Tips for Cleaning the Upright Bass Guitar

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m Branson Garner, and on behalf of expertvillage.com, we’re going to be talking about, in this segment, maintenance and cleaning of the upright bass. Now cleaning the upright bass, there are really 2 reasons why you would do that. First, of course, is to make it look nice. If you are out gigging and everything like that, you do not want to have an old bass that looks like it is all dirty and everything. Second, is mainly the most important reason, is for tone and for the sound. For instance, if you were to look at this fingerboard up close, you can see a lot of dirt and grime leftover from fingers playing on it and from the strings rubbing back and forth and everything like that. So we’re going to be showing how to clean it. First thing is to clean the fingerboard. We have a regular dish rag or something like that. Make sure that it’s a little rough. It can’t be too smooth or it will not be able to take off that stuff. So you just take it and I have a little thing right back here, my trusty Pledge. Spray a little on there and move the strings aside. Rub it pretty hard so you can get all that stuff off. Alright, all done. As you can see, I just cleaned my fingerboard actually just a couple of weeks ago and you can imagine how much dirt and oil gets build up in there. You should clean your fingerboard every…I usually clean it maybe every 3-4 weeks or so, just to make sure that it does not limit the tone on the strings. Along with cleaning the fingerboard, the body, also if it gets dusty and everything like that, not only does it not look as good, but it does inhibit the tone. Take your same rag, fold it over of course, take your trusty Pledge, spray a little on there and just wipe away. Alright, so as you finish make sure you get all the scroll up here as well, that can get pretty dusty up there. As you finish, you know wipe it all down. Some bass players like to put some oil or anything like that. I do that occasionally as well, just not this time, because I just recently did it. That gives a nice shine and everything; it makes the wood last longer. Also on the fingerboard, some bass players also like to use steel wool or those green dish washing scouring pads to get if off, but I find you know a rag just works as well. That is the cleaning of the upright bass."