Reaching The Boiling Point....

[redshot]

Boiled an old set of strings for the first time last week, for today's gig. It... didn't go that well. High C is very bright and new-sounding, low B is old and muddy, and the other strings in between are a gradient from new to old! Luckily the effect has pretty much disappeared during this week. New strings in order!

I also stopped using Fast Fret, after a few years. It's a very good product to keep strings clean, however, it dries out quickly and it started damaging the neck wood... I prefer switching strings more often than having to replace a whole neck.

 

[Snarf]

Buy a 1" pic tube and two end caps. Glue one cap in place. Fill with alcohol. Insert strings. Soak 24 hours and dry.

I have been doing this for a while now. BUT! I made the mistake of starting with a 1" diameter and couldn't fit the curly ends of the strings into the tube. Make the tube out of 2" diameter pieces and you're good to go.

Also, I got out some super glue and a synthetic wine cork, glued the cork to the inside of the top cap, and screwed in three cup hooks, that way I can hook the ball ends into the cap so I don't need to fish out the strings or empty the tube (which would cost a lot of money in good denatured alcohol). There's a step-by-step procedure for this build somewhere but I don't know where it is. Absolutely worth doing, I get lots of soaks out of my strings. I've heard, though, that doing this with strings that have silk wrappings gets very messy.

 

[Roxbororob]

Step by step instruction on "Study Bass" (see link below). I highly recommend exploring and using the Study Bass free website. Andrew Pouska has done a great job.
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Andrew, just happened to have discovered his website a few years ago and it greatly helped my Bass renaissance (along with other internet resources).

How to Clean Bass Strings | Bass Gear | StudyBass