I did this a few months ago, made a thread about it. Personally now that I have some experience, I would soak in denatured alcohol for 24hrs and then slap and pop those bad boys until theyre clean as seen above^^^.
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Boiling Strings?
- Thread starter Brendan
- Start date
Boiling? Depends in my experience after two month the only way to incrementate life of decaying strings are boiling. But I do it only one time not more. And only in Basses I have with fast release of the ball end otherwise is a "casino" and especially in one that is Sting Tru Body.Old boiled strings have to ripristinated and insert in the bass body (not easy) tru the bridge (problematically) and It is a very long operation. Here I use covered stings. For the others could be that I boil the strings, but boiled strings is not new don't sound new, don't last as new.
Zombie thread revival!!!
btw one question, do you close the lid of the pan or leave it open?
always want to try this boiling strings business but never got to do it, now I have a pan, an oven and running water, let's do this!!
btw one question, do you close the lid of the pan or leave it open?
always want to try this boiling strings business but never got to do it, now I have a pan, an oven and running water, let's do this!!
Raz,
The smell of boiling strings in the morning!!
Just did a coup!e of basses... The two you see in my avatar..
The Michael Kelly had the original phosphor q bronze strings from when i bought it in '04... Keeping them funky ala Jametrson(to keep the funk).... But they got too funky... There's funky, then there's funky -- a not good funky... Boiled them 2x, once just H2O, 2nd with vinrgar...
Letting them sit, will put on later ( wife has a todo list )... There was a lot of funk on those stri gs, a lot of miles... Kinda sad to boil all that off... But, as i was doing tbis i tnought, tniz A/E bass would sound great with flats, give it an upright sound, different than my others which have rounds on them...
I think you just posted on the Sire thread, that you put flats on a Sire V7 n loved the sound!
Short term there might be some improvement, but water and vinegar will promote rust and corrosion of the string core.
I use Itronic ultra son
https://www.amazon.fr/iTronics-Nettoyeur-Professionnel-Inoxydable-approfondi/dp/B01D148KGC
https://www.amazon.fr/iTronics-Nettoyeur-Professionnel-Inoxydable-approfondi/dp/B01D148KGC
Thanx, I never would have thought of that option without your sage advice!
I am aware of that, not the first nor the.last time i will do this...
A stop gap until I decide what strings i want to try on what bass...
I've tried it out. It works. It's not going to keep a nice tone very long but it will clean up the oils and everything and buy you some time before you need new strings.
I’m heartbroken. The 12 year old flats on my #1 had to be replaced after one rusted thru between the but and tuner. I put on a new set, rubbed them down with BBQ sauce, and left the bass out in the rain a few days but darn it, they still sound like new strings!
Should have used tuna like the other thread on here dude saying his bass smells like fish.
Just recently tried the denatured alcohol route and it works wonderfully on year old Sit Rockbrights. Brought that zing right back.
Paula,
You can't use just any BBQ sauce... I like the Texas style, myself... 2nd choice is a Tennessee style ( a`la Nashville/Memphis) ... A good stand-bye is always Louisiana style....
Also, did you coat the strings coiled, out of the package or straighten them out first??? That makes a big difference!! If they're coiled, the sauce only gets into the strings unevenly, on one side....
Also, you have to brush on the sauce left to right, NOT right to left -- the sauce just doesnt take the same way going right to left!!
Then, last step before you rain on them, is to give them a good whip or two, three is too many, but just 1 or 2 whips, ( with a good snap of the wrist -- and wear an apron, this could get messy)...
This is an generations old, secret family recipe!
You do this, and your new strings will be giving you that seasoned Jamerson FUNK to you and your banbmates delight!!
No charge for the advice... and since this is a secret recipe, pleae do not share with anyone else!
The type of bacteria that eat wheat (e.g. sourdough) or dairy (e.g. yogurt) are one thing, but the type of bacteria that eat meat (dead skin cell fragments) would be a different thing, I think, and probably too dangerous. Just guessing.
An alternative could be digestive enzymes (bromelain, papain, etc), as found in many meat tenderizers. I guess you'd want to be sure that it all gets rinsed out.
It might work much better than a solvent, or study whether or not it can be mixed into the solvent and still work.
Or just lay off the fried chicken and go with pineapple and papaya instead.
An alternative could be digestive enzymes (bromelain, papain, etc), as found in many meat tenderizers. I guess you'd want to be sure that it all gets rinsed out.
It might work much better than a solvent, or study whether or not it can be mixed into the solvent and still work.Or just lay off the fried chicken and go with pineapple and papaya instead.
My take on the whole subject? Don't care whether it works or not; I'm not going to stand over a hot stove, cooking/boiling anything that I can't eat...
This was my position on the subject in 2016; it's my position on the subject now. There's another reason I don't boil strings; out of the 25 basses I own, 23 of them wear flats - and, the consensus of opinion in the "String Boiler's Society" seems to be; boiling flats is not a good idea, because it seems to do more harm than good. Of the 2 basses without flats? One wears Roto 88 Tapes; boiling those would be a bad idea. The other one wears TI Jazz Rounds; boiling those would be a very bad idea. However; I imagine soaking flats in alcohol might work; although trying to get the core wire dry would certainly mean time in an oven. I don't think I'd experiment with my TI Jazz Flats, with their inner silk wrap; but, if you want to sent me yours? I'll let you know how it goes...
So... If I ever get a set of my flats dirty enough to warrant it, I might be tempted to give the "soak 'em in alcohol" thing a try. I have nothing to lose; it's not like I can't afford a new set, anyway... And, for all you string boilers out there? Hey, you do what you think is best. Just because I don't want to slave over a hot stove for something inedible, that shouldn't stand in the way of your kitchen fun...
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