Denatured Alcohol question

[henryjurstin13]

I am about to change the strings on my DiPinto Belvedere std. I was going to soak the current strings & try them a little bit longer first... or in case I don't like the flats I bought for it.

I am not sure what kind of strings are on the bass (it came with them) but, they have a red, cloth winding at the ends. Will the alcohol hurt this cloth? Will it eat away the cloth & lead to the strings unwinding?

[James Hart]

with the strings still on, just put a little on a cotton ball and rub along the length of the string. It's usually all mine need between changes

[henryjurstin13]

Sorry - I am confused by your post. This is what you do when you change strings? Rub the alcohol on them before you take them off?

OR

This is what you do, so you don't have to change them yet?
-- if this is it.. I want to change to the flats, but would like to clean & keep the current strings. Just in case I want to put them back on.

[nowontonsforme]

i rub my strings with den. alc. with a cotton rag. i find it easier to get between the windings that way. if you clean the strings they should sound newer, and cleaning them while on the bass will save you the trouble of messing with your neck and restringing. if you want to save the strings for later, clean em now and just set them aside (probably soak them since theyre already coming off).

as far as the cloth on the ends, it wont be a problem if you wipe down the strings while theyre on the bass. ive never soaked mine so i dont know what will happen if you do that.

the stuff really does work though!

[James Hart]

Originally Posted by henryjurstin13

Sorry - I am confused by your post. This is what you do when you change strings? Rub the alcohol on them before you take them off?

OR

This is what you do, so you don't have to change them yet?
-- if this is it.. I want to change to the flats, but would like to clean & keep the current strings. Just in case I want to put them back on.

when looking to bring a little life back to rounds, put a little alcohol on a cotton ball, rub along the length off the strings a time or 2.

Zing!

No need to soak, No need to boil, etc.

[txbasschik]

Originally Posted by henryjurstin13

I am about to change the strings on my DiPinto Belvedere std. I was going to soak the current strings & try them a little bit longer first... or in case I don't like the flats I bought for it.

I am not sure what kind of strings are on the bass (it came with them) but, they have a red, cloth winding at the ends. Will the alcohol hurt this cloth? Will it eat away the cloth & lead to the strings unwinding?

I just put some alcohol on a lint-free cotton cloth, then pinch the string with the wet part of the rag, and run it the length of the string, up and down. It cleans them nicely all the way around, brings the brightness back, and is totally hassle free. With a lint-free cloth (I use white shop rags that you can buy in a pack), you don't have to mess with little bits of cotton ball getting hung up in spots and such.

Cherie :-)

[Plain Old Me]

I keep all of my extra strings that I have used in a bottle of 95% alcohol. Some of em have the cloth on the end. It gets frayed a bit, but no drastic failure yet.

[troll]

I got a quick question. When you're talking denatured, which are you using? Stuff with ethanol still, or iso-propyl rubbing alcohol which has little or no ethanol in it.

I had some iso-propyl around so I tried that. Loosening the string so as not to get alchy on the woods and dry them out... Wiped them down many times, and tuned back up (one string at a time). While it made a noticable difference, it's certainly not a new string zing. And they are only about a month old (although MANY hours on them). So I wonder if the ethanol is the key to getting better results.

[Luis Fabara]

Pure Ethanol, with some Methanol to make it toxic. Thats the standard.

Wiping is not enough.. you gotta soak the strings for a night...
That really works.