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Keeping roundwounds clean and fresh.
- Thread starter McMoore
- Start date
Replacing them every 2-4 weeks. Now that keeps them nice and clean.
TylerElaschuk
Commercial User
- Aug 31, 2022
- 16
- 93
- 36
- Disclosures
- I'm a private bass tutor, unafilliated with any brand of anything.
Honestly, I find that after 3-4 months (boiling once at the halfway point), my strings are physically worn down to the point that they're no longer playable.
Fresh/freshly boiled strings every 8 weeks is about as long as I can tolerate them before the loss of the kind of tone I like becomes an issue, and having stainless steel frets means that the strings themselves eventually wear down. Frets don't wear down which is nice, but I crew through strings like a machine
Fresh/freshly boiled strings every 8 weeks is about as long as I can tolerate them before the loss of the kind of tone I like becomes an issue, and having stainless steel frets means that the strings themselves eventually wear down. Frets don't wear down which is nice, but I crew through strings like a machine
I'm not the only one here who uses denatured alcohol in tubes. I've been doing that message for 20 years and it works. So read this thread and you'll find information you want
Ya know... Alcohol for stainless strings is a great way to go. But one additional thing one can do is use the alcohol in an ultrasonic cleaner. The alcohol loosens the grime and dead skin, but the USC vibrates the crap out of the nooks and crannies. I just rejuvenated some Sandberg SS strings a few weeks ago. Beats spending $40 on a new set. I suppose that could be done several times until the cores at the tuners wear out.
I'm a stickler about fresh sounding strings. I want that Marcus Miller clarity, and I always get that with the denatured alcohol. I have a tube for everyone of my basses and I rotate two sets. So the dirty strings stay in the tube for about a month, that gets them completely clean. I do that with two sets sometimes over a year. I never notice any degradation in the strings, they do not seem to wear out and the intonation is always perfect. (D'Addario Prosteels)
When it comes to electric bass strings (and wound electric guitar strings), there are two main kinds of “nickel” strings:
1.) Nickel-plated steel (NPS), which is what you described: A steel wire is coated or “plated” with nickel, then wound or “wrapped” around a steel core to produce a wound string.
2.) Pure nickel wrap, where the entire wrap wire is nickel, or sometimes a nickel alloy.
Manufacturers tend to state in different places — or not at all — on their packaging, websites, and marketing copy exactly which kind of nickel wrap they’re using, but NPS seems to be the default when “nickel” is indicated — it’s more common than pure nickel on both bass and guitar strings. Your garden-variety EB Slinkys, D’Addario XLs, and GHS Boomers are NPS.
It does seem that nickel plating would eventually start to wear off, maybe faster if you have rough frets or stainless steel frets. Without the nickel plating, you’d then be contacting your frets (and fingers) with the bare steel that’s exposed. It seems like that could accelerate fret wear, maybe oxidize faster than the nickel and leave cruddy off-color strings. I’ve personally never left a set of strings on a bass or guitar long enough to find out, but the plain steel strings on guitars will absolutely turn disgusting and oxidize black if you play them long enough.
Thanks for explaining that to me I didn't know. So on the XLs the nickel plating wears off and what gets exposed is not stainless steel, correct? So it will oxidize?
With the pro steels I've never had any trouble with oxidation. I put the nickel XLs on one bass that I wanted to mellow out a little bit because it's super bright naturally. So I'll rotate those two sets that I bought around and see how it goes.
If it's going to be a mess I'll go back to the pro steels.
With the pro steels I've never had any trouble with oxidation. I put the nickel XLs on one bass that I wanted to mellow out a little bit because it's super bright naturally. So I'll rotate those two sets that I bought around and see how it goes.
If it's going to be a mess I'll go back to the pro steels.
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I’d keep the nickel XLs on and see how they work for you. If you play the bass regularly, you’d see any corrosion in the early stages. If it even happens. You’d probably also notice the feel and sound of the strings changing, something that cleaning the strings wouldn’t set right. At that point the strings would be worn out anyway, and you’d want to replace them even if they weren’t corroding.
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I just buy new strings every couple of months. Rounds are so cheap, and their price is easily covered by the gigs played, especially for 4-strings.
I really can't budget the time for boiling, wiping, or any other exotic treatments when most rounds are only $25-$35, and you'll make 10x that playing the first gig with them. And new strings will always sound like. . . uhhhh. . . new strings. Just my 2-cents.
I really can't budget the time for boiling, wiping, or any other exotic treatments when most rounds are only $25-$35, and you'll make 10x that playing the first gig with them. And new strings will always sound like. . . uhhhh. . . new strings. Just my 2-cents.
Simmer them in water / sodium-percarbonate solution...instructions here:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/ex...nate-napisan-cleaner-on-bass-strings.1663283/
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/ex...nate-napisan-cleaner-on-bass-strings.1663283/
I've tried the slapping and cannot tell a difference. Sound just as dead. It was kinda fun tho.The "slapping the sh** out of them trick in the video posted, seems total bunk. Slapping your strings is the surest route to short lifespan. Maybe it works to restore the sound a little in some in some very, very specific and limited circumstances... but increasing lifespan? I don't buy it.
I wear the glove on my fretting hand and love it. But I wonder if the synthetic fibers form the glove are getting in there.
Put your strengths in a tube of Denatured alcohol when they're dead bring them back to like new condition.... I thought everybody knew about that already. I've been doing that for decades. I have 11 different tubes in my house one for each bass.
Whatever floats your boat to keep bass strings clean. By all means.
But…
The gunk is NOT what makes the strings lose their overtone characteristics. The string bend at the saddle witness point damages the crystal structure of the hardened steel cores; which in turn starts a whole succession of microstructural changes. One of the consequences as this proceeds is an increase in the elastic loss at that point. You would need to re-harden the steel cores at something like 1450 F followed by rapid quench to restore the elastic properties.
The Ray Ross bridge resolves this particular issue, but creates others. There is no perfect solution.
Somewhere around 30 hr to 40 hr playtime, depending on your technique, you need to start assessing for string change. Performing your setup such that you have as shallow a deflection angle at the saddle as practical is a huge help.
GL
But…
The gunk is NOT what makes the strings lose their overtone characteristics. The string bend at the saddle witness point damages the crystal structure of the hardened steel cores; which in turn starts a whole succession of microstructural changes. One of the consequences as this proceeds is an increase in the elastic loss at that point. You would need to re-harden the steel cores at something like 1450 F followed by rapid quench to restore the elastic properties.
The Ray Ross bridge resolves this particular issue, but creates others. There is no perfect solution.
Somewhere around 30 hr to 40 hr playtime, depending on your technique, you need to start assessing for string change. Performing your setup such that you have as shallow a deflection angle at the saddle as practical is a huge help.
GL
Uh, $25 is not cheap to me. And please tell us how to get $1,000 gigs (assuming four band members).
