String revival

[salcott]

I'm being given a large stash of used strings, among which are a bunch of various wound gut. The reason these strings go bad is usually that the core shrinks, making the winding get loose. Has anyone ever tried steaming a wound gut string to fatten up the core, and if you have, what were the results?

[Jason Sypher]

Linguine

[salcott]

Haha. It's a serious question. They shrink because they dry out. It stands to reason that a few minutes in a steamer could work.

[Jason Sypher]

My answer stands. You would be better off trying to have them re-wound.

[TroyK]

Couldn't hurt to try the steaming.

Then again, guts do tend to get bigger around the holidays, so...

[salcott]

Yeah Jason, I know Dan Larsen rewinds, but these are Olivs. I can see where the heat might cause them to come apart, and will try taping a bag with a string in it to the front of a non-mist humidifier. That will expose it to nothing but wet air. This should be interesting.

[iiipopes]

Originally Posted by TroyK

Then again, guts do tend to get bigger around the holidays, so...

Hey! I resemble that remark!

[DoubleMIDI]

Wouldn't it be better to put the strings in almond oil (baby oil) for some time to let the gut kernel grow a bit?
The oil wouldn't evaporate as quickly as water does.

[ctxbass]

If all else fails, you can remove the windings. Wound E and A strings will make usable unwound D and G strings.