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Does boiling your strings make the pot unusable to cook?

#122
Ah, the ol' trusty boiling trick. We've all been guilty of this at some point :D

Firstly, they're rusty. There is a good chance they'll just fall apart if you try to boil them. New ones are in order!

Secondly, you're not doing the stability of the strings any favors, but let's say you're gonna be a cheap-ace and boil 'em up. Yeah sure, you CAN wash the pot and use it again. But do ya WANT to?? :D nahh, just keep it aside and let it collect finger gunk for all eternity. It's the finger gunk's pot now.
 
#123
Boiling bass strings has to be the stupidest, most pointless thing I've ever heard of. I can KIND of understand trying to wipe them down with rubbing alcohol while still on the bass. But taking them off, the coiled, bent, fret dented messes they are at that point, and thinking 20 minutes in some 200 degree water is going to do anything to a nickel/steel string? And then you have to take the coiled bent dented up strings, that I guess at least are clean, except cleanliness is only one part of why they go dead, string them gently through your bridge, and then try to wrap them the exact same way around the tuners so they can have any chance of tuning stability. And then you're supposed to be able to get maybe a day or 2 out of them? Hellllllllllllllllll to the no.

As far as the pot, it's probably not "ruined", but it is f'ing gross. Like people have said, just get a cheap goodwill pot for 2 bucks and use that, or use that you already have that's kind of ruined for normal cooking, if you're intent on wasting your time.

Anyway, if your strings are rusty, just put the bass in a dumpster and quit music. Strings should never ever ever be rusty if you're remotely taking care of the bass. If you're not taking care of it, it means you dont have what it takes to be a musician.

I mean, youre here with rusty strings, and youre worried about ruining the pot by boiling the strings instead of saying "OMG my bass strings are rusty, how did this happen and how can I make sure it NEVER EVER EVER HAPPENS AGAIN once I put fresh brand new strings on, which I'm doing as I type this?" Quit being cheap and spend the 12 or 15 bucks for a new set, and before putting them on, give the bass a loving, thorough cleaning and tell it you will never treat it so poorly ever again. Then make sure you wash your hands before you play. Doesn't the poor defenseless bass deserve better?
 
#124
Ok, I see you live in S Florida. So I'll cut you a LITTLE slack on the rusty strings. It still shouldn't happen under normal use, and if you know you live in a place where the humidity is over 9000, you obviously know you need to watch out for stuff like that, keep the bass in a climate controlled environment at all times, keep your hands clean when playing or handling, keeping it in it's case when not in use, and trying not to expose it to big temperature and humidity swings without time to acclimate. And boiling strings isnt going to do anything for rust. That means parts of your precision made strings that are designed to tolerances of a thousandth of an inch, have literally irreversibly changed into a completely different material. Imagine your maple fingerboard was turned into pig lard. Is there going to be anything you can do to turn it back into maple? No, so you need to make sure it never turns into pig lard in the first place. And if it did, the only thing for it is to bite the bullet and buy a new piece of maple to put on, after you get rid of the pig lard.
 
#126
Soak them in methylated spirits for a few days.

Not sure what that's called in USA. Might be Denatured Alcohol.
It's coloured purple over here in UK, and I understand that's to stop lowlifes from drinking it. I think if you're a lowlife though, because something is coloured purple probably wouldn't bother you too much.

Apparently theres a drink called a 'Blue Lagoon', that's a mix of meths and milk.
Sounds great doesn't it?
 
#127
To all the "Dont boil; change your strings" folks.... I change my strings very often on my basses: They get 25 hours (roughly 4 or 5) gigs; or until they start losing life.....The point being: I spend a LOT of money on strings....There are times when weather, humidity (outdoor gig in humid summer), body chemistry, or whatever extenuating factors start killing my strings within a couple gigs time frame, so off they go into a pot of boiling water to milk brightness out

Boiling strings is a HUGE help for those of us that want to have a bright piano-string-like tone at all times as we already spend a lot of money on strings because we change them so often to begin with
 
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#129
The only reasons not to boil: If you can afford, just get new ones. Seriously. Boiling DOES compromise the integrity of the dead strings that don't have much to begin with.

In the defence of boiling:

Personally, I live in Australia. Markup is abhorrent here. Even buying online, we still get stung somewhere along the line.

I also insist on having the brightest tone I can muster and change strings regularly. It's an expensive habit. So boiling is on the cards at times.

Don't underestimate boiling. It's not as "pointless" as some say it is. With a big pot, you don't have to coil them up too much. Fifteen minutes, pop them on a paper towel and you'll buy quite a bit more time from them than most would imagine.

It will definitely get you through a recording session or a weekend of gigs in a pinch.
 
#132
Mark Desmo said:
£20 is a lot of money to me.
Your perception of it is obviously different.
Click to expand...


I always like to tell people they probably have more money available to them than they think they do. I usually try to find something to cut out in what I call my budget when I want to buy some item like strings. Cut out some meals out a couple of times a month, etc...
 
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#136
Don't do it, man!

Once a pot gets contaminated with finger grit, oxidized product and all other unwanted residue found on strings it could contaminate the underlying stove top. The stove top can then transfer that material to all cookware that come in contact with it!

Don't spend many hundreds on a new stove and cookware. Buy new strings.
 
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#140
Buy flats, never change strings again.

I've boiled roundwounds before today. I used Windex in the water, then roasted them in the oven afterwards to chase the moisture out the winds.

The strings come back to life a bit, but the E string never really gets back in line. They also lose their zing again pretty quickly, and you have to deal with the hassle of trying to get pre-wound/twisted/kinked strings back onto your bass.

Boiling strings doesn't remove the pitting from the frets, or straighten out any kinks along the speaking length of the string. I wouldn't gig a bass with boiled strings because they seem less stable after boiling.
 

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