Green Fingers

Ox Boris

Ox Boris

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Nov 23, 2015
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#1
So, after I finish playing, I squirt a bit of alcohol onto a soft cloth and rub my strings down. So why do my fingers always look like this?

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Am I producing enough copper oxide while I'm playing for it to do that? Or is my acoustic Bass possessed?
 
#2
What type strings are you using?

Some people have an aversion /reaction to nickel, it usually leaves a black residue, tho.

Sometimes it's in a person's chemistry- acids, salts, etc that react with certain metals.
 
#5
Copper and brass in bronze- it can oxidize over time, and even between the wraps, where you won't readily see it, but will work its way out while playing.

I don't use any 'string dope' on my strings, but something like 'Fast Fret' may help keep the string metal from oxidizing.
 
#6
The bronze strings on my ABG used to turn the fingers a greenish grey; best guess, chemical interaction between the phosphor bronze and the oil in my fingers. The TI Acousticores did the same thing as I recall. I switched to LaBella 760N's and never saw a funky finger tip again.
 
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#8
^^^
A rounder tone with less zing than the phosphor bronze I would think. It
s been years since I made the transition. Some people say the bronze have a slight edge on the unplugged volume, but I never did an A/B.
IMO, acoustic volume is more in the string height and the players technique.
 
#12
ONYX said:
THESE used to be a major cause of green finger syndrome......
Click to expand...
You mean back in the day, when they weren't coated.
...And also today when the coating eventually wears off I suppose. It must create a 'nice' verdigris polka dot, or striped pattern. They must have inspired the recent La Bella varicoloured one-offs like the Game of Death set...
 
#13
Consider tapewounds? I admit to wild bias for the things, and several folks have reported ETB92's working well on ABGs.

I also suspect your alcohol routine is not helping, but doing the opposite - there's a bit of water in there, when you put it on the strings and wipe it off, you're leaving whatever penetrated the windings to corrode for next time. Even if you happen to be using "100%" (practically unfindable) alcohol, as soon as you open it (or apply it to your strings) with any humidity in the area, it's got water since it will pull it out of the air (which is one reason it's practically unfindable to buy in the first place.) Typical rubbing alcohol is 30% water, or there's a version that's only 9% when you first open the bottle which is a little harder to find, but not much. That will also gain more water over time once the bottle is opened. You might want to try a simple dry wipedown rather than adding liquid to the strings every session.
 
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#14
T_Bone_TL said:
Consider tapewounds? I admit to wild bias for the things, and several folks have reported ETB92's working well on ABGs.

I also suspect your alcohol routine is not helping, but doing the opposite - there's a bit of water in there, when you put it on the strings and wipe it off, you're leaving whatever penetrated the windings to corrode for next time. Even if you happen to be using "100%" (practically unfindable) alcohol, as soon as you open it (or apply it to your strings) with any humidity in the area, it's got water since it will pull it out of the air (which is one reason it's practically unfindable to buy in the first place.) Typical rubbing alcohol is 30% water, or there's a version that's only 9% when you first open the bottle which is a little harder to find, but not much. That will also gain more water over time once the bottle is opened. You might want to try a simple dry wipedown rather than adding liquid to the strings every session.
Click to expand...

All good points.

And alcohol will remove any protective oils used during manufacturing which also prevent oxidation.

The 'green' is copper oxide (iron oxide is red), and is what you get when there is no coating on the windings, outside or inside, and the strings are exposed to oxygen and humidity.

A soak in some very thin oil (like thinned gun oil), then wiped down well could possibly help,
or it may just make them very worn in/dead sounding- one way to find out.
 
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