Dark Gray Finger Tips?

[Plain Old Barry]

Fellow musical cellar dwellers...

I have ONE bass, of 11, that gives me dark gray finger tips when I play. Playing since the mid-70's, I've never had this happen to me except with bronze acoustic strings.

Deets:
- ALL of my basses strung with rounds use the same strings, D'Addario XL 170 and 170-5, Captain Blackfinger included
- This is the second set of the same string on the bass, same result
- None of my other XL170 instruments color my fingers
- Bass is an Ibanez SR805 five string, active with Bartolini's, with mahogany fingerboard, purchased new a few years back. Both of my hands turn black where string contact is made, so I don't think it's the board. I've also built a decent amount of mahogany furniture and my fingers have never turned colors working with mahogany.
- Other basses include various active and passive US, MIM and MIJ Fenders, a Jack Casady, a Schecter, and a Squire fretless.
- I've used these strings since the early 80's, minus a period of Rotos.

All thoughts and suggestions how to mitigate this are welcome. Thanks!

 

[GTHintz]

It's either gunk from being old strings or gunk from the factory if they are new strings. Sometimes strings carry a little bit of grease from the machine they were wound with.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Clean them off with isopropyl alcohol?

 

[Plain Old Barry]

The current set is brand new, the set the bass arrived with was fresh and obviously not dead, but unknown how much playing was really on them, as the bass was purchased off Reverb and was possibly a store demo.

I'll try cleaning them, but it's odd that it's only happened with this bass, with two sets of strings. I've probably used 100-125 sets of these strings over the decades and never had this happen. And this is TWICE with two sets of new strings on the same instrument.

Thanks!

 

[CryingBass]

Nickle?

 

[Plain Old Barry]

Nickle?

Yup! Same as all of my other basses with rounds. No black finger tips on those.

XL170 and XL170-5 are identical strings, with the -5 set adding a .130 B string. This is sooo weird...

 

[g-dude]

Is there any difference between the bridge and/or tuner metal? Maybe some sort of electrolysis is happening.

 

[Alivefor5]

Do you change your diet as you change basses?

 

[cxcxcx]

Two things immediately come to mind -

I’ve used D’Addario XL for decades, never had a darkened fingertip issue. I put some new ones on a few weeks ago with no issues. Those were purchased many months ago.

I’m thinking there may be a formulation change or a materials swap in manufacturing - the probability of this is increased because of Covid and supply chain issues. If I was in this situation I’d contact D'Addario and tell them exactly what’s going on. Over the years they’ve shown genuine concern when I communicate with them about an issue, which has been only twice in over 25 years. They’ve usually sent out replacement string sets or replacement single strings gratis.

The only other remote possibility I can think of is to ask if anything in your body chemistry has changed - this would entail any change in medication or a radical change in diet.

 

[Folmeister]

I had a case once that disintegrated on the inside. It always left a weird grunge on the bass I stored in it.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

Is there any difference between the bridge and/or tuner metal? Maybe some sort of electrolysis is happening.

I'm wondering the same... I might try playing that bass for a while uplugged, with the battery removed.

None of my other basses, active and passive, do it. I play with a G10S wireless all the time, so there's no cable connection to my pedals or amps.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

The only other remote possibility I can think of is to ask if anything in your body chemistry has changed - this would entail any change in medication or a radical change in diet.

Excellent thought, and I'd go with it if any of my other instruments equipped with the exact same strings, active and passive, had the issue.

I haven't had a medication change in many years, but I agree that body chemistry can change over the years.

 

[Bajo Clarkko]

Mojo?

(It seems as if usually get a little grey on my fingertips, unless I’m using stainless steel strings.)

 

[garrett77]

Mahogany fingerboard? Maybe it’s reacting with the nickel strings or the frets.

edit: I reread that your plucking hand is affected, too. Hmm.

 

[pcake]

would the bass have a dirty fingerboard?

 

[Plain Old Barry]

would the bass have a dirty fingerboard?

That was my first thought, but it's clean and the gray affects my plucking fingers as well.

 

[Lesfunk]

Nickel strings…
The Bain of my pristine fingertips

 

[Arthur U. Poon]

I’ve been playing mostly nickel plated roundwounds since the mid 80’s, including D’Addario XLs, GHS Bass Boomers, and Ernie Ball Slinkys. All three brands will turn my fingertips gray.

I also wonder if some of the gray on my fingertips is from the tops of my pickups.

I’m not a big gambler, but I’ve played slot machines, and handling quarters and nickels does the same thing to my fingertips.

New GHS Pressurewounds, which are Alloy 52, nickel/iron alloy

GHS Bass Boomers, nickel plated steel.