ANYONE BOIL STRINGS?

[Smooth_bass88]

I would not recommend boiling electric bass strings. When strings are old, the lose their elasticity which affects the instrument’s ability to hold a setup (string height, intonation, etc). Plus you increase the likelihood of breaking a string- especially if you play aggressively

 

[HolmeBass]

It works, but in my experience they go dead again pretty quickly. Soaking them in methyl alcohol is the way to go.

This. I always found the boiled strings would sound good for a day or two and then die a much more profound death.

Cleaning them with alcohol or some other solvent works much better, I would get weeks out of the cleaned set that way, and I could keep cleaning them, albeit with diminishing returns for each cleaning.

Eventually you will need new strings.

Another string life enhancement is to always wash your hands in warm water right before you play. Make sure they are good and dry before you start playing. Turns out putting less gunk on the strings in the first place helps a lot.

 

[bucephylus]

Oh dear.

This is to a large extent an urban myth.

OK, cleaning your strings is a good idea. Fine.

The primary reason strings “go dead” is that the hardened steel core becomes damaged at the bend point at the bridge. Takes a while for the damage to accumulate. But once that steel is damaged, it would require annealing at metallurgical temperatures and a quench to restore the structure. Boiling doesn’t cut it. About 1000 F too low. Sorry.

This is the whole point of the design of the Ray Ross Bass bridge. If you really want your strings to last longer, get one of those. Note, I don’t own or use one, nor am I promoting the product. Just saying that is the point of the design.

Carry on.

 

[Engle]

Oh dear.

This is to a large extent an urban myth.

OK, cleaning your strings is a good idea. Fine.

The primary reason strings “go dead” is that the hardened steel core becomes damaged at the bend point at the bridge. Takes a while for the damage to accumulate. But once that steel is damaged, it would require annealing at metallurgical temperatures and a quench to restore the structure. Boiling doesn’t cut it. About 1000 F too low. Sorry.

This is the whole point of the design of the Ray Ross Bass bridge. If you really want your strings to last longer, get one of those. Note, I don’t own or use one, nor am I promoting the product. Just saying that is the point of the design.

Carry on.

That makes sense, but I don't think anyone was claiming that boiling restores any of the metal properties.
IME boiling cleans them, but they go even more dead soon after.
I have found there is a significant difference in the brightness before/after a soaking in methyl alcohol. If part of your tone is that "zing", you can extend the useful life of your strings.
I found a limiting factor was the flat spots in the windings at the fret locations.

 

[Fynn]

I wipe them down at times, but I don't mind them losing the top end.

 

[jTrolt]

Haven't tried it, but can say, if you pull an old set of strings that sat for a while, they sound pretty perky when re-installed as well. So, is the boiling of crud off what's helping (hot H2O, cold methyl alcohol, you name it) really what's causing the temporary return of brightness, or is it as simple as the strings relaxing back to an un-tensioned state that causes this phenomenon?
Guess an A/B comparison would be in order to investigate.
Either that, or "slap the sh@@t out of them", as directed in that video posted earlier. Pretty funny stuff!

 

[SpeakerBoxxx]

Yes, I still boil strings from time to time. I tend to like the tone of very broken in strings but one of the bands I play in requires a very bright tone for the music we play. So... before we play a show, I'll boil my strings and have that zingy tone and then within a few days, my strings will mellow out and be back to "normal". I figure, why buy a set for this gig that is only paying me enough for drinks and gas money? I rather save my money and play my well-worn strings.

 

[bassbrad]

I used to. Has any one tried a pressure cooker or instant pot?

 

[BassyBill]

What, again? Okay… here’s what beginners need to know about this done to death topic to hopefully help them get clued up on it.

Roundwound strings sound really “zingy” when new.
They lose the zing fairly quickly and eventually sound a lot more dull.
Boiling the strings to clean them brings back some of the zing - but only quite briefly.
Yes, you can get a bit more life from boiling strings.
No, you cannot restore them to their “as new” condition.
Boiling (especially repeated boiling) is likely to increase the possibility of breakage.
Cleaning with a solvent is probably a better option, but can be hazardous (fumes / flammability - take real care!)
Boiling or other cleaning methods are worth trying if you really cannot afford a new set and want a zingy sound just for a short time, but none of the methods is perfect and none will make strings “like new”.
Your efforts would probably be better spent shopping round online to find a cheaper source for new strings.

 

[cbass1]

air fryer ??? love it

 

[SpeakerBoxxx]

Honestly... been boiling strings for 30+ years and have never broken a string or noticed any difference in flexibility. If someone was curious about it, I'd say try it and see if it works for you.
Don't expect miracles though, it just cleans some of the gunk out and temporarily restores some of the "bright" tone to the string.

 

[mmon77]

I've never boiled strings, but I've always wondered if putting them in an ultrasonic cleaner would achieve the same thing and subject them to less stress than boiling?

 

[tb-player]

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.

When I was a poor college student, we boiled ramen. Strings, not so much.

 

[SoulReflection]

Na, I just put guitar strings on my bass as he ducks for cover...

 

[u2brothr]

When I was a poor university student....yes boil.
Now I just buy new strings.

And just so I'm not tempted to boil or even put the old ones back on, I make sure I cut them when I take them off.

 

[logdrum]

There is the nail soup story. SoupTale: NAIL SOUP

The moral for the bass player is that if you look around your couch and under the seat of your car, you may get the $22 to get a set of DR Pure Blues

 

[selowitch]

I find that spraying a little mist of water on a clean rag and using it to wipe down the strings is sufficient.

 

[2F/2F]

Those who are judging what their cleaned strings sound like also know that they’ve just cleaned their strings, and are almost certainly hoping for a difference – not to mention that they have also introduced several other uncontrolled differences during the string cleaning process (e.g. radical tension transients, slight differences in installation, possible setup changes, etc.), with no way of accounting for their potential influence.

As such, their conclusions on the matter are based on uncontrolled tests, incredibly small sample sizes, and grossly inadequate processes of analysis that are tainted by heavy bias. In short, people sharing their conclusions based in their own experiences with string cleaning is about as good as a set of worn out strings.

Bottom line for me: The forum has no answer worth listening to. A proper study has to be conducted.

 

[mmon77]

Those who are judging what their cleaned strings sound like also know that they’ve just cleaned their strings, and are almost certainly hoping for a difference – not to mention that they have also introduced several other uncontrolled differences during the string cleaning process (e.g. radical tension transients, slight differences in installation, possible setup changes, etc.), with no way of accounting for their potential influence.

As such, their conclusions on the matter are based on uncontrolled tests, incredibly small sample sizes, and grossly inadequate processes of analysis that are tainted by heavy bias. In short, people sharing their conclusions based in their own experiences with string cleaning is about as good as a set of worn out strings.

Bottom line for me: The forum has no answer worth listening to. A proper study has to be conducted.

I guess someone will have to stick their whole bass in a pvc tube with denatured alcohol and do a proper scientific study.

 

[Drredplate]

Honestly... been boiling strings for 30+ years and have never broken a string or noticed any difference in flexibility. If someone was curious about it, I'd say try it and see if it works for you.
Don't expect miracles though, it just cleans some of the gunk out and temporarily restores some of the "bright" tone to the string.

After 30 years they should be clean by now. I recommend boiling in cats urine