Cleaning your bass

[Zooberwerx]

I always figured the accumulated gunk forms a protective rind like a country ham.

Riis

 

[OhDee]

the important thing for me is not to clean the bass but to wash hands with warm water and for more than a few seconds (like covid lol).
use plenty of soap...

then you never have to clean the bass really...

 

[dkelley]

I voted both never and once a year, but the reality is that I clean it when I want to impress somebody (so almost never), or when I have tons of time on my hands to get at all the stuff I want to do in life (so... literally never).

 

[Pet Sounds]

I wash my hands before I play, even just practicing at home. I wipe the bass down after every gig and rehearsal. If I see gunk, sweat residue, etc., when I get it home, I'll give it a more thorough wipe down and polishing.

 

[micguy]

When I was young, the bars I played in were hot, we were sweaty (literally dripping with sweat), and there was cigarette smoke everywhere. Now, everywhere I play has LED lights (nothing is hot, I don't sweat), I'm always playing with clean, dry hands, and there is no smoke. How often you have to clean your bass depends on the situations you play it in - I used to clean my bass a LOT (I had to). Now, it's not much of an issue - when I change strings (which is a lot less often, as I'm not sweating all over them), I will give everything a once over.

 

[urkel3000]

I can't believe how filthy my basses get at shows/band practice, especially when it's really hot outside. we work up a sweat either way though. You poll needs a "before church" option

 

[Church-Bass]

 

[Pings Bass]

Once in a while I run a feather duster over everything in my studio, that's it

 

[Dust2Dust]

At the risk of hijacking the thread, does anybody know a way to clean a metal control plate? (Squier Jazz bass if it matters)

 

[VoodooJazz]

I wash my hands before I play, even just practicing at home. I wipe the bass down after every gig and rehearsal. If I see gunk, sweat residue, etc., when I get it home, I'll give it a more thorough wipe down and polishing.

This ^

 

[GIBrat51]

I saw something recently about cleaning one's bass. It had honestly never really occurred to me that this would be necessary. Tbf I've only played 3 gigs since I started playing again and taking more of a  proper interest. Generally practice every week.

what do you use to clean your bass(es), and how thorough?

It depends...
- A used bass that came to me? At the very least, a good wipedown with dilute Simple Green (body and neck). If it was covered with shmutz and some other creature's DNA? Full strength Simple Green and a surgical scrub brush, until all that is gone. Then, a wipe down with a clean soft cloth...
- A bass that's been in my possession for a while? A wipe down with a clean, soft cloth after I've played it, is all that's necessary.
TBH, it's easy to keep a clean bass clean. After a while, it gets to be a habit, and takes less than a minute. I own basses that cost me several thousand dollars; if you think I'm going to let them get covered in crud, and ruined - thru sheer neglect? Think again, Bunky...

 

[SteveLo42]

At the risk of hijacking the thread, does anybody know a way to clean a metal control plate? (Squier Jazz bass if it matters)

Is it just dirty or rusted?

 

[Snert]

Clean my own instruments? Preposterous. That's what the serfs are for.

 

[JRA]

i clean them when they look like they could use the attention.

 

[Cleezmo]

I wipe down the strings, neck and body with a cotton polishing cloth every time I play; practice, gig, 10 minutes of noodling, doesn't matter, the basses get wiped down with that cloth. I also ALWAYS wash my hands well before playing for any real amount of time.

In terms of actually cleaning them, I only do that when I change strings. I'll polish the body (all my basses are poly), oil the fretboard on my rosewood or ebony boards, and clean the bridge and tuning keys. If they are particularly grimy or have an excessive amount of smudges/sweat residue after a gig, I'll do a quick polish on the body to remove that gunk. Otherwise they just get wiped down after playing and put back in the rack.

 

[Elk]

I've never even oiled the fretboard

It's played thousands of shows all over the world and never failed. It doesn't look dirty, weirdly enough. I'm sure a blacklight would reveal some horrors.

 

[Neil Folkard]

ME? Never. That's what music store techs do, when I take it in for a set-up and new strings every six months!

I will, however, use a cloth and wipe the strings off with a rag, to try and minimize the amount of oil build-up from my grubby fingers.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

I keep a nice soft cotton rag in my mono dual case and wipe the basses down after every gig when I get home and take them out of the case.

Getting the bridges nice and shiny is a constant struggle. The Mustang bridges are the worst for my OCD.

 

[E Buzz]

Do what now with the bass?

 

[Pdaddy1978]

You have to clean them?