Cleaning strings by soaking: what kind of alcohol is the best?

dexter3d · #1 02-19-2009, 04:51 PM

Hello,

I finally made strings cleaning tube and now I'm ready to experiment with various types of liquids for soaking bass strings.
Has anybody compared their effectiveness? I tried those, soaking for ~12 hours each time:

- Denaturated alcohol (Dutch 'Brand spiritus' - 85% ethanol + 5% methanol, blue color) - this was all I could find in Amsterdam hardware stores. Result: kind of OK, D'Addario prosteels sounded much better, but I still could see lots of crap in between the windings. The strings seemed a bit darker visually, most likely because of the colored liquid.

- Isopropanol (propan-2-ol, also known as medical spirits) - 99.5 % purity, transparent. Got it from eBay. Result: not satisfactory, visible dirt between the windings on close inspection, DR Hi Beams sounded ******. I'm gonna try to soak D'Addarios and see how it works on them.

I haven't tried the following:
- pure methanol;
- pure and transparent ethanol;
- pure acetone.

I heard that acetone is most aggressive in destroying the grease? Has anybody tried any of those?
Do you think 12/24 hours is enough for the best possible result?
Should soaking remove ~all visible dirt from the windings?

My strings go dead very fast, even though I wash my hands before every playing. I also tried purell hand sanitizer-same ****.
I feel that my hands are constantly greasy no matter how I wash them. My colleague, for instance, uses the same set of strings for half a year, and they still sound good..

TerenceSharp · #2 02-19-2009, 05:19 PM

I accidently left a set of strimgs in some denatured alcohol for 2 months.

I don't think even string-sperts could tell the difference between them and new strings.

(Ernie Ball Super slinky nickles)

dexter3d · #3 02-19-2009, 05:22 PM

Hmm, then this might suggest that time makes a difference. I'm gonna do some research on that (:

OliverH · #4 02-19-2009, 05:36 PM

I found the opposite. I had some Fender strings which were pretty damn old. I left them soaking in methylated spirits for a couple of months and they weren't any better when they came out. I haven't tried boiling the strings but I think in future I will just bite the bullet and buy new ones when the old ones are dead. I don't tend to go through strings that fast anyway.

funkifiedsoul · #5 02-19-2009, 05:43 PM

After boiling strings many moons ago and finding them kinda 'warbally' as a result, I somehow discovered Windex. I only mention it because it sounds like you'll want to clean them often, and wiping them with Windex is obviously quicker and easier than a boil. I'm guessing some alcohol is in Windex, so you may have a better solution but I found that it worked pretty good without leaving them feeling greasy. Although I would only do it a coule of times before grabbing new ones. I appreciate your dilemma. I put new strings on my bass and loaned it to my brother for ONE gig, and the strings came back sounding like flats.

Not all hands alike. Good luck!

p.s. speaking of flats....ever consider them?

dexter3d · #6 02-20-2009, 02:13 AM

I think some research needs to be done here, because I really want to find the formula for string cleaning. I don't play slap on my 6er, thus in theory strings should last quite long if not the dirt. I'm gonna try to 'register' the dirt between the windings of one string (like, at what length there is any), and see how effective are different types of alcohol, and what is the optimal soaking time.

By the way, anyone tried pure acetone?

varunkapahi · #7 02-20-2009, 02:27 AM

denatured alcohol works best for me

dexter3d · #8 02-20-2009, 02:56 AM

Compared to what?

varunkapahi · #9 02-20-2009, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by varunkapahi

denatured alcohol works best for me

compared to the other things i have tried like kerosene and boiling

Chris Breese · #10 02-20-2009, 09:13 AM

I always found that soaking roundwounds in flatwound juice does the trick quite nicely.

dexter3d · #11 02-20-2009, 09:27 AM

Flatwound juice? (:

62bass · #12 02-21-2009, 02:19 AM

Vodka works well, and when you finish soaking the strings you can drink it. Then you don't care if the strings are dead or not.

Myself, I clean my strings with a quick wipe of methyl alcohol on a cloth whenever I remember. I play the strings until they're dead. Then I buy new ones. Of course, I don't care for glass shattering highs.

If you're a working bassist you don't have time to remove strings and soak them overnight and then put them back on.

NJL · #13 02-21-2009, 03:16 AM

i use denatured alcohol, it works great, but i have been tempted to try one of those vibrating jewelry cleaner machines loaded with denatured alcohol.. i wonder what would happen...

TerenceSharp · #14 02-21-2009, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJL

i use denatured alcohol, it works great, but i have been tempted to try one of those vibrating jewelry cleaner machines loaded with denatured alcohol.. i wonder what would happen...

I do mine in a long PVC tube:
I was thinking of making one of them vibrating cleaners with an old speaker and amp and a signal generator like so (Excuse my drawing

)

Not sure how well this would work, Would probably burn coil out in no time hah

Fergie Fulton · #15 02-21-2009, 06:28 AM

i don't know what the content of gin is as a spirit, but i wipe my strings down with some each night after playing with great results. As i buy it from the bar or have it on a rider i get to finish off what was left in the glass, so everyones a winner LOL.

MNAirHead · #16 02-21-2009, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by funkifiedsoul

After boiling strings many moons ago and finding them kinda 'warbally' as a result, I somehow discovered Windex. I only mention it because it sounds like you'll want to clean them often, and wiping them with Windex is obviously quicker and easier than a boil. I'm guessing some alcohol is in Windex, so you may have a better solution but I found that it worked pretty good without leaving them feeling greasy. Although I would only do it a coule of times before grabbing new ones. I appreciate your dilemma. I put new strings on my bass and loaned it to my brother for ONE gig, and the strings came back sounding like flats.

Not all hands alike. Good luck!

p.s. speaking of flats....ever consider them?

We own a cleaning chemical company..

Basically Windex is an alcohol and a mild surfactant.

Overall.. I'd consider the medical prep type alcohols (or booze) as some of the other chemcials should be used with some safety gear.

The alcohol/solvents basically deconstruct the oils and greases.

jgsbass · #17 02-21-2009, 07:03 AM

This boiling/cleaning with alcohol thing neglects one important factor as far as restoring strings to "new". How do you take out the fretwear to the string? Past a point, the string no longer acts like a string but like a bent rod. The bends at the point where the fret contacts the string make the harmonic series of the string go out of whack, creating intonation problems. Let alone the fact of how do you align the strings so they go back to their exact position on the neck? Then you're just making more bends in the string. Granted its a clean string but its not straight anymore.

62bass · #18 02-21-2009, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgsbass

This boiling/cleaning with alcohol thing neglects one important factor as far as restoring strings to "new". How do you take out the fretwear to the string? Past a point, the string no longer acts like a string but like a bent rod. The bends at the point where the fret contacts the string make the harmonic series of the string go out of whack, creating intonation problems. Let alone the fact of how do you align the strings so they go back to their exact position on the neck? Then you're just making more bends in the string. Granted its a clean string but its not straight anymore.

There's no point in reasoning with anyone about the boiling/soaking strings thing. This discussion has been going on for ages. It gets beat to death and then dies down after a few days; then someone else makes a new post and off it goes again.

It's sort of like the ohmage discussions that go on and on. The technical experts give correct answers but it doesn't sink in.

Basstovsky · #19 02-21-2009, 01:04 PM

Denatured alcohol for the win.
I get impatient and just rub down my strings with a rag and denatured alcohol.
I had a set of flats on a 30 year-old bass (yes the strings were on it at least 25 of those 30 years) that sounded almost new after just cleaning them with a rag soaked with denatured alcohol.
I'm sure taking the time to soak them in the stuff would have even better results.

Bongolation · #20 02-21-2009, 02:50 PM

While I agree that this whole business is rather more of a waste of time than people think as it does nothing about stretch, winding shift, wear and other factors that kill a string, I was wondering the other day about using one of the cheap ultrasonic cleaners you see around these days.

To the extent this soaking business works, it seems like this would greatly speed up the process.

Has anyone tried it?