"I’ve been told cotton cloth is not a good material to clean strings with"

You were told wrong, brother. 

Get a small piece of cotton cloth with a flat weave, not a nappy surface like flannel (or micro-fiber).  Cotton t-shirt material works well, as does something like cotton pillow-case material.

And get rid of that blanket-size rag -- save it for polishing the Bentley.  For strings, just need a small square, maybe 6x6"  or so.  Just wipe the strings one at a time, between the nut and the bridge, using your thumb and index finger.

I didn't know I was suppose to wipe/clean my strings. How often should I clean my strings?

YMMV
Heavythumb

You can get a microfiber swatch that you clean your glasses with and use that to clean your strings. No sluffing off of lint or anything like that. It is washable, and completely reusable. You can also buy microfiber cleaning cloth for instruments (or your used to be able to do so). I have one that I use for my instruments and there's no residue on the strings. It's been washed a dozen times and still does a good job.

Check one out here:  https://www.elderly.com/products/d-addario-micro-fiber-polish-cloth?variant=26854363660352

It's a banjo. You can't actually harm it if some cotton fibers get on it or the strings. Wipe your strings down with whatever you have and don't overthink everything regarding the banjo.

Bobby

eye glass cleaner cloth or (moleskin) is great for cleaning strings... but cotton works fine too

I'd recommend taking your banjo outside and blast the strings with a garden hose for about five minutes. If you live in Tucson then leave your banjo in the direct sunlight for about three hours. If you are more northern and cooler, you can leave your banjo about 6 inches or so from a radiant heater, again. another 3 hours. Either way I guarantee you won't have to worry about debris on your banjo strings, promise! banjered

My first thought was that you use barbed wire for banjo strings. My next thought was that if you alternate rag colors you could theme those clump colors to match your favorite sports team, patriotic, etc.

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Originally posted by heavythumb

I didn't know I was suppose to wipe/clean my strings. How often should I clean my strings?

YMMV
Heavythumb

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In the fall when they change back from daylight savings time to standard time and you got that extra hour to kill at 2:00am.

Two ends of the spectrum on the Banjo Hangout:

One end:  Chart bridge weights down to a hundredth of a gram.

Other end:  Throw their banjo in the back of the pickup without a case, and scorn others who don't.

I did enjoy the "lint to match your favorite sports team" observation.  

Follow the advice Alex gave you. Whoever told you cotton was not good for your strings has used the wrong kind of cotton cloth. I have wiped down my strings with a piece of old tee shirt for fifty years.
I used to be a janitor, and I despise using Microfiber on anything. It's not the fix-all that some scientist thought it was. When the University of Kentucky went to using microfiber cleaning products, it took us a lot longer to do the same job than it did with our old cotton rags.

Cleaning the strings before you put your banjo back in the case after playing is a good idea, but I think you're overthinking the process. You only need to clean the portion of the string between the bridge and the nut, and you don't need to use a microfiber cloth. It shouldn't take more than 30 seconds.

Repeating what others are saying: way too much nap in that towel you're using. Should be none.

In one of my cases I still have a terry cloth towel I bought at an auto parts store decades ago. But mostly I've switched to flat, lint-free, microfiber cloths. Got a few in package deal with Gibson guitar polish: the scented liquid in a pump bottle. That and Smith Pro Formula are all I've used the past 25 or 30 years.

As Mark says, cotton T-shirt is good, too. Besides cutting up old shirts when I have any, I actually keep a box or bag of store-bought cotton T-shirt rags in our work room.

With perseverance -- and maybe a toothpick, tweezers or plastic knife -- you can get the towel fuzz off the strings.

"I didn't know I was suppose to wipe/clean my strings. How often should I clean my strings?"
 

Player's choice.  The effect is that the strings will last longer if you give them a quick wipe after a playing session (and I mean 15 seconds with a tiny cloth, not like brushing down a lathered horse).  How much longer depends on the player's skin chemistry, how much they play, and how sensitive their ears are to the changing sound of the strings.

Just for example, if I play half hour a day and wipe the strings, they'll last  about 30 days before I start hearing reduced response and some tuning difficulty.  Without wiping maybe half that -- for me.

I know, I know.  Someone will say that they've had strings on for 2-1/2 years, and they don't hear or feel any difference.  Good for them.

Thanks for all the responses. Didn’t think I was going to get any really. Good to know humor is still alive and well too. Love it!

Good helpful info. Glad I posted this. Marking RESOLVED.

I use a glasses lens cleaner. They're free from the glasses shop and lots of other places too. They don't leave any fibers behind.

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Originally posted by Anthony S

Thanks for all the responses. Didn’t think I was going to get any really. Good to know humor is still alive and well too. Love it!

Good helpful info. Glad I posted this. Marking RESOLVED.

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It can't possibly be resolved when nobody has addressed the issue of wiping/not wiping Nylgut strings!  And what about gut strings?  

C'mon guys, this rabbit hole is a lot deeper than it looks!

Anthony S,

You're in good company doing what you're doing. I learned this a long time ago by watching Tony Rice. When he was playing with J.D. Crowe at the Red Slipper Lounge in Lexington, KY, he would wipe off his strings with a rag after every set.

Wiping down the strings depends in large part on your skin chemistry. Some people have sweaty/oily hands. Anything they touch gets damp. Others tend to have dry hands and leave no dampness.

In general, it's a good idea, as others have already said, to give your strings a quick swipe. I have old t shirts, and purpose-made instrument polishing cloths that have a brand name printed on them like "Gibson", etc. They tend to be very soft and cushiony, but don't leave lint. They're in all instruments stores. Often yellow-colored.

If your strings have real crispy crud on them, the best thing to clean them with (if you can't change them for whatever reason) is a good ol' US greenback dollar bill. Put a fold in the bill and drag that up and down the string, rotating the bill so it rubs all around the string. If you hear the string SQUEAL you know it needed cleaning. The paper in a dollar bill is very strong (it's mostly cloth fibers, not tree fibers) and has a slight abrasive quality. All us OLD guys used to know how to clean plugs and points with a folded dollar bill in a pinch.

If you can see darkening on the surface of the string, it's reacting to your skin chemistry and needs cleaning.

I knew a guy 50 years ago who played a 1939 Martin herringbone D 28. He was too cheap to buy strings, so he would take his strings off and soak them in a saucepan of lighter fluid (no heat!). If he was in a hurry, he'd encase the guitar in a black plastic garbage bag and wipe down the strings with a rag soaked in lighter fluid. He used to say he heard this lighter fluid advice from Doc Watson. I don't advise this.

If you really feel obsessive, wipe the strings down individually with ammonia on a piece of cotton rag.

What really works for me is a bit of (paper) kitchen towel (from the roll).

Folding under the string, so the string is covered all around then moving it between nut and bridge.

Sometimes wetting with some isopropylic (rubbing) alcohol.

Of course taking extreme care not to touch any bare wood or finished parts. I wouldn't want destroying the finish of my old Gibson.

I'll leave that to the jaws of  time....

quote:Originally posted by The Old Timer

Wiping down the strings depends in large part on your skin chemistry. Some people have sweaty/oily hands. Anything they touch gets damp. Others tend to have dry hands and leave no dampness.

This.

My fingers turn black after playing, so I wipe down both my banjo and guitar after each session. I bought a few instrument microfiber wipes 12 years ago, and I always leave one in my gig bag.
I clean my fretboard with F-One a couple times a year, and that’s when I use an old tee shirt.

Of course, recent info on microfibres is that micro bits slough off and end up inside various animals, causing serious problems. This is especially concerning with all the microfibre clothing that's out now.