Aging your strings

[202dy]

Butter, margarine, mayonnaise, WD-40 (not a lubricant), 3-in-1, potato chips, pizza, olive, canola, corn and other vegetable oils, 10-W30, Brylcreem, moisturizer, Ed's Red, Ballistol, Pam, nose grease, you name it.

Just play them. No one in the club will hear the difference.

 

[shawshank72]

Welcome to talkbass, Im a Flatwounds player and I hate new strings.
I don't aim for dead, I aim for a more broken in sound.
I've found the eucerin lotion works perfectly for that, just takes the edge off them and I get a faster break in time.
I understand not having patience, which is usually the go to response.
I don't have oily skin and I don't sweat alot so somebody who says they can break in strings in a few weeks to a month takes me like 3 months.
I've found before I install them I rub them with the lotion first, let them sit awhile and proceed to clean them up like I would do anyway then install.
For the first week everytime I go to play the bass I just put some on my hands before I play, but I would do that anyway as I have very dry skin.

 

[songwriter21]

How about just buying low-tension flats?

 

[Aqualung60]

Shellac? Jeez! Just rub some white Eucerin cream on them if you want to kill them quickly and don't want to deal with industrial solvents or skeevy rancid food grease or even more skeevy nose grease or ball sweat. Honest to God, some of you folks need mental help!

 

[tfer]

LOL. My thoughts too.

Why buy new strings, if you like dead strings?

As fer that last part though... I boiled my strings once. I only broke a string in my life, once. It was when I boiled them.

I admittedly broke a G string in the late 80s. Boiling probably contributed to it, but that set had been boiled at least a half dozen times.

Shortly after that, when I went to college, I went to stainless steel strings, and never had a problem with it again. I boiled them once a week - by the weekend, they needed it again. I was using Blue Steels, and at the time, they were pretty pricey. I'd buy new strings to start each semester, and boiling allowed enough money in my budget to purchase food!

 

[Steadfast]

I'd buy new strings to start each semester, and boiling allowed enough money in my budget to purchase food!

I was so poor in college I had to boil my strings with my Ramen noodle soup lest I not have enough water to flush.

 

[michael_t]

I was so poor in college I had to boil my strings with my Ramen noodle soup lest I not have enough water to flush.

Hey, have you ever tried using ramen noodles on your bass as a "low tension, low cost" alternative?

 

[JACink]

I was so poor in college I had to boil my strings with my Ramen noodle soup lest I not have enough water to flush.

 

[Steadfast]

Hey, have you ever tried using ramen noodles on your bass as a "low tension, low cost" alternative?

Yes. I was in a sludge psycho death spiral band that tuned to double drop E.

 

[rmars]

Shellac? Jeez! Just rub some white Eucerin cream on them if you want to kill them quickly and don't want to deal with industrial solvents or skeevy rancid food grease or even more skeevy nose grease or ball sweat. Honest to God, some of you folks need mental help!

 

[nerkoids]

Shellac? Jeez! Just rub some white Eucerin cream on them if you want to kill them quickly and don't want to deal with industrial solvents or skeevy rancid food grease or even more skeevy nose grease or ball sweat. Honest to God, some of you folks need mental help!

Ahh Jimmy, you've said too much...

 

[nerkoids]

That all said, a wee bit of foam at the bridge will kill the zing, especially on flats. Does wonders with pressurewounds too...

 

[bobdabilder]

What does needing mental help have to do with this thread?

Shellac? Jeez! Just rub some white Eucerin cream on them if you want to kill them quickly and don't want to deal with industrial solvents or skeevy rancid food grease or even more skeevy nose grease or ball sweat. Honest to God, some of you folks need mental help!

 

[mellowinman]

Lisa Douglas: In the old country, they don't look for water with a stick. They do it scientifically.

Oliver Douglas: Oh?

Lisa Douglas: They put a goldfish in a shoe, and then they throw the shoe out the window.

Oliver Douglas: That's scientific?

Lisa Douglas: Of course! And then the goldfish swims upstream until it finds the water.

Oliver Douglas: Mm hmm. Now... uh... how does he swim upstream if there's no water?

Lisa Douglas: His friends help him.

 

[BassLover668]

OMG I hope no big manufacturers read Talkbass.
I have my creditcard out of the pocket.
Can't wait to pay huge amounts of money for RELICED or HEAVY RELICED strings, preferable totally dead roundwounds...

Or - for the poor among us - Roadworn strings. These are not killed string by string individually with individual marks. Their death was manufactured on an assembly line.

I can sell you a box of vintage reliced ones, 10 bucks each LOL.

 

[Ric5]

A healthy way to age strings is to use coconut oil ... this oil is anti bacterial and anti microbial and anti viral ... and it won't damage your bass and it is good for your skin ... you can also use this oil on you rosewood fretboards and oil finished basses

 

[Pbassmanca]

Shellac? Jeez! Just rub some white Eucerin cream on them if you want to kill them quickly and don't want to deal with industrial solvents or skeevy rancid food grease or even more skeevy nose grease or ball sweat. Honest to God, some of you folks need mental help!

dead sounding strings is really easy - loosely put a sponge under your string just in front of the bridge.

People ask me what effect I use the most on my bass for live performance. I tell them, "a piece of foam under the strings."

 

[Steadfast]

A healthy way to age strings is to use coconut oil ... this oil is anti bacterial and anti microbial and anti viral ... and it won't damage your bass and it is good for your skin ... you can also use this oil on you rosewood fretboards and oil finished basses

...and your hair:

 

[lz4005]

A healthy way to age strings is to use coconut oil ... this oil is anti bacterial and anti microbial and anti viral ... and it won't damage your bass and it is good for your skin ... you can also use this oil on you rosewood fretboards and oil finished basses

Don't rub anything into your bass that can go rancid and smell like something died in your gig bag.

 

[JRA]

Age my strings simply by playing my bass!

Just play them. They'll sound right before long.

^ seems like a good, 'lazy' way of getting dead sounding strings!