A little tip of advice on the cleaner area, definitly purchase some CLean and DUll, the best cleaner on the market period, but it is a deep cleaner and I don't use it after every night, about every ten games on a ball or so. A good cleaner to use after every night until you reach your certain amount of games you bowl with it before giving it a dep clean with say Clean and DUll, or Tacky, which those 2 are the exact same thing, just diefferent names. I would get some Legends/Lanemasters High performance cleaner, The best stuff I have found out there for all perpose cleaner, way better than ebonite powerhouse, thats what I used for a long while and regret it. ANother that I haven't used yet but I have heard many say cna hang with Lanemasters cleaner is Black Magic Rejuvenator. Trust me don't get the Ebonite stuff, it is a waste of money, Since I still have a big bottle of it, I just put some in a little bottle and use it like while I am practicing after a game or two just to clean my ball off a little.
As for the hot water bath, like what Strapper squared said, whenever you notice a loss in reaction, it works wonders. Peace
--------------------
I thought my Hammers hit hard, until I whipped a LM/L ball into the pocket. WOW!