Boiling/cleaning DR Neon strings?

[Electricblue]

My pink DR Neons are getting a bit dead now (fitted them a few months back) so would it be ok to boil them? I'm just worried about the coating.

Would the strings sound brighter if I stripped the coating off altogether? I'd rather not do that, but there we go.

The coating is scratched off at the picking area of most strings, would water get under the coating here?

Any experience/advice is welcome

Thanks.

[96tbird]

Never boil any strings. This ridiculous practice has gone by the wayside. Water and steel = corrosion. Here is the correct way to revive strings, although you will have to test DR coated strings to see if the alcohol has any effect on them. My guess is that they will be fine, alcohol is generally safe on modern coatings which K3 likely is. But some DENATURED ALCOHOLS may contain Acetone which likely will damage the coating. Denatured alcohol is basically moonshine with and additive that makes it undrinkable, unless you yearn for death. The Bass String Cleaning Tube

[Electricblue]

Originally Posted by 96tbird

Never boil any strings. This ridiculous practice has gone by the wayside. Water and steel = corrosion. Here is the correct way to revive strings, although you will have to test DR coated strings to see if the alcohol has any effect on them. My guess is that they will be fine, alcohol is generally safe on modern coatings which K3 likely is. But some DENATURED ALCOHOLS may contain Acetone which likely will damage the coating. Denatured alcohol is basically moonshine with and additive that makes it undrinkable, unless you yearn for death. The Bass String Cleaning Tube

I boiled my old uncoated strings, they were fine. I dried them very thoroughly.

I'm guessing Acetone is nailvarnish remover, so I understand that would screw things up. Is there anything in this list that would do the job? I have them laying around:

WD-40
White Spirit
Methylated Spirit (the purple sort)
Vodka (please not, I could use it elsewhere )
Petrol
Model car fuel
Bleach

Thanks again

[maxgrant]

Buy new strings.

A set of DRs can be had for the cost of a tank of gas, often less.

And the strings last longer.

[96tbird]

Methylated spirit IS denatured alcohol. Look boiling strings has worked in the past but think; unless you use distilled water there is going to be dissolved minerals in the water that will get deposited in the nooks and crannies, not to mention chlorine which is acidic. Soaking in alcohol leaves no residue and is effective in suspending salts, dirt and dead skin cells trapped in the winding.

Vodka is not a good choice as it is generally 60% water and as you have said there are other more practical uses for it. LOL.

Edit: Methylated spirit may be safe as it's name suggests that Methyl alcohol (wood alcohol) has been used to "denature" it. It likely has no aceteone in it. Denatured alcohol can be "denatured" by adding a multitude of contaminants: petrol, acetone, other poisonous alcohols.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

I would not advise "cleaning" any kind of coated string.

There is a guy on here who I remember seeing he did the alcohol thing with neons... the coating ended up gummy or something...

here is thread:
DR Neons and de-natured alcohol

[96tbird]

There you have it! But as I said, which compound is used to denature the booze may play a part. YMMV. test before use.

[mmbongo]

I'd like to meet the person that first came up with the idea to boil strings, so I could kick him square in the nuts.

[96tbird]

Originally Posted by mmbongo

I'd like to meet the person that first came up with the idea to boil strings, so I could kick him square in the nuts.

Now that's sig worthy!

BTW love your Rush caricature! 'Specially Geddy.

[TeeAre]

Originally Posted by 96tbird

Never boil any strings. This ridiculous practice has gone by the wayside. Water and steel = corrosion. Here is the correct way to revive strings, although you will have to test DR coated strings to see if the alcohol has any effect on them. My guess is that they will be fine, alcohol is generally safe on modern coatings which K3 likely is. But some DENATURED ALCOHOLS may contain Acetone which likely will damage the coating. Denatured alcohol is basically moonshine with and additive that makes it undrinkable, unless you yearn for death. The Bass String Cleaning Tube

Thanks for the awesome link! Definitely going to try this when I get the time for a project.

Also, I like step 6: " keep it away from kids (and drummers)!"

[mmbongo]

Originally Posted by 96tbird

Now that's sig worthy!

BTW love your Rush caricature! 'Specially Geddy.

lol!

Yeah I found that graphic on the internet somewhere and loved it too! It's hilarious!

[darkstorm]

Never could understand the preocupation of some with saving a few bucks by boiling strings. Which is a bad practice anyway. Even if you change dr strings every 4 months, its not that expensive a thing to do as part of basic instrument maintanance. I like mmbongos idea of hard kick to the peeps that started the boil strings practice.

[96tbird]

Yes, back when I was 15 I though I was to make soup with the broth. Needless to say the soup tasted shite AND the strings were no better off after about a day. Hungry on both accounts.

[totallyfrozen]

Originally Posted by mmbongo

I'd like to meet the person that first came up with the idea to boil strings, so I could kick him square in the nuts.

Eddie Van Halen spread this ridiculous idea back in the 80's. I'm convinced that he did this as a practical joke on all the metalheads who worshipped him and tried to imitate everything he did.

[Eight_Stringer]

Bebunked boiling strings in 1976, what a load of rubbish that notion was. These days, a mixture of Eucalyptus oil and water as a soaking medium has merit. Blow dried afterwards ( not touching that ). Even straight ( not gay ) Eucalyptus oil on hand oil contaminated/stained strings brings about a worthwhile improvement in visual condition if not obvious outright sound improvement. Bought many used basses in recent times with mangey strings brought back to acceptable playing condition with neat ( neat and gay is often the case ) Eucalyptus oil. HTH

[mmbongo]

Originally Posted by totallyfrozen

Eddie Van Halen spread this ridiculous idea back in the 80's. I'm convinced that he did this as a practical joke on all the metalheads who worshipped him and tried to imitate everything he did.

This I believe!

[Gyver]

I boiled strings once 20 years ago because this is what I heard people did. It was obvious afterwards that it was a waste of time and I never did it again.