ISOPROPYL is way better than ANY boiling! Don't ever try to boil them in isopropyl, it's flammable! I do however ULTRASONIC clean them in Isoprpopyl alcohol. 99 percent. Isoprop doens't contain that much water. If your strings are pure Stainless Steel there's no problem. If they're Pure Nickel it might. But as you strap them on and tune them up, the moisture will disappear.
You can reuse strings. The only strings you CAN NOT reuse are the ones that are made with ROUND CORE. This is mostly certain DR strings, and little great british manufacturer Newtone. The strings and windings will "unravel" or "uncoil" around the strings. But by and large it's a no-brainer. Those strings are quit rare and you know it before you buy them if it is wound like that.
Ultrasonic may be a little overkill, but as I use it for other things as well, it's worth it.
Anything that makes the string hot (boiling) may very well leave the string in that expanded state. I e the gauge of the strings will vary slightly ALONG its length, giving it an uneven gauge, causing it to oscillate badly (just like if it was magnetic strings pull from the pickups magnets on the string) and intonate very poorly. But you get the new string zzzzing alright for a week or two, but it plays out of tune...
This is hex core vs round core, and why gunk piles up in the gap:
The Isopropanol plus ultrasonic cleaning may get inside these gaps that traps finger gunk and resolve it. Now, boiling strings makes the string expand (just like tuning up) but you can't be dead sure that all finger gunk is shifted, i e that some of these "hex gaps" still contain finger gunk, and thus, makes the gauge of the string uneven along its length. I still wants to find out a way to stretch them out a whole tone up (tune the up) from normal tuning so those "pores" opens up a lot more and leaves these gaps more open for the isoprop or ultrasonic to creep inside more easily. But then you'll risk the strings breaking. But then - when cleaned - tune it down again, to normal tuning. As you might have detected, round cores doesn't collect that much gunk.
6 years: the lifespan I had with ONE SET of Newtone Double Ball end strings Stainless Steel on round core. I isopropped them, and ultrasonic cleaned them TWICE a year. Since it was headless it just take one minute to take them off and on. After 6 years, the frets dents and slow eroding on the zero fret on the strings made them out of tune all the time, regardless of how you intonated them. THEN it was time for a change to brand new strings. I had other basses as well, and this one was deliberately made a - sort of - guinea pig experiment, just to see how long strings really lasted, before I couldn't stand them anymore. Of course, I washed hands and cleaned them after each session or gig with that bass. Say, half of the time, I used this one, half of the time my other basses, and I kept track of it. Bought them in 2007, and in 2013 I had to scrap them. I have 3-4 sets still laying around, not opened since I've bought them.
. I used to just boil in water with some Pine cleaner added, then boil in plain water, then air dry. Worked for me 
. I'm now into flats and dead rounds (and trying different gauges) so haven't had a need for a while.
what are you supposed to do,go out and buy a new bass everytime the strings wear out or you break one??
