what's in Fast Fret?

[bogus address]

I've never used Fast Fret but wondered if it might help the strings
of my cumbuses stay less gungy.

But there's nothing on the tin to state its composition. I have
allergic dermatitis and the fingerboard of a cumbus is made of
formica, which will react with different solvents than timber does,
so no way am I using the stuff until I know exactly what's in it.

Anybody?

========> Email to "j-c" at this site; email to "bogus" will bounce <========
Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/purrhome.html> food intolerance data & recipes,
Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files and CD-ROMs of Scottish music.

[David Kilpatrick]

Post by bogus address
I've never used Fast Fret but wondered if it might help the strings
of my cumbuses stay less gungy.
But there's nothing on the tin to state its composition. I have
allergic dermatitis and the fingerboard of a cumbus is made of
formica, which will react with different solvents than timber does,
so no way am I using the stuff until I know exactly what's in it.
Anybody?

Goo, I think. It evaporates anyway. My oldest fast fret is just a wodge
of dry fibre now. So I would guess it contains not much oil, more solvent.

DK

[Chris Beeson]

Post by bogus address
I've never used Fast Fret but wondered if it might help the strings
of my cumbuses stay less gungy.
But there's nothing on the tin to state its composition. I have
allergic dermatitis and the fingerboard of a cumbus is made of
formica, which will react with different solvents than timber does,
so no way am I using the stuff until I know exactly what's in it.

All I can find by Googling is that it doesn't contain silicone, and
won't harm guitar finishes - which probably means it's pretty safe
with most plastics too, since modern guitars use a fair bit of
plastic. FWIW, I use it on the top two (ie unwound) strings of an
Elixir set on my guitar, and it helps; but when I used it across the
full set of non-coated strings, I didn't like the feel.

Chris Beeson

[Pie4lidy]

greasy goblins.
x

[Hobgoblin Music Crawley]

Post by Pie4lidy
greasy goblins.
x

OI!!! you leave us Goblins out of it,anyway I wash me hair
everyday, have to the bloody length of it!!!! :-)

[Scouse]

Post by bogus address
I've never used Fast Fret but wondered if it might help the strings
of my cumbuses stay less gungy...

Hi, it always said on the old metal cans that it had trichloroethylene (the
stuff they used for dry cleaning fluid) in it and it certainly smelled like
it. These days it says nothing, neither does their web site but that does
have a contact button on it so give a whirl and ask them if it harms formica
fingers.

Good Luck

[Scouse]

Sorry its; http://www.ghsstrings.com/index3.htm

Post by Scouse

Post by bogus address
I've never used Fast Fret but wondered if it might help the strings
of my cumbuses stay less gungy...

Hi, it always said on the old metal cans that it had trichloroethylene (the
stuff they used for dry cleaning fluid) in it and it certainly smelled like
it. These days it says nothing, neither does their web site but that does
have a contact button on it so give a whirl and ask them if it harms formica
fingers.
Good Luck

[Phil Taylor]

Post by bogus address
I've never used Fast Fret but wondered if it might help the strings
of my cumbuses stay less gungy.
But there's nothing on the tin to state its composition. I have
allergic dermatitis and the fingerboard of a cumbus is made of
formica, which will react with different solvents than timber does,
so no way am I using the stuff until I know exactly what's in it.

Formica is extensively used for laboratory (and kitchen) worktops,
where it has long ago replaced teak. It's resistant to just about
all solvents, other than strong acids/bases/oxidising agents etc.
which you wouldn't want on your fingers anyway. Allergic dermatitis
is much less predictable, and tends to develop over a period of time,
usually as a result of contact with complex organic compounds such
as proteins or carbohydrates. (Skin reactions to metals or pure
organic solvents are unlikely to be allergic in origin.)

Try it and see.

Phil Taylor

[bogus address]

Post by bogus address
But there's nothing on the tin to state its composition. I have
allergic dermatitis and the fingerboard of a cumbus is made of
formica, which will react with different solvents than timber does,
so no way am I using the stuff until I know exactly what's in [Fast
Fret]

Formica is [...] resistant to just about all solvents, other than
strong acids/bases/oxidising agents etc. which you wouldn't want on
your fingers anyway. Allergic dermatitis is much less predictable,
and tends to develop over a period of time, usually as a result of
contact with complex organic compounds such as proteins or carbohydrates.
(Skin reactions to metals or pure organic solvents are unlikely to be
allergic in origin.)

Known triggers for my dermatitis are nickel, hot xerox toner and the
kidney fat of still-warm dead sheep. Nickel allergy is common; not
likely that Fast Fret would need to include it, though.

I was also wondering if I could make an equivalent myself if I knew
what the magic ingredients were.

========> Email to "j-c" at this site; email to "bogus" will bounce <========
Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/purrhome.html> food intolerance data & recipes,
Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files and CD-ROMs of Scottish music.

[Maggie Davey]

Post by bogus address

Post by bogus address
But there's nothing on the tin to state its composition. I have
allergic dermatitis and the fingerboard of a cumbus is made of
formica, which will react with different solvents than timber does,
so no way am I using the stuff until I know exactly what's in [Fast
Fret]

Formica is [...] resistant to just about all solvents, other than
strong acids/bases/oxidising agents etc. which you wouldn't want on
your fingers anyway. Allergic dermatitis is much less predictable,
and tends to develop over a period of time, usually as a result of
contact with complex organic compounds such as proteins or carbohydrates.
(Skin reactions to metals or pure organic solvents are unlikely to be
allergic in origin.)

Known triggers for my dermatitis are nickel, hot xerox toner and the
kidney fat of still-warm dead sheep. Nickel allergy is common; not
likely that Fast Fret would need to include it, though.

You could always do a patch test on yourself: dip a cotton bud in the
stuff, then dab it on your skin somewhere that it won't inconvenience
you too much if it reacts - the outside of the upper arm tends to be
pretty good. Then cover that spot with a plaster so it doesn't get
smeared around. Check the spot daily or every other day for the next
few days - I should think a week would be enough to know if you're
allergic to it.

I'm afraid to ask what you were doing with recently deceased sheep.


Maggie

[Dick Gaughan]

Post by bogus address
I was also wondering if I could make an equivalent myself if I knew
what the magic ingredients were.

You might get some mileage out of isopropyl alcohol on a lint-free
pad. Never tried it myself, the rate I go through strings.
Although Elixers have extended the period between string changes
by a factor of about 20.

[Chris Beeson]

Post by Dick Gaughan
Although Elixers have extended the period between string changes
by a factor of about 20.

Same here in general, but now the factor that leads to string
changes is 'rusty' unwound strings rather than dead wound ones.

Chris Beeson and the sweat from hell

[Ursula Noeker]

Post by bogus address
I've never used Fast Fret but wondered if it might help the strings
of my cumbuses stay less gungy.

Beg your pardon, but would you be so kind as to enlighten a non-native
speaker about the meaning of 'cumbus'? I looked it up in all kinds of
internet dictionaries and didn't find it. (Yes, I got as much that it is
something with strings on...) <G>

U. Noeker

[bogus address]

Post by Ursula Noeker

Post by bogus address
I've never used Fast Fret but wondered if it might help the strings
of my cumbuses stay less gungy.

Beg your pardon, but would you be so kind as to enlighten a non-native
speaker about the meaning of 'cumbus'? I looked it up in all kinds of
internet dictionaries and didn't find it. (Yes, I got as much that it
is something with strings on...) <G>

Can't do it in ASCII. It's a Turkish instrument invented in the 1920s;
spelt c - u-umlaut - m - b - u-umlaut - s-cedilla, pronounced "joomboosh"
only the "oo" sound is frontal, as in French "lune" (it's the one sound
in Turkish you don't get any close equivalent for in Scots or English).
Historically, it was developed to be a louder version of the ud for
playing in dancebands.

It's strung like a twelve-string guitar (courses are unison pairs),
has a fretless fingerboard made of Formica (you do get wooden ones
but that's not traditional), banjo membrane, big spun-aluminium body
like a rice steamer. Tunings vary but the higher strings are always
in fourths and there is usually a wholetone step somewhere: I keep
one of mine in <A, B, E A d g> at the moment (or a semitone higher)
and the other in <A, D E A d g> - I think one of other of these is
what I hear on Kurdish recordings. It has a feature unique among
stringed instruments: the attachment of the neck to the body is
hinged with an adjustable screw so you can change the height of the
action.

The sound is somewhere between a loud banjo and a (real) Celtic harp.
Being fretless, it's used purely as a melodic instrument; as I can't
play it very fast, and because of its long sustain, I generally use
it in a group to play a simplified version of the tune, adding more
weight to the downbeats. It packs a surprisingly heavy sound in a
small package (particularly the small school model I use most often).

In Turkey, it has much the same social connotations as the banjo in
the US; i.e. if you play it you're supposed to be a nicotine-stained
alcoholic drifter from a despised ethnic minority and have a long
record of unsuccessful petty crime.

Not really designed for Scottish music, but then we got the fiddle
from the Italians, the bagpipes from the English, the harp from the
Irish, the guitar from the Spanish, the flute from the Germans and
the accordion from hell, so why not another one?

========> Email to "j-c" at this site; email to "bogus" will bounce <========
Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/purrhome.html> food intolerance data & recipes,
Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files and CD-ROMs of Scottish music.

[Paul Burke]

Not really designed for Scottish music, but then we got the ...
bagpipes from the English...

I'll ask Grattan Flood to have a word with you on that.

Paul Burke

[Dick Gaughan]

Post by bogus address
the harp from the
Irish

Not proven. To my knowledge, the earliest known evidence for the
triangular harp is among the Scots Picts. Same with knotwork,
which the Irish also claim.

Some also claimed that "Shoals of Herring" and "No Man's Land" are
traditional Irish songs.

BTW, did you see the article in the Independent last weekend
wherein an Afro-American musicologist puts forward the idea that
Gospel music has its origins in Gaelic psalm-singing? His
arguments for that are pretty interesting, as was his concluding
remark that "Afro-American" music should rightly be called
"Afro-Gaelic".

Also interesting was his comment that, especially in the
Carolinas, many of the black slaves only spoke Gaelic which they'd
learned from their "indentured servant" overseers. Never
considered that before but it does make a hell of a lot of sense.

[Paul Burke]

Post by Dick Gaughan
BTW, did you see the article in the Independent last weekend
wherein an Afro-American musicologist puts forward the idea that
Gospel music has its origins in Gaelic psalm-singing? His
arguments for that are pretty interesting, as was his concluding
remark that "Afro-American" music should rightly be called
"Afro-Gaelic".

But Gospel singing is nothing like metrical psalms... perhaps it's
derived from the precursor, imperial psalms?

Paul Burke

[Dick Gaughan]

Post by Paul Burke
But Gospel singing is nothing like metrical psalms...

Neither is Gaelic psalm singing :)

[Ursula Noeker]

Post by bogus address

Post by Ursula Noeker

Post by bogus address
I've never used Fast Fret but wondered if it might help the strings
of my cumbuses stay less gungy.

Beg your pardon, but would you be so kind as to enlighten a non-native
speaker about the meaning of 'cumbus'? I looked it up in all kinds of
internet dictionaries and didn't find it. (Yes, I got as much that it
is something with strings on...) <G>

Can't do it in ASCII. It's a Turkish instrument invented in the 1920s;

Thank you, that was very enlightning. Now that you mention it, I think I
have probably heard it already (there has been a time in my life when I
tried belly-dancing, and the music stays somewhat in your head...) Plus, we
have a large ethnic minority of Turkish people here in Germany, so you get
in contact with that music by just listening to some cars going by - along
with a lot of other more or less exotic styles of music. Techno, or Hip-Hop.
<G>

U. Noeker