Best string cleaner?

[skiboyny]

There are classical players who swear by boiling their strings...

On the acoustic forum I used to frequent the consensus seemed to be that things like Fast Fret only promoted the build-up of gunk inside the string, and I can see why.

I use to do that years ago it does work. No better than Alcohol. Lots of work taking them all off.

[Cunamara]

I have never used any kind of string cleaner or lubricant in 45 years of playing guitar. Maybe I've been missing out on something, but it doesn't seem like it. I'm also slightly concerned that manufactures are very non-specific about what's in their product; in most cases, it's probably something pretty simple like diluted mineral oil in a carrier tht evaporates. On the other hand, these things might contain PFAS or something like that.

if I was going to use anything, it would probably be isopropyl alcohol since that evaporates completely.

[GuyBoden]

Personally, I wouldn't use any alcohol string cleaner near a guitar finish or neck binding.

Fast fret etc, which are mainly mineral oil, dulls the sound of strings, but the strings do last longer. Baby oil, which is mineral oil, works the same, but has a strong smell.