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Boiled my strings – what a difference!

T

TLBass

Nov 27, 2016
146
30
#1
I read about it before and it sounded a bit silly, but here's my case:

I'm a hobbyist guitarist and have some 5-string RockBass as a secondary instrument, and as I can't justify replacing its strings every couple of months when I don't play it that much – I put a few years ago some GHS pressurewounds because they were touted as having decent twang (compared to flatwounds) while keeping for longer than roundwounds.

I tried recording a cover of YYZ the other day and realized I can't do anything to make it not sound like sh*t. The strings have some rust (I assume it's rust, as it doesn't really clean off) on the outside, but I decided to try rejuvenating them using the boiling method. I do occasionally wipe them with some alcohol but it probably only gets superficial stuff.

I placed them in boiling water only for a few minutes (I've seen people quoting an hour even) as I had to manually hold the silk threading out of the water, but all of the oily residue seemed to have floaten up.

I then cleaned them further using soap and a scouring pad, and wiped dry.

It sounds like a different bass. I actually forgot it can sound decent after all of those muted attempts at recording.

Perhaps even just scrubbing with soup would have got the same effect, but my point is that rust could be superficial and not the source of muddy tone, and not a certain indication to bin a set.
 
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#2
Be ready for salve of negative comments.
But boiling, or any other way of cleaining and reusing strings that are mechanicaly fine but just gunky, makes more sense than throwing them and buy new set.
There is ecological impact, also economical. Not everyone lives in first world country and this expence can be significant for someone.
Also, just a couple of generations ago we would clean up, fix and reuse things all the time. My grandfather would slap me if he saw me throwing perfectly fine but dirty metal strings :)
Boil away!
 
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#3
RattleSnack said:
Be ready for salve of negative comments.
But boiling, or any other way of cleaining and reusing strings that are mechanicaly fine but just gunky, makes more sense than throwing them and buy new set.
There is ecological impact, also economical. Not everyone lives in first world country and this expence can be significant for someone.
Also, just a couple of generations ago we would clean up, fix and reuse things all the time. My grandfather would slap me if he saw me throwing perfectly fine but dirty metal strings :)
Boil away!
Click to expand...
All of these are good points. I will reiterate that my set is even somewhat rusty and this proves that isn't an end-all and be-all of a set's untimely death.

And I actually just now saw some video linked around here where someone claimed de-tuning and slapping (or more correctly popping) gunky strings vigorously brightens them up. Probably won't get nearly as much of the residue if it sits deep, but perhaps this is a good quick fix in many cases.
 
#4
TLBass said:
And I actually just now saw some video linked around here where someone claimed de-tuning and slapping (or more correctly popping) gunky strings vigorously brightens them up. Probably won't get nearly as much of the residue if it sits deep, but perhaps this is a good quick fix in many cases.
Click to expand...

It's not worth the extra fret wear it causes IMO.
 
#5
blr2 said:
It's not worth the extra fret wear it causes IMO.
Click to expand...
I did think about that when watching the video so I took note to cover the frets with something in case I will try this trick.

And I had my Les Paul fitted with stainless steel frets – it is immensely better than nickel frets in my opinion. I don't know if the wear-resistance effect is similar for slapping scenarios, but it is probably at least better to a point.
 
#8
ElectricBass72 said:
I boiled my Dean Markley Blue Steels when I was a poor college student in the 90's. I could get away with 2 boiling sessions.... but after that, they were dead as door nails.
Click to expand...
What was the stretch of time between each boiling? Because people would usually consider tone to have become too dull after at least a couple of months, so if it regained a similar usable tone period after the first boiling I'd say it's worth it.

I assume drying the strings quickly (perhaps using a hot air blower as was suggested somewhere) should minimize any microscopic amount of rust that could otherwise develop from leftover water over the following hours, so I think that boiling shouldn't make the strings die again quicker from a chemical standpoint, regardless of re-dulling of tone with new gunk through playing.
 
#15
TLBass said:
All of these are good points. I will reiterate that my set is even somewhat rusty and this proves that isn't an end-all and be-all of a set's untimely death.

And I actually just now saw some video linked around here where someone claimed de-tuning and slapping (or more correctly popping) gunky strings vigorously brightens them up. Probably won't get nearly as much of the residue if it sits deep, but perhaps this is a good quick fix in many cases.
Click to expand...

That de-tune trick does work. I believe I first saw it suggested by MarloweDK like 8+ years ago.
 

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