Do strings age in packages?

[HolmeBass]

A friend, who is closing up his repair shop, gave me a bunch of individual strings. There are all sorts of gauges, types, and materials. I offered them to another friend, who runs a music store. He did not want them because they are old and only in paper envelopes.

I guess strings could eventually age, especially if they were in a corrosive environment (they were not). But then, so would strings that were strung up on a bass age.

What is your opinion?

Of course they age. That happens with the passage of time.

The question you are asking is: do they degrade as they age? And perhaps even more importantly, how much and in what ways do they degrade as they age?

I think they do degrade with the passage of time, but pretty slowly. If the environment is wet enough that you see rust when you take the string out of the paper envelope, then I would say they have degraded beyond usefulness.

If there is no visible corrosion or discoloration I would expect them to usable, but that could depend on your requirements. Do you slap a lot? Do you feel the need to put fresh strings on once per month or even more frequently? I would bet you won’t like them.

If you change your strings less frequently, like once every 3 months or longer, then I would guess you might find them useful, but perhaps not as long-lived as fresh versions of the same string.

I can see why a retailer would not want to deal with it, as they would customers with a wide variety of expectations.

 

[Just go for it]

On a long enough timeline everything is obselete.

 

[Ostie]

I sense a marketing opportunity here: Pre-aged strings! Everybody hates the sound of brand new strings. Here’s your chance to corner the market, a la roasted wood necks and distressed finishes. Your’e sitting on top of a gold mine, Lamont!

 

[GodPlayedBass]

I put new strings on a bass a year ago and only played it once. Picked it up the other day and the strings sound brand new still