Too many myths about boiling guitar strings?

[/\/\3phist0]

This is the risk everyone has to be aware of. This can happen, and it can not. This is obviously a hit or miss, and crap shoot. I have encountered this too, numerous times. The next batch of strings (exact same brand, alloy, gauge) will turn out just fine, and the next one will be dead as a doornail. However, ultrasonic or soaking isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol for short) will not expand or contract the string as there's no heating involved. No cooking. I have no tuning issues or intonation issues after ultrasonic PLUS isopropanol, and the zzzing is actuall better than boiling, it lasts a tad longer.

Ultrasonic uses tiny nanobubbles that explodes (yes!) when they hit the surface, and thus everything that doesn't belong to the surface is released. You can reach corners and cracks and spaces that you can't with regular boiling or soaking in iso only. You must get into all cavitites, spaces in the strings wrap as well as the hex core spaces. This technique (ultrasonic) is called cavitation and is the on used on boat propellers and that's why some gets destroyed by the cavitation when swirling bubbles and water around. However, the ultrasonic is non-inertial which means it ain't as dangerous to surfaces.

Ultrasonic cleaning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Denatured alcohol is far better than isopropyl as it does not have up to 20% water like isopropyl does.

 

[Honch]

No you should use only the 99,99 percent clean Isopropoyl though, otherwise a slight film is laid over the strings. It should be the same as they used to clean tapedeck heads with in the 80s. They couldn't have any additives. Granted, denatured alcohol is great too, but can be more hazarduos to your bass finish and neck if spilled.

Whatever you use, make sure it's at least 99.99 percent clean in any way. No extra alternatives added. No sugar added, no saturated fat, no glucose, no lactose, no allergens, echological and fair trade breed, and you get a soup that's ...(sorry, couldn't help myself).

Isopropyl alcohol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Isopropyl alcohol dissolves a wide range of non-polar compounds. It also evaporates quickly, leaves nearly zero oil traces, compared to ethanol, and is relatively non-toxic, compared to alternative solvents. Thus, it is used widely as a solvent and as a cleaning fluid, especially for dissolving oils. Together with ethanol, n-butanol, and methanol, it belongs to the group of alcohol solvents, about 6.4 million tonnes of which were utilized worldwide in 2011.[14]

Examples of this application include cleaning electronic devices such as contact pins (like those on Invalid Link Removed cartridges), magnetic tape and disk heads (such as those in audio and video tape recorders and floppy disk drives), the lenses of Invalid Link Removed in optical disc drives (e.g., CD, DVD) and removing thermal paste from Invalid Link Removed and IC packages (such as CPUs[15])."


Denatured alcohol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Has more regulations, and can be used to drink, in spite of its high toxicity. Not as easy to get hold of. And actually, a tad more expensive. However, it's more medical use, in terms of removing fungi and bacteria and such things. It's more antiseptic.

 

[tsheldon]

Boiling strings is something you should do if you have to. It's like eating ramen. Once you have a means not to do it, you shouldn't.

As far as the O.P.'s "myths" I've not found boiled strings to sound anywhere near as good as new strings. They do sound brighter but definitely not new. Eventually strings will break from mechanical failure. Look at the place where the strings touch the frets. They will show wear.

 

[michael_t]

Boiling strings is something you should do if you have to. It's like eating ramen. Once you have a means not to do it, you shouldn't.

I was born and raised in Japan, so grew up eating ramen as part of my regular diet. I still do, though not quite as often any more.

Meanwhile, I would never even think of boiling strings, or try using ramen on my bass.

 

[Later_Peter]

I was going to read this whole thread but I think my strings are done... PLUS, I par-boiled my pickups 'cause they sounded sort of dirty...

 

[tsheldon]

I was born and raised in Japan, so grew up eating ramen as part of my regular diet. I still do, though not quite as often any more.

Meanwhile, I would never even think of boiling strings, or try using ramen on my bass.

Haha, no offense meant to people in Japan. In the US super cheap (and terribly salty) ramen is what college kids eat when they blew all their money on beer!

 

[michael_t]

Haha, no offense meant to people in Japan. In the US super cheap (and terribly salty) ramen is what college kids eat when they blew all their money on beer!

No offense taken as I understood exactly what you meant. I still eat ramen but only when my wife's away and I don't find any edible leftovers in the fridge.

 

[ZenG]

Soaking vs Boiling:-

If cold soaking in alcohol or related solutions works....then is it actually necessary to reach a boiling point of 212 degrees F?

Which produces better results:- coldsoaking in an alcohol based liquid or boiling in water?

In my mind the windings on a string are pretty thin, as is the core. When you heat such a thin diameter wire up that hot, it isn't going to take much to possibly deform them.

 

[Honch]

Soaking vs Boiling:-

If cold soaking in alcohol or related solutions works....then is it actually necessary to reach a boiling point of 212 degrees F?

Which produces better results:- coldsoaking in an alcohol based liquid or boiling in water?

In my mind the windings on a string are pretty thin, as is the core. When you heat such a thin diameter wire up that hot, it isn't going to take much to possibly deform them.

You boil strings in water. The string will expand just like it would from any heat, like if it's in the sauna when strung on the bass guitar, the string pitch will drop, as the stirng is flexible. The windings will open up never mind it being in water or air that is hot. Think of it like "pores open up". Now, with soaking in alcohol, the time spent may be longer, for the fluid to reach inside the wraps and hex core air spaces. But it won't expand or detract the string. You minimize the risk of dead spots intonation idiosyncrasies with the coldsoaking. Both takes time, and boiling is unwieldy. I think most people avoid boiling because of the actual water needed. You need detergent in it, to resolve the surface tension of the water. It's also very unwieldy and cumbersome to do cooking time in the kitchen like a chef. Granted when Ultrasonic cleaning you have to bring the unit out, fill the tank up, and fiddle with the separate jar and denaturated alcohol/iso and stuff too. The thing with alcohol based liquid, is that it evaporates quickly and you don't need to dry the strings, as you have to do with water based cleaning. And if some alcohol based residue still resides inside the string (very unlikely though) , it will not rust ever.

Some I know have bought special long plastic tubes, and drops the strings into that filled with alcohol based fluids. Then let the strings reside there for a day or two. Takes longer time to let the fluid get into all spaces. Ultrasonic takes care of this within 10 minutes. Unwieldy and slightly uneccesary as you will be without any string for that amount of time.

I think by and large, that cleaning strings (any method) should not take longer than it takes to change the whole string set out to a brand new one. But it is the same with clothes and wahsing dishes. You just have to spend time, and you have to use Hot liquids in order for the gunk to resolve and it takes time. As I have a lot of double ball end strings, they won't coil up a the ends, so they're the easiest to manage.

 

[Honch]

Oh one thing, if someone's still using OPTIMA guitar or bass strings, which has real 24 K GOLD plating, please avoid ANY cleaning method, boiling, ultrasonic, alcohol fluids. Even wiping with a cloth soaked in something. That may be the only PLATING that doesn't really fare well at all to any cleaning. But it was a long time ago I heard about these. They look cool though. They're still around AFAIK.


But I think, if you have the dough to buy those strings, boiling and cleaning strings is NOT on your map at all anyway...

 

[jazzyvee]

I had a gig last night so I deliberately took a bass that has Rcocco strings around 2 years old. A couple of hours before the gig I put them in a saucepan with boiling water and let them simmer for about 15 mins then let them cool off on the kitchen worktop. Dried with a clean cloth and spun round my head to get rid of any water inside. I then put them back on the bass and found them to have a big difference in the tone from before, however it's not like they now sound like brand new strings but yes its' given them more life. I may try that with my others when they sound a bit limp.

 

[basssixx24]

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.

What’s the science behind denatured alcohol?

 

[Stevorebob]

What’s the science behind denatured alcohol?

Water evaporates slowly at room temperature, and remaining moisture can cause oxidixation — rust. Alcohol evaporates quickly at room temperature, so less chance of oxidization.

 

[bdplaid]

I boiled strings in water for years and it does put a lot of newish-ness back into them. They don't quite sound new, nor does this effect last as long as new strings, but it's good for those on a tight budget as I was. No other treatment I did had this effect. I always attributed it to the heating of the metal and re-aligning of atoms/molecules, rather than taking off skin, oil and gunk.

 

[Plantbrain]

If you want to get rid of the denting from the frets, simply flip the strings 180 degrees takes care of that. I did this in college and mentioned it to Phil Kubicki when I lived in Santa Barbara when he fixed my bass up. He was like "whoa, never thought of that". I boiled some strings to cook off some old gunk and it's like most said, but the string flip will also help. FWIW.....

 

[GIBrat51]

Well, this is a 7 year old Zombie thread, so I imagine the OP has resolved his philosophical crisis by now. But, since this topic does seem to turn up like a bad penny every so often, I suppose it counts as a valid subject. So...
I will say what I always say when the subject of boiling/soaking/saute'ing/or whatever strings rears its head:
1. This procedure is NOT recommended - not ever, never - for flat wound strings. Or - God forbid - Tapewound strings. And, I use flats and tapes pretty much exclusively;
2. I'm financially solvent enough that I can just buy new strings, whenever the need - or urge - arises; and
3. I, personally, am not about to stand over a hot stove, cooking something that I can't eat...

 

[joel the bass player]

For a while now every string change I do I throw the old ones into a box. Must be at least 40 some sets in there, maybe it is time to make some bass string soup. Never boiled/cleaned strings before and have enough basses that I'm never just wearing one set of strings out quickly. Always seemed like a hassle, once a set of strings comes off I don't ever reuse them (except flats, I have swapped them once or twice). In my head I have always just chosen new strings thinking that it is the more reliable option.