Too many myths about boiling guitar strings?

[karl_em_all]

I boil them right out of the package.

 

[Fat Freddy]

I boil them right out of the package.

I boil spaghetti right out of the package.......Strings?....Not so much......

 

[Silas Stingy]

I leave them on, loosen a few turns, put polythene sheet under and lightly brush across (not up and down) with a good electrical contact cleaner, I've cleaned rounds this way for years with no problems. Flats? I rarely bother.
I boiled a few in the early days but found the process of removing strings, boiling and then restringing was more trouble and did more damage than it was worth.

 

[Ric5]

When you boil strings you can make worthless soup

 

[Ffreddy]

When touring and trying to save money I would change my strings every week (give or take-more often if on the road in the summer) and boil them once, reuse them once and then chuck the set when they sounded too dead to use.
The boiled strings would sound good for three or four shows, but then go dead. No idea about the science of this, just my experience. This was using nickelwound strings.

 

[Slevage]

So, do you think a tiny strand of metal can be struck and vibrated for months and heated to extreme temperatures and cooled several times with no affects whatsoever to the integrity of the metal?

Tell you what. Go buy a flat piece of steel from the hardware store. Just a big old metal bar. Sit it at your desk while you work. For several hours a day just do a plucking motion on it. Rub the same spot as if you were plucking a string for quite a while every day. Then stick that sucker in boiling water every few weeks. And keep rubbing it with a plucking motion in the same spot every day. In a few months you would have a worn spot in a flat bar of steel.

If you can get a worn spot in a BAR of steel (and you most certainly can), what makes you think you can't wear out a tiny stand of it?

Short version: No, your cheap butt can NOT buy one set of strings, play them all the time, boil them every few weeks, and never ever buy another set.

But good luck trying it.

212 degrees F is not extreme for the materials in question. That being said, the strings will not last an infinite number of times due to stretching---- the physical aspects of strings does change over time. Lifting slings and chains are replace periodically because they've exceeded their safety limits due to use. When to replace them is determined by their length at the beginning of use measured against their life over time.
I'm sure our bass strings would show similar changes over time, making them not perform as intended.

I used to boil my strings 40 years ago and it works quite well. Thankfully, these days, new strings are cheaper than my time.

 

[Fabio_MIJ]

I gotta disagree on that. water + metal = oxidation. This usually requires periods of time. A string getting wet and drying will not lead to oxidation.
Also, if you pull them out of the boiling water the water will evaporate quicker.

Sure, dropping metal in water and leaving it for extended periods isn't good.

IMO, Old Wives Tale.

What if water penetrates the external wound and stays inside the core?

 

[Axstar]

I boiled a set of roundwounds fairly recently. I used Windex in the water, as I read that it works as a degreaser. After boiling for ten minutes I baked the strings at about 200 degrees Celsius for another thirty. This dries the strings off to remove residual moisture and, maybe, renders some further grease out the rounds.

None of the strings snapped when re-strung on the bass. I can imagine that the thermal cycle I put the strings through could make them snap however, as presumably the core and winds expand and contract at different rates which might weaken things internally.

The 'zing' was restored to the strings. However the E string didn't sound quite so fresh. While the zing was back, there was a slight detuned hairiness to the tone, almost like the core had come loose somehow. To keep on using vague, non-musical phrases, I would say that the strings didn't sound as certain and strident as factory new rounds, but a lot of the treble returned. I'm not sure I would gig on boiled strings without a backup or spare set either, in case they are weakened somehow.

 

[Jay Corwin]

I like to boil cabbage with carrots, potatoes, onions, chicken stock, and either sausage or a nice smoked ham (not a honey or any kind of sweet ham). Sometimes I use the crock pot, but a good big ol' stove pot works just as well. You'll have dinner for a week about 20 bucks worth of goods from the grocer. It won't improve your tone though.

 

[Fabio_MIJ]

Supposedely so, but in real life, the old strings DO have some dents and deformations at the fret spots. I e the strings gauge is more uneven (say, not a 045 anymore along the length of it strings). These dents and metal fatigue, no boiling, denatured alcohol, isopropanol, ultrasonic cleaning can cure. Ever.


Water plus metal doesn't mix. Even Stainless Steel. After a while the dents from frets, and so on, will play a greater deal on the impact of tone, or "new" tone. After a while the gauge of the string isn't that great, and has been expanded and retracted too many times. Dead spots can occur as well as other things. I do however, have skipped boling completely and gone totally for ultrasonic cleaning. That is on my headless double ball end strings, which works a charm. Lasts for years. The main reason they last is that that they are round core, and no spaces inside the wrap to collect and hide gunk. No water or boiling, but ultrasonic cleaning inside isopropanol fluid. The same fluid you used to clean cassette tape heads with, if anyone remembers them.


Yes, any stress puts on longevity for the actual metal fatigue. Not even boiling. Freezing does too. Now what? Yes, you've heard about cryogenic freezing of strings have you? They lower the temperature and then bring it back up slowly, in a matter of several days to bring out the properties. If it was done too fast, it would break the string, or make it more brittle. From boiling temperature to room temperature is pretty quick and will make all strings a tad brittle, and stress the metal fatigue. Same thing there. It's the speed of the temperature change that matters.



My experience is that regular boiling with water and mild detergent, is that it has some merit. Especially Stainless Steel strings. The new string zzzing comes back but not for as long as brand new set of strings. While, we - say - can measure some certain brands differences in new string sound, say that one brand lasts several weeks of new string zzing, the same set boiled once, may last for several days, up to a week, but absolutely not more. It all depends. Different brands have all different platings, coatings, alloys, and whatnot, they even have different wraps on top of the inner core wrap, which makes things worse when boiling and the wrap "unravels" from its tight grip. There's no such thing as one rule fits all, like boiling is bad or good for all strings. One can think what happens if you should try to boil ANY coated string, like Elixirs and EXP and whatever. A rubber condom laid along the string heated up... talk about flaking it up... please don't ever try this. I havent' heard any advantages to boiling flatwounds either.

As it is, some brands may fare very well to boiling, while others don't. The risk of experimenting with this can turn out very expensive in the end, much more than you actually save on it. Or really, not brands, but alloys, and platings.

Boiling is a cheapskate thing. A last resort, a quick-and-dirty solution that may save you at the evenings gig. It can risk your intonation and dead spots though. Dead spots can show up where it wasn't heard before as well as intonation issues. But the actual timbre is the new strings zzzzzzzzzinnnnnngggg...only you yourself can make that concession of which priority you should make. Either new string zzzzing at the cost of bad intonation and weak spots, and brittle strings. I feel old and gunky strings will make my playing suffer, and I have a much firmer grip on cleaned, boiled, or - optimally - brand new strings.

With brand new string set, you'll get both.

Instead of boiling, many people have done this instead:

Interesting suggestions, I only have two comments:

1) I would avoid change, boil or loose the strings right before a concert. This will more likely cause intonation problems or increase a string break chance. IMO, it is not "a quick-and-dirty solution that may save you at the evenings gig". Leaving the the strings as they are will probably keep the same performance as they have at present, maybe not the best, but with less "surprises" like string breaks or problems related to new strings (faulty or bad mounted strings... this can happen). The ideal timing for changing strings is IMO some days before (with daily use), so that the instrument reach stable equilibrium with the strings.

2) The video about slapping to bring life to strings looks impressive, I did not understand how it works. Maybe the contact points with frets (where string gets deformed) get shifted, so new contact points = fresh sound?

 

[BassJuju]

"The funk is in the junk."

 

[soda]

Wipe your strings with a cloth after you play each time. This will increase string life! Buy those Dunlop super brights from bassstringsonline. They are so crazy cheap (>$18.00)! The time it takes to boil strings and the funky hand grit soup it makes is not worth my time.

 

[PlanetNewJersey]

No. I think we could use a few more.

If you boil your strings, there's an increased chance of an alien encounter.

 

[Biggbass]

wintremute said: ↑

No. I think we could use a few more.


If you add a beef bullion to the water when you boil your strings, that way when you lick your fingers when turning pages in your song book, your fingers will taste like beef stew instead of sweat.

 

[Hopkins]

So, do you think a tiny strand of metal can be struck and vibrated for months and heated to extreme temperatures and cooled several times with no affects whatsoever to the integrity of the metal?

Tell you what. Go buy a flat piece of steel from the hardware store. Just a big old metal bar. Sit it at your desk while you work. For several hours a day just do a plucking motion on it. Rub the same spot as if you were plucking a string for quite a while every day. Then stick that sucker in boiling water every few weeks. And keep rubbing it with a plucking motion in the same spot every day. In a few months you would have a worn spot in a flat bar of steel.

If you can get a worn spot in a BAR of steel (and you most certainly can), what makes you think you can't wear out a tiny stand of it?

Short version: No, your cheap butt can NOT buy one set of strings, play them all the time, boil them every few weeks, and never ever buy another set.

But good luck trying it.

212 degrees isn't exactly an extreme temperature as far as steel goes. But soaking them in denatured alcohol is probably a better way to liven up a dead set of strings.

 

[Stevorebob]

I'm no scientist, but as far as moisture, metal and rust go, I suggest that small amounts of water can be trapped under the string windings and that this can lead to oxidation and eventual string failure. Baking the strings might remove this moisture or just some of it.

Also, it seems reasonable that even relatively low boiling or baking temperatures can affect hardness or temperament of strings. Metals are hardened by heating and quickly cooling, and tempered to remove hardening-caused brittleness by heating and gradually cooling. Tempering removes some hardness. Again, I am no scientist, so whether and how this can affect bass string longevity or timbre, it seemes like it's possible, but I really don't know.

What I do know is this: I boiled strings once. Too much effort for too little pay-off for me. I just keep my hands and strings as clean as possible for as long as possible, and I change my string when they sound dull. YMMV.

 

[DieterVDW]

Just look at a guitar string:
At the start it is flexible and you can easily bend it.
Old strings have lost all their flex, and bending them is a lot harder.

Don't know the exact science, but that seems to suggest something changed in that metal.
Playing old guitar strings is definitely no fun.

 

[csc2048b]

I used to boil my strings alot when I was young, it does work for a while. The strings do get weakened but only really where they wind around the tuner as strings don't like being taken off then on multiple times.
I don't have to boil them anymore since I stopped being a dirty hippy and started washing my hands properly before picking my bass up!

my boiled string always broke at the bridge - still won't prevent me from boiling strings just for kicks - washed or unwashed hands.

 

[Engle]

Boiling is bad; water + metal is not a recipe for longevity.

Soaking in denatured alcohol, however, will let you greatly extend the life of your strings.

Eventually, the metal will get fatigued and the strings will sound dead, but I've kept sets in rotation for YEARS before that happened.

I've boiled them. It works, but it's much easier to soak them in methyl alcohol. That way you don't have to worry about weakening the metal with the heat - or cleaning up the pot...

 

[aborgman]

Well, he never wanted his strings to sound anything but dead. And he never heated them to extremes and then cooled them. So no metal fatigue I suppose.

Heating bass strings to the temperature of boiling water:

1) Is not extreme
2) Doesn't cause (or repair) metal fatigue