Polishing bass strings

[Ron Nossaman]

>Ok, you've had your fun. Now kindly lower yourselves to my level and 
>respond to an honest question by an RPT with over 30 years of experience. 
>Knowing my name won't help you answer my question.

No, but showing up as an actual person with a real identity when you are 
asking for help might just possibly give you some credibility and 
validation you don't automatically have from behind the curtain. 
Contributing, is the apparent implication that after 30 years, this has 
just now come to your attention and become a concern. But perhaps I judge 
too quickly.


>I'm talking about new or new-ish strings with some discoloration due to 
>someone's fingers straying where they shouldn't, as well as brightening-up 
>those strings that don't need to be replaced yet.

Thank you. That's helpful, and puts it in a specific category.


>By the way, under my care is a Steinway "D" that came from the factory (in 
>other words "brand-spanking new") with some sort of oxidation running 
>across 6-8 strings. It looks as though someone took a sweaty hand and just 
>wiped it across them.

That's most likely exactly what happened. I've seen plenty of instances of 
just this in dealers' showrooms, and in the new owners' living rooms after 
the sale.


>And who among us hasn't left fingerprints on a newly-installed set of bass 
>strings?
>
>Or perhaps technicians at your level don't do that sort of thing.

I haven't, as far as I know. This has nothing whatsoever to do with my 
"level" as a technician. It has everything to do with my personal bodily 
chemistry and the severe lack of moisture in the epidermis of my digital 
appendages - a condition that has no acknowledged snob value that I'm aware 
of, just nuisance value when my fingertips split and bleed all winter.

To answer your question, I don't typically try to polish wrapped strings, 
so I don't have a fool-proof answer for you. I do, however, question the 
assumption that scratching the copper is necessarily undesirable. I can't 
see where it would hurt a thing unless you chewed it up badly with 
something coarse and abrasive, or generated loose liquid, dust, or fibers 
that would get into the wrap. So if I was going to try and minimize big 
purple hand prints on new bass strings, I'd scrub them down with a dry 
Scotch Brite pad and hope for the best. If that didn't work, I'd learn to 
love big purple hand prints.

My name's in the header. Who am I talking to?

Ron N