Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Dead skin cells. It’s whats for dinner.
Get serious. Dead skin cells, rancid sweat, oxidized natural oils, whatever airborne particles land on them and just enough nickel residue to impart that nauseating sensation you get when you touch your lips by mistake when playing... oh, and the smell
I’m thinking the garage isn’t going to work for that pot anymore. Either the back shed or the dumpster.
Oh, I think we both know TI flats in a tort cup make the best tea!
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Yep. By the third go-round you're not really netting much gain.
I don't have a fancy PVC cleaning tube, but I have a few glass 'tupperware' style containers that seal. coil the strings, use a twist tie or two and seal 'em up with good 99% or more denatured alcohol. A few hours or overnight is enough, but with the amount of playing I've been doing for the past few years, I have one set soaking while using another set. Switch them out every 3ish weeks until it's time for new strings. I have different containers for each bass so they don't get mixed up.
I get strings in bulk, but they're not cheap. With fanned fret instruments, it's not necessarily just hopping down to the shop for whatever cheap strings you can find. They're low production/high quality, and I'm picky...so you can count on 40$ or more per set. If I can get 3x 3-weeks on a set rather than switching 'em out every 3 weeks that's a substantial savings. Also, since I'm ordering them in and that can take some lead-time, I tend to order 10 to 20 sets at a time to have them on hand.
I
I don’t see the issue here other than an illogical sense of what is or isn’t sanitary. But hey it’s your money.
So you throw out your pots and pans every time you use them?Dead skin cells. It’s whats for dinner.
Get serious. Dead skin cells, rancid sweat, oxidized natural oils, whatever airborne particles land on them and just enough nickel residue to impart that nauseating sensation you get when you touch your lips by mistake when playing... oh, and the smell
I’m thinking the garage isn’t going to work for that pot anymore. Either the back shed or the dumpster.
I don’t see the issue here other than an illogical sense of what is or isn’t sanitary. But hey it’s your money.
Reading this makes me kind of glad that I prefer my strings not too bright.
I tried boiling them back in the day, but in my experience they freshened up a lot at first, but went deader than before in a rush. I abandoned that. Shortly afterwards, my taste shifted to less zinghy sounds and I came to like strings that are well played in.
I tried boiling them back in the day, but in my experience they freshened up a lot at first, but went deader than before in a rush. I abandoned that. Shortly afterwards, my taste shifted to less zinghy sounds and I came to like strings that are well played in.
Man, or other, I've got some great banana skin scrapes for you. With chicken fat. Dried to perfection.
Heavy metals? Factory solvents? Contaminates on your hands from that car work?
I sort of liked my bass's unknown worn out roundwounds from the pawnshop.
But these new Chromes sound lots better. And they hide some of my student finger scrape sounds.
Oh, yea, I restrung the E through the bridge after TB advice to avoid silk on the nut.
So much quieter and smoother to play than the old rounds. Make me sound better than I am, and with old school thump.
Did you miss the part where I said I started doing this as a teenager and had no money? No internet back then and no close music shops. And, these days with 7 basses and regular gigging it makes complete sense to throw them in a string tube to clean them off and reuse them than to throw them away and spend $25+ a pop.
Last edited:
When I first bought Bass stings - they were $20/set +/- ... that's as cheap as they could be bought anywhere. Current strung price is still $20/set +/- ... the difference is 50 years of inflation.
Boiling was Standard Practice
Boiling was Standard Practice
An update on the strings
After about 2 hours of play on them I cant say ive noticed too much of a difference, I didnt play them at all after I cleaned them until 2 hours ago (12:00-1:00ish EST). I thought letting them develop a bit of an oxide film like most metals do to some degree would be a good idea since i probably removed the majority of it with yesterdays cleaning. The tone is noticeably brighter than before the cleaning and has stayed that way. The only negative ive noticed is an ever so slight buzz on the fifth fret of the E string. Other than that its all good over here!
After about 2 hours of play on them I cant say ive noticed too much of a difference, I didnt play them at all after I cleaned them until 2 hours ago (12:00-1:00ish EST). I thought letting them develop a bit of an oxide film like most metals do to some degree would be a good idea since i probably removed the majority of it with yesterdays cleaning. The tone is noticeably brighter than before the cleaning and has stayed that way. The only negative ive noticed is an ever so slight buzz on the fifth fret of the E string. Other than that its all good over here!
Used to boil my Roto Rounds back when I was young and poor.
Added significant zing for a short time. Nowadays, I like dead greasy rounds. 10 years old at least. Preferably 15.
Added significant zing for a short time. Nowadays, I like dead greasy rounds. 10 years old at least. Preferably 15.
Yup, I did it, ill just list the steps i took.
1-Soak in 90% Ethyl alcohol for 10 minutes
2-Rinse with water
3-Boil for 10 Minutes
4-Wipe down strings with alcohol soaked napkin
5-Fresh Clean Strings!
The amount of gunk and dead skin i successfully removed was astonishing
Anyway, tell me how im wrong with your comments!
Also the tone was significantly more bright and lively after the boiling.
I tried this last week, for some reason it made the string tension extremely uneven, I got some gunk out but not all of it, the strings also resonated differently. Now that being said, I have seen some people do this with ASTOUNDING results, my jaw dropped ... but it didn't work for me.
I've done this with DB strings before. It definitely cleans them, and cleaning gets you more miles out of them, but it doesn't really make them less dead. I eventually came to the conclusion that if I was diligent about cleaning the strings thoroughly with rubbing alcohol and paper towel, once a week or so, then i could get enough years of heavy playing out of the strings without messing around with the boiling. YMMV.
I used to do this when I was like 14 and broke but was really digging clanky tone...it does work, sorta, it makes them much brighter but it still ain't no new fresh strings. I always found they went back to dull sounding a short time later as well
If you have a Hipshot A, B, or Vintage bridge, those strings come off easy. Just loosen and then you can dislodge them by nudging them. Reinstallation is just as easy, too. Just slip them in, pull them tight to seat them, and tune up. I weep for anybody doing this on body through bridges.
