Strings - how to keep them clean AND hygienic...?

[Max Dread]

Hi all

I teach guitar as part of my work for an organisation which helps people who can be street homeless, have alcohol/drug problems, be socially excluded, etc. (or any combinations of these things).

The fact is that some of the people I teach have very poor hygiene levels, although I should add that some do not have any problems with hygiene.

Most of the students use a guitar which belongs to the organisation. I try my best to give the strings a good clean between lessons, but it is not always easy. I've been thinking more and more about this and wondered if anyone knows if there is a way I can not only clean the strings but also anti-bacterialise them, partly for reasons if hygiene, but also as a measure of infection control.

On the subject of the latter point, does anyone have any idea of how high the risk of cross infection can be with sharing a guitar?

Not an everyday question I'm sure, but any input would be very helpful.

Many thanks

Max

[Mordacain]

Wipe the strings down with a clean cotton cloth dampened with standard isopropyl alcohol, should kill anything and will help remove organic compounds from the string and shouldn't have any negative affect on the metal itself.

/edit - be careful not to let it soak the fretboard wood...alcohol will dry the fretboard. It should be possible to clean the strings without touching the wood though.

[capoeiraesp]

Microfiber cloths are quite good though not as effective as alcohol.

[Deadnightshade]

Use any string cleaner really (personally I use GHS fast fret but you may want to look into something more drastic ).

Your best bet is to order budget strings that you'll change as often as you possibly can. :

Harley Benton Valuestrings 009 - Thomann UK Cyberstore

[USMarine75]

I googled and found several hits saying you can purell strings?

[brector]

Originally Posted by USMarine75

I googled and found several hits saying you can purell strings?

I don't put anything on my strings, I just wipe with microfiber cloth. Purel is 62% alcohol, but has other ingredients. I wouldn't use - just get regular rubbing alcohol.

-Brian

[ConnorGilks]

I would think rubbing alcohol would do the trick. Also, just make sure you wipe down the whole guitar after every playing session with every student (not with rubbing alcohol of course) to not only clean it up but it'll give the guitar a longer life too.

EDIT: You know, you could always get them all to wash their hands first with Purell or something similar. That could help quite a lot.

[Deadnightshade]

*OP uses alcohol to clean the strings

*next student has drinking problems

*student licks strings

*student becomes steve vai

[Eric Christian]

Originally Posted by Max Dread

Hi all

I teach guitar as part of my work for an organisation which helps people who can be street homeless, have alcohol/drug problems, be socially excluded, etc. (or any combinations of these things).

The fact is that some of the people I teach have very poor hygiene levels, although I should add that some do not have any problems with hygiene.

Most of the students use a guitar which belongs to the organisation. I try my best to give the strings a good clean between lessons, but it is not always easy. I've been thinking more and more about this and wondered if anyone knows if there is a way I can not only clean the strings but also anti-bacterialise them, partly for reasons if hygiene, but also as a measure of infection control.

On the subject of the latter point, does anyone have any idea of how high the risk of cross infection can be with sharing a guitar?

Not an everyday question I'm sure, but any input would be very helpful.

Many thanks

Max

Most metal guitar strings are naturally anti-bacterial. Especially copper alloy (bronze) strings.

Antimicrobial copper-alloy touch surfaces - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Just use regular lemon oil based guitar polish instead of rubbing alcohol.

[cyril v]

Have everyone wash their hands before touching any guitars, you could do the same so they don't think anything of it. I do the same myself, and honestly would expect most to do it. You never know, it could be the person you wouldn't expect to leave some weird nastiness on your guitar.

Besides that, a nice cloth (microfiber maybe) with rubbing alcohol to wipe down the strings should do the trick.