Who waxes their strings?

[newbold]

I just read about somebody paste waxing their strings to deepen them...

...Is this a popular approach for roundwound players?

Pros/Cons??

Do they make the strings sticky or slinky?

Does the wax gum up the fingerboard?

[Ric5]

never did and never will.

[standupright]

Originally Posted by Ric5

never did and never will.

+1

[Webtroll]

is that like waxing a modem to make it go faster? (thanks for the chukle Al!)

[Jaco who?]

If you want dead strings, just buy some flats.

[darkstorm]

Ive accidentally gotten wood wax on strings before and it can dull the strings sound. So I'd never wax them purposefully. A couple companies have made string cleaner spray, but its not wax.

[rosanne]

Originally Posted by newbold

I just read about somebody paste waxing their strings to deepen them...

Where did you read that???

[SurferJoe46]

I wrote it on a post here.

I got some Elixirs that I thought would be like the strings on my SR500 - and they aren't.

I gave up on getting the noise out of them on a P-bass and finally just gave them a coat of Mothers Carnauba wax and they sound a lot better. I was waxing the bass and - figuring they were a loss to me anyway and not returnable - I didn't feel I had anything to lose.

Now they are slick, quieter and have a lot deeper sound. Still - not the best thing to do likely - but it worked for me and took some $40.00 strings I hate to a little higher level in the LIKE column.

I may have to re-wax them every 2,000 miles or so.

Don't try it if you don't like the idea - I was just saying what it did for me.

[lunarpollen]

This is very interesting... I wonder how they sound, tonewise and noisewise, compared to groundwounds, flatwounds, tapewounds, and plain old ancient dead roundwounds...

[SurferJoe46]

What I got was a lot less string noise. The P pups are too sensitive I think. This chilled the noise and made them much nicer to finger and fret.

A nicer tone in the lower registers too - I forgot that.

[lunarpollen]

What about brightness and sparkle, did it dull those too?

[santucci218]

I waxed my yo-yo string when i was a kid.

[TheMutt]

I've used baby wipes on a set of roundwounds before when I had to change a string in an emergency situation with a set of roundwounds that was very very old. Mellowed the new string down to almost the same as the string it was replacing. I've since moved to flatwounds on most of my basses, but yes it can be done if that's your thing.

[SurferJoe46]

Originally Posted by lunarpollen

What about brightness and sparkle, did it dull those too?

If brightness and sparkle translate to string noise and nasty sounds that the pups get into the mix - yes.

I don't play for bright.

I let the lead guitar and keyboard sound bright - I supply the foundation and let them build on it.

Moody and chocolate sound ala Sly & The Family Stone-sound.

[Jazz Ad]

I don't wax my strings because I prefer a fuzzy tone.