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Boiling your Bass Strings: bringing it back for 2013

#101
I gave up boiling and using DA on strings. Too messy and it is time consuming.

Now I buy new strings, use them until they are semi-dead, them sell them on TB for $5 a set or so.

I use string cleaner on my strings a few times during the times set is on my bass (this definitely helps) and my strings last 2-3 months. Even if I use expensive strings, over a year it isn't too pricy.
 
#102
I am one of those guys who would change strings weekly if i could. I love the sound of new strings. I have strings that are a month old. To me they are dead. I have an audition in 3 days. I am broke. Should I boil my strings as directed on this forum. Will it help? I've never tried it.
 
#105
A sealable container of alcohol will last for many many string soakings, the strings come out like new & last like new, & you can do it multiple times/set.
Boiling-takes electrical/gas energy- $$, have to wash out a pot, it causes corrosion inside the windings- string breakages, & doesn't work as well as alcohol (imo)
Seems an easy choice to me.
I've a sealed container of alkyhole sitting on a shelf in my shed, that's been there for 6 months, been used 15x (is getting a bit dirty-but still works fine).
No heat involved, I just drop a coiled up set in, leave it 24 hrs, hang em up to air dry..... That's it.
Seems a no brainer to me.
BTW, works on all types of strings-that I've tried
 
#106
I've boiled countless sets through the years and normally I'd say boil them, but if you have an audition in 3 days and this is the only set you have, it's better that you find some money (borrow form a friend maybe?) and buy new ones.
The reason is that 3 days before a gig is a bad time for experimenting with this, since
a) there is a chance of breaking a string in the process of removing and re-inserting, and
b) you might not like the result that you get.
These two risks apply in the alcohol process, too. And furthermore, if you use alcohol cleaning and you don't have a backup bass you'll have to forfeit practice for 1 day when you only have 3 remaining.

Another alternative is to use a string cleaner like fast fret. It's cheaper than new strings and not risky.
Though it still bears the risk of not being up to your tastes.

And of course, you can stop worrying about the strings and spend the next 3 days on rehearsing and preparing. After all, 1 month old strings will sound just fine to most people, if they can tell the difference between relatively fresh and ancient corroded ones, at all. In fact 2 days old strings may sound harsh to some people.

Besides , if you get the gig, or succeed in whatever it is you are auditioning for, the expense will be more justified.
 
#107
I used to do this when I was a kid and couldn't get my folks to pop for new strings every month or so. I think I read it in Bass Player magazine (this was way before the internet) and it works OK. You aren't going to get all the life back in your strings, but it will get you little of the brightness back. You can do it with strings that have silk ends, it just makes them frizz. Coated strings were very rare then, so I don't know if you can do that to them.
When I did this I used a specific large 12" pot that my mom didn't want anymore. I don't think I would try this in a pot you still cook with.

If the string is dying because of dirt or hand funk, it will work. If the string was dead out of the package or is dead because the winding is a little off (string was twisted when you install it, you cut the string funny, etc.) it won't fix that.
 
#108
i was a boiler for years. i've now been a soaker in denatured alcohol for years. the soaking in denatured alcohol is by far the better of the two options. get yourself some strings with no windings - I use D'Addario Nickel Wounds. I rotate two sets. One is on my bass, the other is soaking. Every week I swap the two sets.
 
#110
CnB77 said:
This

Heating the strings that much can damage them. Alcohol strips off the nasty stuff without hurting the strings
Click to expand...
+1

In my experience boiled strings sound great for about 4 - 8 hours of playing and then go completely dead. This was with Boomers and Blue Steels (neither of which I use anymore, and I've never tried boiling with nickels like I use now, so limited scope of experience acknowledged).

This new deadness is not due to dirt, but due either to corrosion (although I doubt this because I'd dry my strings carefully right away to try and prevent this), or to slight annealing during the boiling process, at which point further boiling or freezing does not seem to help (at least in my experience).

Cleaning them with denatured alcohol derives the cleaning benefit, does not cause corrosion, and prevents the heat-derived damage.
 
#111
So funny..I Tried this when I was 16 and broke one time..My guitarist told me about it and I dont recall the results. SO LAST NIGHT I boiled 3 sets I had sitting in my jam room BECAUSE the strings Ive been using literally only lasted ONE GIG and my E was a DEAD WOOD THUMPER.. 2x the last 2s shows..So bummed-is quality on the decline (Ernie Balls-45-105 super slinky nickels rounds)+(D'Addarios)??? Honestly I play 2 basses a gig~so Im getting a dead E after an hour and a half of serious play time?! At 18 bucks a set I figure this is economically worth the shot- I ONLY WANT ONE MORE SHOW OUT OF EM--If this works Ill be a boiling or alcohol fool..itll be like getting string half price..It took 15min tops..and Ill be stringing up tonight with my results!! Im not Knocking it till I TRY IT!!
 
#112
I boil mine in gasoline while I huff the fumes.

huffing.jpg
 
#114
Art Araya said:
i was a boiler for years. i've now been a soaker in denatured alcohol for years. the soaking in denatured alcohol is by far the better of the two options. get yourself some strings with no windings - I use D'Addario Nickel Wounds. I rotate two sets. One is on my bass, the other is soaking. Every week I swap the two sets.
Click to expand...

Build one of these cleaning tubes. Super convenient, avoids coiling the strings, and not terribly expensive to build.

Don't store the thing in your house, though. Denatured alcohol is flammable, so why take a chance, eh? Mine leans up against the carport wall.

I've soaked strings with thread windings. No biggie, IME.
 
#116
ChristianOnBass said:
I am one of those guys who would change strings weekly if i could. I love the sound of new strings. I have strings that are a month old. To me they are dead. I have an audition in 3 days. I am broke. Should I boil my strings as directed on this forum. Will it help? I've never tried it.
Click to expand...

Well, I boiled a 2 month old set. I've never boiled strings before. After I dried them in a 200 degree oven on foil I assured that they were dry by wiping them down with alcohol swabs. It really did help! I will go to my audition tonight feeling much better about my sound:hyper: I can't say that I saved 30 bucks for strings because I didn't have 30 dollars to spend:crying: I love this forum
 
#117
I boiled a set of Rotosounds out of curious desperation a couple weeks ago. They were on a borrowed Geddy, probably not quite at the halfway mark as far as life span goes, and I wanted to see if it would brighten them up a hair or at the least, clean the grit from the windings. Complete and utter fail. It KILLED the strings. I mean, whatever life was left in them, was gone when I restrung them. I was sure to restring them so as not to twist them and bring them back to their original position as much as possible. Where there was at least some balance from string to string, there was now an unbalanced mess in the tone dept. Output on the G sting was reduced to half of what it was while the A actually became more boomy. The only consistency was the dead thud they produced afterward. No more zing. Where there was a bright sizzle on a popped note, the was now a muffled clack. But they sure were clean! Maybe because they are SS? Either way, it was so bad I had to remove them and replace the E, A and D with some old, used Fender rounds and the G with a GHS Precision Flat I had lying around and these sounded and functioned better than the post-boiling Roto's. I tried, no dice. Never again.
 
#118
ChristianOnBass said:
Well, I boiled a 2 month old set. I've never boiled strings before. After I dried them in a 200 degree oven on foil I assured that they were dry by wiping them down with alcohol swabs. It really did help! I will go to my audition tonight feeling much better about my sound:hyper: I can't say that I saved 30 bucks for strings because I didn't have 30 dollars to spend:crying: I love this forum
Click to expand...

The alcohol swabs probably did more to clean them up than the boiling ;)
 
#119
ChristianOnBass said:
I am one of those guys who would change strings weekly if i could. I love the sound of new strings. I have strings that are a month old. To me they are dead. I have an audition in 3 days. I am broke. Should I boil my strings as directed on this forum. Will it help? I've never tried it.
Click to expand...

With the audition this close, I wouldn't recommend boiling. Like another poster said, beg borrow or steal to get a new set or just use what you have.
 
#120
.
Add me to the boiler set. It works.

I have a theory as to why it the strings eventually "die" or break ....
It's not the multiple cleans (whatever method) that's the problem, it's the multiple removal / re-installations.
You are letting the tension off, then back on, then off, then back on, etc.

IMHO strings need to be cleaned properly on the bass, under normal tension.
They need to stay on the bass for the life of the string and never be removed otherwise. "Tensioned" one time and that's it.

Wipes just wipe the surface and don't get down into the grooves between windings.
Spraying just wets the top and sides a little.
Neither cleans the strings completely.

I've set myself a task of coming up with a method that cleans as well as boiling or soaking in alcohol on the bass.
I have one or two ideas that I want to try before publicising.
 

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