An Alternative to Boiling Strings

[FunkMetalBass]

And ultrasonic cleaner and some dishwashing liquid works very well for me. Three minutes and strings are as good as new. I wonder what would happen if denatured alcohol instead of dishwater...Anyone wanna try?

I'm not familiar with the exact design of the ultrasonic cleaner, but if denatured alcohol wouldn't harm it, I'd be in.

And at $25, I may seriously consider picking one up. I'd take all my strings off and clean them before every show, since I could do it all in about a half hour.

 

[markanini]

Denatured alcohol probably wouldn't harm the machine. A bigger concern might be fire hazard. Solvents can ignite from sparks. At the very least you should touch a metal object before-hand to discharge any built up static electricity.

 

[Jazzdogg]

They sell a product to use with ultrasonic cleaners that's water soluble, and completely safe to use; it's reputed to work very well with jewelry, eyeglasses, and so forth.

There's probably no need to use alcohol in conjunction with an ultrasonic cleaner. If you're concerned about residual water damaging the strings, an alcohol rinse would get rid of the water, but a hairdryer would probably be just as effective.

Since I use flats, I seldom have reason to clean my strings anymore. But, I'm eager to hear how effectively an ultrasonic cleaner works for those who chose to clean their strings. If someone tries it, please post your results here.

 

[markanini]

Since I've gotten into ground wounds my ultrasonic cleaner has become indispensable. Residues of compounds used in manufacturing diminishes the tonal potential of these strings out-of-pack. After the ultrasonic cleaning process the set is brought to life. E strings are problematic though, they need two or three passes until they're as bright as they can be. Also any silk needs to be scraped off. All in all it's a bit of extra work but to me it's worth it as beside increasing the life of a string it improves the tone of a fresh set.
I'm tempted to try replacing the dishwater with denatured alcohol or Isopropyl. Isopropyl is the same stuff used for cleaning tape heads and has less residues than denatured alcohol. It tends to be more expensive in bulk, though. My local gas station sells "90-100% Isopropanyl" as anti-freeze, I may pick up a bottle today, maybe it would cut down on the passes required for the E strings.

 

[Jazzdogg]

Very interesting. Why do you have to remove the silks?

 

[Dragonback07]

This is a dumb question, but doesn't winding and unwinding strings weaken the core of the string making it more prone to breaking?

 

[InFlux bassman]

This is a dumb question, but doesn't winding and unwinding strings weaken the core of the string making it more prone to breaking?

I have never re-strung with the same strings more than once or twice, but I would guess that you'd have to repetitively make a much smaller radius bend to weaken the core enough to break.

 

[Staccato]

Alternative #1- GHS string cleaning cloth
Alternative #2- GHS Fast Fret

Note: GHS has the market cornered on these products. Forget the boil!

 

[markanini]

I've done the solvent+ultrasonic cleaner on four strings by now. Used isopropyl. No material losses so far. Results are remarkable, strings which were previsouly ultrasoni-cleaned in dishwater gained even more treble responce. Music to my ears as I had a couple of sets with anemic Es out-of the pack which were only slightly improved by using dishwater previsouly, now they speak the same language as the rest of the set.