I Boiled My Bass Strings Today

[Geri O]

I

And yet somehow here you are alive and presumably healthy!

Honestly you are more likely to be poisoned by the water you drink or the metals used in making the pan (think cheap metal and factories not really caring) than by using a pan that was once used to boil some old strings.

Some people just have hang ups.

I"m not sure who "you" is, but you can keep your hangups labels. Some people just think they are the Health Department. Wrong forum.

 

[mickbellinello]

Sometimes i boil strings too..but, let me say...

my hands are pretty dry when i play so “no dirty or sticky” strings at all.. i mainly boil them to get “semifresh” strings in case of in a live something goes wrong.

Due to my experience boiled strings don’t have that “zing” and “crisp” that you get on a brand new strings set.. talking about tuning stability etc i don’t find enormous differences.

So..io you like that sparkly sound (personally i hate super fresh strings) go for a new set. Here in Italy you can find d’addario 4 string set at 18euros shipped..so..

ps. If you have flatwound strings never change or boil them..older is better!

 

[gigetto]

I boil only the strings mounted on fast changing bridge. To the others not, is difficult to replace when boiled and the risk of damage is hight for the strings. A long delicate operation that is not economic for the mediocre results. For the fast change is different ten minutes or less for a month more of playing. Don't boil the strings very old but boil only after two months of use in my case if you don't the replaced strings last very few and decay properly.

 

[LBS-bass]

I used to boil strings back in the 80's. A set of strings back then cost about $15-$20. They still cost roughly that. $15-$20 was a lot of money back then. In today's dollars it's not that painful to replace them nowadays, so I don't really have a good justification for wanting to make them last like that. Plus I like mine "broken in" so if I'm changing them at all, they are probably starting to lose intonation. Instead, I just wipe them down with alcohol periodically to get rid of the finger gunk.

 

[GIBrat51]

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.

Sorry to disappoint you, but... I can't really tell you you're wrong. I suppose I could tell you that, IMO, you're being foolish and maybe just a little silly, but that's all it would be - my opinion. I've never done the "cleaning/boiling strings" thing myself, so I can't say with any authority that it doesn't work, or that it's a lot of effort to go through, for little/no result. People around here are always saying that it works - sort of - and so; until I have evidence to the contrary, I'll take their word - and yours - that it does... I know that not everyone can afford to buy new strings at the drop of a hat. So, those folks sometimes have to do what they can to keep old strings alive; I certainly can't fault anyone for that. OTOH, I am in the happy position being able to buy new strings whenever I want, so... if I did use round wound strings, I could (and would) just replace them. But, I dislike rounds pretty intensely, so I seldom have to do that. I only have 2 basses - out of 23 - with rounds on them, and since those strings are nowhere near dead (one set, in fact, is new and not yet broken in), I won't have to do anything for a while. And, there are new sets waiting patiently in my "Big Box O' Strings", when I do have to replace them... All my other basses wear flats or tapes, so even if they did get dirty and nasty (which they never do), I don't think I'd try this trick with them. Especially not the tapes... So, I will just say what I always say whenever this subject comes up; You go right ahead; boil your strings if it makes you happy. But, personally? I refuse to sweat over a hot stove, for something that I can't eat...

 

[gigetto]

Boiling or cleaning strings is only a palliative....I do when I need "refresh" strings and the old strings are not very old. If you boil an old set Is like boiling a piece of cedar for the soup....

 

[MoBetterBASS]

I've been posting here for 15 years. Its interesting how the bass playing culture has changed during that period.

The string boiling/soaking topic was once a top 20 recurring discussion around here, because people's tone goals were different than they mostly are today. Now it only comes up periodically.

Anyway, denatured alcohol is the way to go. I'm a hardcore experimenter all my life in this area, and in my experience the alcohol approach is about 40% more effective than boiling. Easier, too.

Here's what you do.

This is a picture of my string soaking tube:

View attachment 3852234

Go to Home Depot or Lowe's and buy a 4 foot PVC tube like this one, along with two matching caps. The caps seal pretty well, but you might want to get a tube of PVC joint adhesive to fortify the bottom cap. The whole order will cost under $20.

Fill it with denatured alcohol. Slide your strings into the top and cap it off. Leave 'em there a day or two, then pull 'em out, dry off, and reinstall or store. Great results.

I drilled a hole in the top cap and screwed in a cupholder hook (and sealed around the hole) so there would be something to hang the strings from inside. Really though, they tend to stand up on their own in there and aren't hard to just fish out.

Big fat claim. I gig about 20 nights a year, so "some but not much." I have sets of strings on a couple basses that I've kept going for 7 or 8 years this way, and they still sound great.

****
Okay, I'll try the experiment. I made the tube. As for the denatured alcohol, seems like there's a lot varied products under that label. One is denatured alcohol fuel. Will that work? 95% denatured alcohol and 5% other stuff including methanol. It's bad to get this stuff inside you, whether it be through skin, vapors, drinking, etc. You need PPE (gloves, safety glasses, but not flame or drinking straw) to use it properly. By the way, what's the reason for keeping the tube unsealed while soaking?

 

[gigetto]

Salt and water than boil. It is the best to regenerate old strings

 

[Altitude]

****
Okay, I'll try the experiment. I made the tube. As for the denatured alcohol, seems like there's a lot varied products under that label. One is denatured alcohol fuel. Will that work? 95% denatured alcohol and 5% other stuff including methanol. It's bad to get this stuff inside you, whether it be through skin, vapors, drinking, etc. You need PPE (gloves, safety glasses, but not flame or drinking straw) to use it properly. By the way, what's the reason for keeping the tube unsealed while soaking?

Yep, the 95% denatured alcohol you find in the paint aisle at Home Depot. By “cap off” the tube when soaking, I meant to affix the cap and seal the tube - not elegantly stated.

As for the PPE, use whatever precautions you feel appropriate.

 

[MoBetterBASS]

Thanks, Will, for the reply. I posted elsewhere a moment ago inquiring about Simple Green as a solvent. Anyone have experience with Simple Green?

 

[Watchootognbout]

I would not have used a napkin to wipe them down.
It will leave napkin lint on the strings.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Next you’re gonna tell me you wouldn’t eat scrambled eggs cooked on your engine exhaust manifold.

Or eat fried chicken cooked in motor oil.

 

[gigetto]

The big difference using solvents/washing soap is on Strings....Nickel or Stainless? On Stainless could accept but on Nickel destrouy the patina over the wrap and roughness still inside....

 

[BassLife77]

use denatured alcohol

 

[gigetto]

For me boiling with salt. Denature alcoholo particularly on nickel strings augmented roughness.

 

[MoBetterBASS]

The tube w/ denatured (marine fuel) alcohol actually did restore the strings to an appreciative degree that I have repeated the process with strings from my other basses. As for a boiling in salt water, I prefer al denta (sp?) pasta, but bass strings..... I don't know. I think I'll stick with denatured alcohol.

 

[gigetto]

With denature alcohol or similiar you clean string only outside. Roundwound catch fat and dirty inside the spiras and with boiling It deminishes not with only alcohol.