When I could not afford new strings all the time, I boiled them, and cooked in the same pan, ALOT. After you remove the strings, keep boiling, add some dish soap, that should ease your mind, about any contamination, or whatever. ?
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Does boiling your strings make the pot unusable to cook?
- Thread starter spintop90
- Start date
If you happen to have a habit of biting your nails you'll probably be fine.
In all seriousness though, I remember an audio engineer acquaintance rambling on and on about those damn bass players who boil their strings and make his job a lot harder...
@spintop90 , in all seriousness, boiling works, and those that do it all have their own special "recipe" for the best results.
In the days when I played six nights a week, 5 sets a night, the following schedule worked really well for me. I went through 1 set of strings per week.
First off, don't use an aluminum pot, or a coated (teflon, calphalon, etc.) one. Plain steel is preferred.
Best is an electric coffee/cook pot like Presto used to make, but they have their own "vintage" market!
But they worked great when you're living in hotel rooms all the time!
Heat your water to boiling, add a teaspoon of Cream of Tartar (in the spice section at the grocer's), coil your strings up sized to lay flat in the pot and not touch the sides, and give them 15~20 minutes. The Cream of Tartar is an old silver polishing trick (ask your Grandma) and just eats the crap out of anything stuck in/on the strings.
I would put a new set on Thursday. Fday and Sday night they would sound great (lots of slap and pop, back then) boil them for Mday and Tday night, boil ' em again for Wday night, and then pitch them and restring new ones each Thursday.
Of course if you break a string the earth would spin off its axis and complete disorientation would ensue!
Oh, and the pot will be good for cooking and really shiny on the inside!
For the $6 a steel pot will cost you, I'd just get one to dedicate to your strings, anyway.
In the days when I played six nights a week, 5 sets a night, the following schedule worked really well for me. I went through 1 set of strings per week.
First off, don't use an aluminum pot, or a coated (teflon, calphalon, etc.) one. Plain steel is preferred.
Best is an electric coffee/cook pot like Presto used to make, but they have their own "vintage" market!
But they worked great when you're living in hotel rooms all the time!
Heat your water to boiling, add a teaspoon of Cream of Tartar (in the spice section at the grocer's), coil your strings up sized to lay flat in the pot and not touch the sides, and give them 15~20 minutes. The Cream of Tartar is an old silver polishing trick (ask your Grandma) and just eats the crap out of anything stuck in/on the strings.
I would put a new set on Thursday. Fday and Sday night they would sound great (lots of slap and pop, back then) boil them for Mday and Tday night, boil ' em again for Wday night, and then pitch them and restring new ones each Thursday.
Of course if you break a string the earth would spin off its axis and complete disorientation would ensue!
Oh, and the pot will be good for cooking and really shiny on the inside!
For the $6 a steel pot will cost you, I'd just get one to dedicate to your strings, anyway.
Like removes like. I am thinking hot oil would remove all that gunk. Take them to burger king and throw em in with the friez!
The trick is to only cook stuff in that pot that you will feed to someone who you expect to fall or stay in love with you.
If you're uncertain if your strings have been boiling long enough for them to be cleaned, just take one from the pot and throw it against a wall : If it sticks, your strings are done!
Yuk
if they come off, they're getting replaced with new ones.
Just yuk!!!!
if they come off, they're getting replaced with new ones.
Just yuk!!!!
you will need to throw the pot away.... as well as the stove you used to heat the pot.
Then demolish the kitchen.
Then demolish the kitchen.
This may already have been mentioned but here's what worked great for me. First off, if you can't afford new strings don't bother with boiling the old ones. Soak them in an air tight container (an old ice cream tub will do) of methyl hydrate. You can buy it at any hardware store. This will bring them back to life. Coil the strings like when they come out of the package and place them in the container. Cover them with enough methyl hydrate so that it is about a half-inch or so over them. Soak them overnight (8 to 12 hours) then remove them and let them air dry. Do not reuse the used methyl hydrate for soaking more strings, dispose of it properly. Run the strings through a lightly held rag (I don't recommend paper towel as it can rip in the string winding) to be sure there is no liquid left on them. An old t-shirt usually works fine. Put them back on and give it a whirl. It brings the tone back to them, kills a lot of the bacteria and degreases them at the same time. Give it a try over boiling strings, you might be pleasantly surprised. I do agree that new strings are the best option but, if you are frugal, try this one. A bottle of methyl hydrate should last a while.
I’ve boiled strings and soaked them in denatured alcohol. Not worth the hassle in my experience.
You could boil your hand in that pot and still get it clean enough to never know it was there....
All kidding aside - No, it won't make the pot permanently unusable to cook with it. But, if it were mine? Yes, it would be unusable to cook with; until I cleaned it. Just like every other dirty dish, plate, glass, fork, etc. Just wash it like you would normally, and it'll be fine. However... if your strings have reached that stage, and especially if they won't intonate or stay in tune any longer? Then boiling them won't help, I'm afraid. They are well and truly dead; new ones are your only hope. But, if they aren't that bad quite yet, then yeah; boil 'em up if you want to give boiling the things a try - and put a little vinegar in there too. Personally, though, I never boil strings. I have a firm rule; "Never, ever slave over a hot stove, cooking something you can't eat".
Presumably you use that kettle to cook raw food.
It's safe to say that if that stuff cleans out of it with a wash, so would whatever comes off of your strings.
(I use denatured alcohol BTW. I was a boiler for years, alcohol works better.)
It's safe to say that if that stuff cleans out of it with a wash, so would whatever comes off of your strings.
(I use denatured alcohol BTW. I was a boiler for years, alcohol works better.)
It's two means to accomplish the same end, which is to clear all of the skin, dirt, and oil from the tiny grooves in the string. I agree that denatured alcohol is more effective and do that myself. Not sure what "favors" aren't being done to the string by boiling though. Maybe you're suggesting the heat makes them fail faster?
Off topic -
You guys know how lots of people complain that the B string on 5-string basses feels or sounds different from the others? Those fat B strings have larger grooves and more places for crud to hide in - so on any 5-string set the B will be the first to die.
My theory is that people are playing 5-string basses where the B is more dead than any of the others. They don't have any way to explain why, and they think it's the bass' fault.
I don’t know if you’re also from the Buffalo area but around here you can argue about which hot sauce is second best... Frank’s Red Hot reigns supreme, haha
