Rotosound Ultramag. Never-ending cleaning; they always leave a black trace at the rag

[Piing]

I've been using D'Addario NYXL for many years, and before that I used XL.

I had a pack of Rotosound Ultramag that I received as a gift, and today I've decided to use it.

I always clean the strings after every use with Dunlop Ultraglide. I am surprised to see that no matter how much I clean the Rotosound, they always leave a black trace at the rag, even though the strings are clean.

The picture below shows the rag passed over and over through the 3rd string. It is always black on each pass. However, with the D'Addario NYXL the rag is a little bit grey on the first pass, and clean on consecutive passes.

Could that be magnetic powder or some kind of coating? It says that they have "Higher magnetic content for more Power, Volume and Sustain"

 

[pauly]

First thing I thought was 'aluminium?' ... Looking it up, I'm not sure .1 $ ally would cause that.

https://www.alloywire-au.com/alloys/nilo-52/

Thanks
Pauly

 

[Axelman8]

First thing I thought was 'aluminium?' ... Looking it up, I'm not sure .1 $ ally would cause that.

https://www.alloywire-au.com/alloys/nilo-52/

Thanks
Pauly

Probably not... Aluminium is not magnetic right?

 

[pauly]

HI @Axelman8 ,

Correct it's not - However the alloy these strings are made of contains .1% ally - Ally is a filthy material, and if you rub a raw piece of aluminium with a rag, it'll look just like the black marks on the rag that @Piing showed. Only thing is, I'm not sure if .1% would be enough to show such filth!
Thanks
Pauly

Probably not... Aluminium is not magnetic right?

 

[scottp]

I've been using D'Addario NYXL for many years, and before that I used XL.

I had a pack of Rotosound Ultramag that I received as a gift, and today I've decided to use it.

I always clean the strings after every use with Dunlop Ultraglide. I am surprised to see that no matter how much I clean the Rotosound, they always leave a black trace at the rag, even though the strings are clean.

The picture below shows the rag passed over and over through the 3rd string. It is always black on each pass. However, with the D'Addario NYXL the rag is a little bit grey on the first pass, and clean on consecutive passes.

Could that be magnetic powder or some kind of coating? It says that they have "Higher magnetic content for more Power, Volume and Sustain"

View attachment 103964

I do the same cleaning on the strings you do. When they first go on, and typically before or after each time I play.
I usually get a little black mark from each unwound string just the first time.
My son has extremely acidic sweat. If I don't wipe the strings right after he plays ANY of my guitars, the strings go bad quickly.
I use the wipe on Fast Frets.

I use it a couple ways. Wipe on, as you wipe it off it cleans the strings. I use a small PRS micro fiber cloth, works great!
Then one very light pass over the strings before I play.
That along with SS frets = Super smooth playability!