Boiled my Strings

[bassplayeroreo]

Well I had a day off, and me and my friend felt like doing something stupid. I once heard that Jaco used to put his strings in boiling water to keep them clean. Well it sounded like fun, so I did it! Great results! I put my eight month old flatwounds in, and they're actually much cleaner! There was dirt (quite a large amount of it) on the bottom of the pot! Would Roundwounds rust if I put them in boiling water? Or does the type of material matter?

[FenderGibson]

Originally Posted by bassplayeroreo

Well I had a day off, and me and my friend felt like doing something stupid. I once heard that Jaco used to put his strings in boiling water to keep them clean. Well it sounded like fun, so I did it! Great results! I put my eight month old flatwounds in, and they're actually much cleaner! There was dirt (quite a large amount of it) on the bottom of the pot! Would Roundwounds rust if I put them in boiling water? Or does the type of material matter?

They don't rust so it is ok to boil them. Just make sure you put them on the way they were before.

[eddievanbassman]

Eddie Van Halen used to boil his strings.

[ronniequeue]

I use this technique to liven up my rotosound rounds from time to time. Works great.

[ajunea3]

It also helps to add a little soap to the boiling water. It does a really good job of getting the oil and grease out of them.

[jmattbassplaya]

Add some salt too. It`ll help pull more stuff as well.

[Rich L]

I boil mine before spending $ on a new set. Definitely gives them new life, for a little while anyway.

[ctufankjian]

I've been boiling my strings for years. If you put some vinegar up in the mix you'll be pleased with the results (not the smell though)

[thndrstk6]

I soak my strings in denatured alcohol for about 10 hours or so and then wipe them off.
The come out just like new and you don't have to worry about rusting. Be careful with the
denatured alcohol though. It's nasty stuff.

I just fill a large jar up half way or so with the denatured alcohol and twist up the strings
so they fit in it. I shake the jar every hour or so to keep the cleaning process going. Then
when I take them out I use a rag to wipe them off. After they air dry I wipe them down
again so they don't have any residue left.

I've done this 3 or 4 times to one set of strings and they have lasted me several months.
They still sound like new. Give it a try.

[jefwho]

I also like to add some carrots and potatoes.

Seriously tho Ive boiled rounds with no ill effects in the past.

[iridiumrocks]

I read an article once that said to boil your strings and add a small amount of vinegar. The vinegar acts as a solvent to clean the build-up of oil and dirt on the strings. It does work great to restore life to dead roundwounds. However, it's a mixed blessing since boiling vinegar is not exactly an air freshener.

[ctufankjian]

Originally Posted by jefwho

I also like to add some carrots and potatoes.

Seriously tho Ive boiled rounds with no ill effects in the past.

seriously, I've boiled rounds with carrots and potatoes, and had no ill effects in the past.

[IbanezATK]

I've boiled strings before, both guitar and bass. Sucks being poor!

[JimmyM]

I tried vinegar before, and it sucked all the life right out of my strings permanently. The best thing I've found to use is Dawn dishwashing liquid (nothing cuts grease like Dawn). But really, the best thing to do is use denatured alcohol and soak them for a few days. That way the heat doesn't stress them and they're less prone to breakage.

[CrashClint]

use Denatured Alcohol, it evaporates quickly without leaving residue.

Water can cause the center core to rust, you will want to use a hair dryer to dry them or some other means to dry them quickly.

[Ric5]

I used to boil my Rotosounds back in the 70s when $25 for a set of strings was a lot. The boiling would bring a little life back into them. As per rust the only time I ever saw rusty strings was when I bought a 1968 4001 in 1973 and it had the black vinyl tape wound strings on it and under the tape there was a rusted round wound string.

[Billy K]

microwave them dry.LOL

[El Bajo]

Never done it but going to as I have a few mismatched strings, My B string is newer that the others and the others are dying. I want to boil the others to catch up with the B string if that makes sense.

I find giving them a damn good rub down with a cloth also works in the short term aswell.

[Eric Swaim]

I used to boil my strings in college for short time period when I wanted the nice new sound and didn't have enough money to buy a new set strings. I used to leave them in for about 3 minutes. I found out if I left them in for a longer time period they would lose their brightness I was looking for.

I believe the original idea of boiling strings comes from the strings stretching out before putting them on a bass or guitar, especially if you are using a guitar with a tremelo system.

[Ablebasser]

I've been doing this for several years and always wondered how long everyone else leaves them in for, I always leave them for about 25 minutes and haven't seen any adverse effects.