boiling flat wounds.

sure, why not...boil away...

for a good job, put a tiny bit of dishwashing liquid in there, too...and let them dry completely before restringing.

 

I don't think you'd need to bother cleaning flats too much.

 

play, wipe down, close case. repeat (about a year per set should be sufficient).
if they sound a little thuddier than when you bought them, it's because they should. that's the flatwound mojo. you don't want to brighten them up too much now.

 

i have rotosound flats on my ibanez and i boiled them and it worked fine.
i hear that ur actually supposed to put them in some denatured alcohol and leave them in that for a day or so, cause theres no water in it to rust the srtings...i havent tried it yet.
just some "food for thought"

 

Let us know how it goes, JamesM!....

 

Yep. Fretless is a whole 'nother planet. Lined fretless is very cool if you're a fretless beginner (like moi). I'm comitted to frets for the vast majority of the material that I work with but there are a few tunes where the fretless really provides an interestsing dimension.

We started doing an old free jazz vamp named Tunji ('trane ?) a month ago and in my trio setting I'm doing a lot of chording in it. The fretless just works for that beautifully and the lines do help. Training wheels I know bit for the moment I need 'em.

 

why?

 

i thought you wanted your flats to sound as old as possible. now i'm confused . . .