Boiling your Bass Strings: bringing it back for 2013

[jpeck02]

"Otherwise, please, if you're gonna do it, do it. Boil the bass with tension on the strings."

Brilliant. I am going to try this and report back later.

[maurilio]

WOW!

After all this time/years we are still arguing about boiling vs soaking with DA and there's still people arguing?

I wonder if some of you guys have ever tried to use DA.
I did try the boiling "secret formula" way back when…. well… I was young, and found it out useless. Strings don't sound much better than before and the minimal "improvement" last one gig!

I've been "washing" my strings with DA for years, now and it is the only method (that I personally know/heard off) that works.
The strings are not gonna be like "brand new" but they feel like a new set installed after few hours of playing, a new set "broken in".

remember that any of these methods should not be used more than two/three times. After that the strings weaken and for those who use a very low string action, the strings get dented by the frets ending up buzzing here and there.

Another note, for those that think there's a mechanical strain to the strings, Most of the manufacturers wind the strings under tension. In these years I have never felt/heard/perceived any variation in sound/tension due to the strings being installed-taken off-soaked-reinstalled etc
(sorry for my poor english, which is not my first language and not even my second one).

Anyway, as always this is IME/O

M

[sysmibmip]

Originally Posted by spaz21387

boiling it useless... It seems to weaken them and the cores break.

Out of curiosity I boiled a set of 4 month old Ernie Ball Nickel plated Super Slinkies. Went quite bright for a few days then back to normal in a flash. The G string snapped after another 4 or so months.

Just skip a meal or two and treat yourself to a new pack

[Themthafqnman]

I have been boiling my strings for a few years now, they always come out all new and stuff lol.

[thunderstation]

I've boiled mine & have used d'alcohol.- for me both work, the alcohol is a lot less bother.
Boiling them makes them sound good for a couple days then they seem to revert back. I justify it with knowing that at leat the dirt/salt has been washed away.

[rodl2005]

I use the alkyhole method & as long as I only leave em in for 24hrs, I can repeatedly do a set. Ther come up like new probly 3 or 4 times. After this many cleans, I chuck em.
I would've saved hundreds of $$
Rounds mainly, coated & un-coated & sometimes flats too.

[kurosawa]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

The cooked human wastes cook out of the strings, but they definitely don't return to brand-new status. And assuming that they didn't, is cooked human wastes any worse than raw and fermenting human wastes?

VINTAGE human wastes, dude.

[kurosawa]

Originally Posted by Nev375

You do realize, that people only boiled strings because they were dead and otherwise heading for the trash can. The purpose is to squeeze just a few more days of brightness until a new set could be found or afforded.

It's not as if they are taking a freshnew set and trying to improve upon them by some kind of reverse-jerry rigged anti-cryogenic process.

Of course doing this is bad for the strings health, but it's already dead you see?

First time I did chest compressions, the tech who was talking me through it said "LEAN into it! What are ya worried that you're gonna screw up? She's already DEAD, man!"

[F-Clef-Jef]

I've been using the DA PVC-tube method for many years. It doesn't return the strings to "new", but I think that brand new strings are too bright anyway. I change my strings before every gig (I'm currently only playing 3-4 gigs a month), but I absolutely hate dead strings! I have my PVC tube sitting at the bottom of the basement step and I give it a little shake every time I go by on my way to the laundry (I have 3 teenagers, I do a lot of laundry!). I don't let the strings get to the point of being totally dead, gunked up and gross. I rotate 5 or 6 sets (and always have one or two sets in the tube soaking) between my 3 "working" basses, so they always have "fresh" strings on them for gigs. I haven't broken a string in many, many years, so I don't believe the DA has any detrimental effect on them. Probably the biggest threat to their health is the stretching and contracting of stringing them up and removing them repeatedly. (That said, I have a few sets of Steinberger double ball strings that are probably close to 20 years old, and they still sound pretty good!)

This way, my strings are always "semi-bright" (just how I like it!) and my tone is consistent from gig to gig, not going from completely dead strings one gig to bright snappy strings the next.

[F-Clef-Jef]

Originally Posted by BassCommander

To the people saying that heat around boiling doesn't do anything to steel, you must not be familiar with how steel is hardened. As low as 350 degrees is used for tempering razors. And how fast you cool it also has an effect. So after repeatedly doing it, it will have an effect. Although the effect could be positive.

Even though I slept through most of my metallurgy classes, this info is pretty easy to find (it also helps if the guy in the next cubical is a metallurgist!)

Boiling in water isn't getting anywhere near having an effect on the molecular structure.

[OzzyGreg]

.
I have been boiling strings for years. It works for me.
I usually do it 4 or 5 times each set before I buy new strings for the sake of it.

I'll try the alcohol rub thing one of these days I guess, when I remember to buy some.

In reference to roundwound strings and the wiping method: Isn't it the gunk between each winding that we need to clear here?
How is wiping along the string going to get right down in there?
Wouldn't wipes just slide across the tops, maybe reaching down into the voids a little, but certainly not right in to them?
Surely they need to be cleaned across the string (somehow!) to clear those voids?

[johnson79]

What about boiling the entire bass? Anyone try that?

[Luckydog]

Originally Posted by kurosawa

Um.

1. You put new strings on the bass.

2. You tune them up. That means stretching them out.

3. The wire used for the outer wrap doesn't grow in diameter, so

4. when you stretch them, you are creating gaps in the wrap.

5. You play, squeezing dead skin, sweat, and oils into those gaps.

6. You take the string off, closing the gaps with the gunk trapped in the string.

7. You boil the string or wash it or whatever.

8. You now have COOKED human wastes trapped in your string.

9. If you believe strings containing cooked human wastes are as good as new, TB protocol requires I demand you post MP3s.

Otherwise, please, if you're gonna do it, do it. Boil the bass with tension on the strings.

(PS--Tune all the strings up an octave just to be sure. Heat expands metal and you don't want the gaps closing while the bass is boiling.)

(PPS--Your savings will be reduced by the cost of a can of WD-40, however your braggin' rights will be enhanced.)

(PPPS--This works for double basses, too, the strings being horribly expensive, but your savings will be reduced by the cost of glue and clamps.)

I was with you until this part-

"You take the string off, closing the gaps with the gunk trapped in the string."

My experience has been that when a string is tuned to pitch, it stretches, and that the longer the string stays tuned, it will retain much of that newly stretched geometry. This is proven to me after restringing previously used strings. They simply do not need continuous retuning...they are not stretching much at all. So I dont believe your assertion that removing the strings will somehow mechanically trap the gunk in the windings.

Also, DA is very capable of passing through the extremely narrow gaps in windings, reaching the core. It will dissolve much of the gunk. Vibration will mechanically assist the separation of the gunk from the strings and also reducing clumps of it into suspension.

I don't use the boiling water method. Simply too complicated and messy. PVC tube with DA sitting by the door. Every time I pass through I shake the tube for a few seconds. Two days and theyre done. Let them air dry for few hours and theyre ready to go.

If you are leaving chunks of skin on your strings that are incapable of being removed by a DA wash with agitation, then I suggest you see a doctor, because you've got a more serious problem than most people!

[placedesjardins]

Well, either way boiling water or denatured alcohol is to clean off human oils, grime, dirt, etc. from the strings' surface. The metal of the strings isn't altered. The improvement of the strings' feel is from the removal of gunk. So if the metal has been worn out from general use and stretching, cleaning can only do so much.

[Kmonk]

I have never understood the point of boiling strings. It seems like it would be faster and easier to just put new strings on the bass.

[Floyd Eye]

Originally Posted by Kmonk

I have never understood the point of boiling strings. It seems like it would be faster and easier to just put new strings on the bass.

Exactly.

[Art Araya]

Originally Posted by Kmonk

I have never understood the point of boiling strings. It seems like it would be faster and easier to just put new strings on the bass.

1) I like the sound of new strings

2) My hands are very corrosive to strings. They lose their new sound VERY quickly.

3) Buying a new set every two weeks (something I used to do) gets very expensive.

I now have two sets of strings, while I'm playing one set the other is soaking in DA. Every week I swap. This works for many many months.

I wish I had found out about this eons ago.

[Floyd Eye]

Originally Posted by Art Araya

1) I like the sound of new strings

2) My hands are very corrosive to strings. They lose their new sound VERY quickly.

3) Buying a new set every two weeks (something I used to do) gets very expensive.

I now have two sets of strings, while I'm playing one set the other is soaking in DA. Every week I swap. This works for many many months.

I wish I had found out about this eons ago.

I have soaked strings in DA. It helps. They do NOT sound like new strings though. I like new strings too. That's why I buy Rotos and Blue Steels in bulk. I understand that this might be tough for a guy who doesn't gig, but if you are a gigging bass player, it seems to me that one gig should easily cover strings for 6 months or so. Just my take on it.

[FretlessMainly]

Originally Posted by Kmonk

I have never understood the point of boiling strings. It seems like it would be faster and easier to just put new strings on the bass.

Ever consider that double bass strings cost ~$200+ per set? I boiled strings for 10 years.

[FrenchBassQC]

I got it, put DA in a pan and bring to a boil, put the strings in it and run out of the house, when the fire department will be done at your place, your strings will be ready.... Isn't that simple enough for you?

I use DA in a tube and it works perfectly for me. I use to boil them long time ago and it wouldn't last. I would loose the sound of new strings in one set and sometimes it wouldn't work at all, But with DA, it works well for me.