Enough of this will make even the cruddiest strings sound brand new.
Out in California, we coat our old strings with this:
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Reaching The Boiling Point....
- Thread starter ZenG
- Start date
Out in California, we coat our old strings with this:
THIS...right up to the point where you boil them a second time...IMHO.
Me...if I'm changing my strings...Dean Markley Blue Steels for the last 20something years...I'm talking a boiled set off. I'm happy to pay $18.00 a set. Boiled, they sound very new for another 20something hours.
Peanut butter. Or bacon grease. Or both, if you're in an Elvis show! 
Boil 'em. Not "hot water", boil those puppies good. About 5 minutes or until you see the scum on the top of the water. It doesn't make your strings more prone to snapping (taking them off and then rewinding them does that just fine). You get a few good days out of them. Or you can buy nickelrounds at Musicians Not Your Friend for $8/set.
Stateside it's denatured alcohol. Methylated spirits, in Canada?
IME Boiling doesn't work. Denatured alcohol soak does; brings strings back almost to new. I routinely get three uses out of a set of strings: new from the package, soaked once, soaked a second time. After that the windings start to get beat from contact with the frets, and the newness fades too fast. I junk them after the third use.
Bass Strings Online has 5 string Dunlop Super Brights for $15 right now. Stock up!
Yep..... methylated spirits in Australia and some other areas. Works a treat. Soak for 24 hours or so and all is good.
Boiling strings will not affect the elasticity of steel strings or make them more likely to break. Steel is not structurally affected by boiling water temperatures. (After all, you're probably using a steel pot). I wouldn't try boiling nylon tapewounds, though. Re-bending the strings to get them through the bridge and around the tuners is probably what causes breakage after re-installing.
I've boiled strings to get some crud and general age off. It worked okay. It's not revolutionary or just-like-new, which is ok if you like broken-in strings. Don't over think it - just boil them for a few minutes, wipe off, and lay or hang them to dry. I live in a low humidity environment, so they just dried quickly by themselves, but if you live in a swampy area, you may want a low humidity room for drying.
I've boiled strings to get some crud and general age off. It worked okay. It's not revolutionary or just-like-new, which is ok if you like broken-in strings. Don't over think it - just boil them for a few minutes, wipe off, and lay or hang them to dry. I live in a low humidity environment, so they just dried quickly by themselves, but if you live in a swampy area, you may want a low humidity room for drying.
And here in Australia a set of half-rounds costs around $50 or more. The ones on my Jag Shorty were sounding extremely dull after being ignored for 6 months or so and I was starting to think the bass was a lot duller than I remembered. I soaked the strings overnight in methylated spirits (denatured alcohol) and they sounded almost as good as new.
I loosen the strings, lay a thick piece of polythene on the fretboard and over body then carefully spray on contact cleaner, tighten strings then brush sideway across strings with old tooth brush or similar, remove polythene when cleaner is dry. Did it that way for years without damage or broken strings, until I discovered flat wounds!
Id like to know where to buy decent $8 or $12 strings.
Yes its: "Methylated spirits, in Canada?" Rotate sets for a couple of soaks. Wear Nytrile gloves when handling the wet strings.
Yes its: "Methylated spirits, in Canada?" Rotate sets for a couple of soaks. Wear Nytrile gloves when handling the wet strings.
I've never had a problem with metho on the skin. It is actually an old trick to toughen up fingertips. Dip them in metho once a day and they get a lot tougher supposedly. Don't really know if it works as I've never needed to try it but it's never caused any problems for me.
I wipe em down with simple green degreaser/cleaner bout once a week after the weekend of gigs. Cleans a fair amount of funk out, I'm a string abuser so I need to get what life I can out of em. The degreaser gets the oils out ad a good scrubbing gets most of the dirt/assorted funk. I've never put too much stock in the latest greatest cleaning tricks, but if I was gonna soak my strings in anything it would be simple green
Just get a cheap sonic cleaner. It's 20 bucks or less. Then put a couple of drops of dish detergent. COUPLE drops. Not a spoonful but a couple. Then wait for 120 seconds.
Rinse it off. Dry it off. And you're good to go. Works better than boiling. Guaranteed. Cheap to use, and the sonic cleaner can be used for practically anything that will fit into it.
Rinse it off. Dry it off. And you're good to go. Works better than boiling. Guaranteed. Cheap to use, and the sonic cleaner can be used for practically anything that will fit into it.
I wonder what it was that destroyed the set of Rotos I tried it on. They went from sounding "broken in" to completely dead after the boil.
I've never tried a set of strings in that price range that weren't absolute crap. Fender or Dunlop or "generic". Never ever gave me the sound or the lifespan I require from a set. Honestly once you go to DRs.... Well I will just say it raised my expectations for what a string "should be". They don't die after one gig (in fact not even after 5 long gigs, if you wipe them down regularly) and they sound truly amazing in that "removing a blanket from the speaker" kind of way, compared to most other brands.
I however don't have a huge plethora of basses that I need to keep fresh strings on. So it's not like I'm breaking the bank on strings by buying DR.
