in sound. One bass has a 6 year old set, the rest are less but all are older than 2 years. They still sound good. I just clean them after each playing session.

SamJ · #18 06-13-2006, 05:04 PM

Well I just tried some from the local Lowes home center on my 2 week old D'Addario's that are on my Roscoe Beck IV... the snapped back to life for about 5 minutes, then they went back to the way they were... especially the E.. kind lost it twang, or springiness.. I wonder if the benefit only lasts while the strings have some of the liquid on them??

It was Denatured Alcohol straight with no water added.

**bassybill** · #19 06-14-2006, 04:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamJ

Well I just tried some from the local Lowes home center on my 2 week old D'Addario's that are on my Roscoe Beck IV... the snapped back to life for about 5 minutes, then they went back to the way they were... especially the E.. kind lost it twang, or springiness.. I wonder if the benefit only lasts while the strings have some of the liquid on them??

It was Denatured Alcohol straight with no water added.

Did you soak them or just give them a quick wipe? They need a good immersion for a day or three to get them properly clean, preferably with the occasional vigorous shake.

SamJ · #20 06-14-2006, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassybill

Did you soak them or just give them a quick wipe? They need a good immersion for a day or three to get them properly clean, preferably with the occasional vigorous shake.

no, you're right.. it was a quick wipe, but they're only about a week old, and otherwise clean.. just lost that "bright" tone, especially on the E.. so after the wipe with a rather wet microfiber rag they sprung back to life, but literally on for 5 minutes, then it seems they came back worse than before! Odd.. anyway for $15/set of d'addario's I may just switch them out more often is all...

I may also try the soak to see if that solves my problem..