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will sweat destroy my bass?

#7
A little perspiration/moisture is one thing, but then there's full-on sweat pouring off of your head onto-into the bass. It's not a bad idea to wipe-off excess moisture, remove the drenched strap and not seal either up in a case or bag until they've air dried a bit. If you play a lot and sweat excessively the moisture can creep down into the pots and pick-up mounting hardware and cause oxidation to happen sooner. It's not anything to get alarmed about, just something to be aware of and keep an eye on.

A saxophonist I know was touring India and had a couple days off. When he got his horn out of the case after the lay-over there were maggots writhing away in his mouthpiece. Humidity can be a pain sometimes.
 
#10
varunkapahi said:
its really really hot and humid around here and everytime i start playing i start dripping sweat onto the bass :eek: :atoz:
so should i stop playing until it gets cooler or its okay and a little sweat wont damage my bass?
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'a little sweat' will not damage your bass. 'a lot' might fry electronics in time.
wipe it during/after gig and keep it aired [eg. while packing cables, amp etc] before puting in gigbag/case.
 
#12
lowphatbass said:
A saxophonist I know was touring India and had a couple days off...
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With a horn, it's different. Horns are made of metal and are going to rust if you allow them to get damp. Plus, India? That's one of the absolute hottest and most humid places on earth. That's an apples to oranges comparison.

To the OP - don't worry about sweating on your bass. Unless you're sweating so much that it's the equivalent of dumping buckets of water on your instrument, just go ahead and wipe it down after a show and you're fine.

I think a bigger problem with wood instruments here in the northern hemisphere is them becoming dry and cold and the wood cracking. I had it explained to me thusly: your guitar is made out of wood, which is essentially plant tissue. Your guitar still thinks it's a tree. It wants just a bit of warmth and a tiny bit of moisture to keep it supple so that it's not so dried out that it's cracking. Remember that.
 
#13
nocontrols said:
With a horn, it's different. Horns are made of metal and are going to rust if you allow them to get damp. Plus, India? That's one of the absolute hottest and most humid places on earth. That's an apples to oranges comparison.

To the OP - don't worry about sweating on your bass. Unless you're sweating so much that it's the equivalent of dumping buckets of water on your instrument, just go ahead and wipe it down after a show and you're fine.

I think a bigger problem with wood instruments here in the northern hemisphere is them becoming dry and cold and the wood cracking. I had it explained to me thusly: your guitar is made out of wood, which is essentially plant tissue. Your guitar still thinks it's a tree. It wants just a bit of warmth and a tiny bit of moisture to keep it supple so that it's not so dried out that it's cracking. Remember that.
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according to his profile, op is from India too...
 
#14
ShredderMaximus said:
according to his profile, op is from India too...
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Then I would recommend checking with a LOCAL guitar tech or a reliable teacher who can tailor advice specifically to climate conditions in that part of the world. I apologize if my advice isn't applicable to the humidity levels of India, I wasn't aware the OP was from that region.

Again, I've never heard of moisture from sweat damaging a bass, other than the possibility of the metal parts becoming rusted over a period of many years, but I have never lived in that climate zone.
 
#15
Sometimes sweat can be very damaging to a guitars finish, remember the late great Rory Gallacher`s Stratocaster which had almost all the finish eaten away by his acidic sweat, he did sadly have an illness that caused this though .
 
#18
I agree Geoff, modern finishes are very resilient thankfully, years ago I had a Les Paul guitar and was advised to wrap a piece of cotton around the rubber on my guitar stand to stop the finish being marked, I once used a guitar polish on it that was supposed to be ok on all guitar finishes and even that left a mark, nitro cellulose is too sensitive for me :D
 
#20
If your sweat is very salty or or acidic it could corrode the bridge and hardware. When I was a guitar tech i had a customer that brought his guitars to me about every 3 to 6 months to replace the bridge (it was beyond salvaging). The guy's sweat must have been like battery acid or something.
 

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