Keeping roundwounds clean and fresh.

[dbsfgyd1]

This is probably been discussed extensively before but, what's your method of getting more life out of your roundwound strings to retain the new string sound after playing them on gigs?
I used to boil them in the 80's. Now I soak them in rubbing alcohol for a few hours. I seem to get more life out of them.
What do you guys do?

I don’t do much, but I get about 75-100 hours of play out of a set of DR Lo Riders.

 

[groovepump]

Uh, $25 is not cheap to me. And please tell us how to get $1,000 gigs (assuming four band members).

We always book $1k min. Where you are NOT going to get this is playing bars. We DO NOT accept or entertain bar gigs. They suck.
Festivals, wineries, wine bars or brew-pubs pay. City sponsored events and corporate gigs can also pay good money.
But if you play bars, you can expect $300 - $500.

 

[BassGen]

OK, so after a long while of not using it I pulled my acoustic bass out as I may need it in a few weeks. The strings were downright gross. Had no idea they’d gotten that nasty.

Anyway it is wearing a brand new set of strings today but I’ve wondered about this “Boiling” thing for cleaning the old strings. Might as well try tosave them as a back-up.

I’ve read through several pages and not seen any reference to how long to boil them. I don’t have a hydrosonic thingy and I don’t have a PVC tube to fill with alcohol or any of the other stuff. I just want to try boiling the old ones to see how clean they come. Any suggestions on how long to actually boil them for?

 

[Slevage]

I always thought about getting a long piece of pcv tubing and sealing off one end so that the strings could be completely suspended in some kind of cleaning solution. I thought maybe you could thread/glue some kind of a nipple at the bottom so you could hook up a hose from a fish tank pump so that it would create a nonstop bubbling action. With the whole thing sitting upright the bubbles and alcohol would clean the grime off the strings. Never ended up making one but I always thought it would be cool.

Go all the way- make an elongated ultrasonic cleaner.

 

[pepj]

Soak them for 48 hrs in denatured alcohol

 

[Doctor Morbius]

I recommend washing one's hands before playing and washing them frequently throughout the day. Apply soap liberally.

It's not glamorous, but the secret is in preventing the strings from being exposed to hazmat conditions.

 

[Christcr]

#1: Clean hands

#2: wipe down after gig/practice

#3: loosen them until super floppy and snap the hell out of them. At one point I was worried about the frets, but with them being totally loose, it has never dug in for all the years I've been doing this. Older strings get the "snap treatment" maybe once a week or so. It really livens them up. At some point they are just too far gone and go in the garbage (new string time).

Years ago, I boiled them. That helps. Then I started soaking them in denatured alcohol. That helped even more. But the snapping does just as good without the hassle.

 

[Burrie]

Hello, I have always just taken them off and boiled them for 2 or 3 minutes once the water is boiling. Then wipe down or air dry and restring.

 

[Johno Dunn]

I used to be anal AF about this when I was younger. At a certain point my tastes began to change, and I began to hate the “new strings” tone. Now I only use tape wounds. I will say that the “slapping the s*%t out of them” technique from the first page of the thread does work.

 

[HelpImaRock]

After nearly 35 years of guitar and bass, I finally got some Fast Fret a couple of weeks ago. It definitely does the job it's supposed to. I'm really not good about rotating my instruments so I use it when I haven't picked one up in a while and the strings are gunky.

Other than that, I'm a big advocate of the dry microfiber cloth. I think when the Fast Fret runs out I'll get a spray bottle of Dunlop string cleaner and use the cloths instead.

 

[BeyondFiredUp]

OK, so after a long while of not using it I pulled my acoustic bass out as I may need it in a few weeks. The strings were downright gross. Had no idea they’d gotten that nasty.

Anyway it is wearing a brand new set of strings today but I’ve wondered about this “Boiling” thing for cleaning the old strings. Might as well try tosave them as a back-up.

I’ve read through several pages and not seen any reference to how long to boil them. I don’t have a hydrosonic thingy and I don’t have a PVC tube to fill with alcohol or any of the other stuff. I just want to try boiling the old ones to see how clean they come. Any suggestions on how long to actually boil them for?

I have boiled strings several times through the years and I always boil them for about 10 to 15 minutes, no longer. Turn off the burner till it stops boiling and fish them out safely with some metal tongs or something. Then I let them air dry for a good hour or two and then wipe them down thoroughly with a microfiber cloth. Reinstall and you have lively strings again!

 

[Five or Six]

Old post but WTH...I'm in the clean hands / wipe dówn club. Back in the early 70s I used a couple drops of dish washing soap and tepid water. Let them soak for an hour or twó. Rinse the crap out of them then lay out on news paper with a fan.

 

[vvvmmm]

... then lay out on news paper with a fan.

But do make sure they are over 18.