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ANYONE BOIL STRINGS?

#21
bholder said:
al dente, a touch of salt, maybe a dash of denatured yak bile...
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My bass teacher when I was first learning was a French man with a very thick French accent. When I told him that I had tried boiling my strings to make them last longer he remarked "oh, deux you alseau add some rosemaree and oleeve oyel?"

I haven't done it in a while but I recall it helping for a bit, however it didn't add a ton of life and it seems like more hassle than it's worth for me now.
 
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#24
Isaac_James said:
My bass teacher when I was first learning was a French man with a very thick French accent. When I told him that I had tried boiling my strings to make them last longer he remarked "oh, deux you alseau add some rosemaree and oleeve oyel?"

I haven't done it in a while but I recall it helping for a bit, however it didn't add a ton of life and it seems like more hassle than it's worth for me now.
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Yeah, I tried it several times as a broke kid. Mostly interesting as an exercise in what disgusting stuff is floating on the water lol. The strings were slightly brighter for a few days before becoming even worse.
 
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#26
bholder said:
Yeah, I tried it several times as a broke kid. Mostly interesting as an exercise in what disgusting stuff is floating on the water lol. The strings were slightly brighter for a few days before becoming even worse.
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I reckon whatever you gain by boiling off oil and grime is quickly offset by stress on the metal from loosening, removing, heating, cooling, then reinstalling and tightening again.
 
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#27
Depends on the bass, I learnt that on some bass it has less effects than others.
Actually depends on what you need. My two custom basses are designed to be bright and piercing so dead boiled strings are not the best.
I prefer long lasting steel strings like Fodera, Mayones for max dingle dingle.

On my washburn M12 which is design to crush on high mids, dead boiled strings are OK and lasting.
Less high-end, more mids to high mids.

My opinion and experience. Yes i hate flats and dead strings.
 
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#29
I used to boil strings "back in the day", as the kids say. And it worked fine once, maybe twice. I had much better luck getting two sets of strings and keeping one set soaking in denatured alcohol while playing the other, then switching out every few weeks. I actually rotated a couple sets for nearly a year and they sounded great - live but not "chingy" like new strings. But I've since switched to flats and all that nonsense is behind me.
 
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#32
I did back in the nineties when I had a Steinberger, the strings were difficult to find and expensive. I remember something like $50 a set back then even. Made it through college on two sets of strings, boiled several times each.
 
#33
tercesyrev said:
Back in the day when I was a poor college student our band used to boil our worn strings. They sounded almost brand new afterward and their life was extend a bit longer. Obvious only roundwounds.

Just did it recently with same result.
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I did it once... back in the 70's. What I found was that when my string were dead. After boiling, they would break. Of course my plucking technique at the time, was more like drawing a bow ( something about that Pt..twang sound) and they would have snapped anyway boiled or not.

The other problem is once strings wear flat spots on the bottom, they are pretty much toast. Might not notice it playing live, but you will notice it in the studio.

Today, rounds are cheap ( relative to pricing in the 70's) and should be replaced when dull. For the price of a good pizza, there is no reason to keep old strings on your bass. JMO
 
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#34
Back in the days when gigs were 5 to 6 nights per week and modern Marcus tone was the thing, I boiled them all the time. I also had long hair, a very thin waist, and was eating Raman noodles by mid week because my money went.........elsewhere.......

These days, I dont play near as much, Im bald and I am a lot more responsible, so I havent boiled in awhile....I still prefer Modern piano-wire like tone though, and keep roundwounds on almost all my basses so I change them by timing them: 25 hours of play or when they start losing brightness, whichever comes first
 
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#39
I've never boiled strings, but I have soaked them in alcohol. It works, somewhat. They never go back to feeling and sounding new, of course, but they go back to sounding "well worn" instead of just dead. I find that it's more of an issue with certain basses like a Stingray. On a P-style, strings tend to "last" longer. Stingrays just love (and seek) new roundwounds.
 

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