when strings lose their zing

[Al Heeley]

I've been worried about this for a while. What is actually happening in terms of physics & chemistry (you know proper scientific stuff, not voodoo and superstition) when strings lose their zing? I mean, the sound generated is from a metal wire oscillating within a magnetic field so what happens when a string ages? I can see some physical degradation over time as the string stretches, loses some elasticity, so maybe the oscillations are damped faster, which could give rise to less of the higher frequencies of oscillation, and this could give rise to a duller tone with loss of top end sparkle.
I can also see some oxidation of the metal over time with the slightly acid pH of skin + sweat (about pH 4.5 - 5) but this is hardly going to have an effect on oscillations is it? If not, then these longer lasting strings with molecular coatings on them shouldn't make any difference to the retension of a good lively tonal response and we're having the wool pulled over our eyes by some technical misconcept.
What's really happening when strings start to lose their tone?

 

[stflbn]

Losing their tone to some is 'gaining their tone' to others.

I'm personally somewhere in the middle depending on the bass I'm playing.

 

[JustOpenYourMind]

It's more complicated than just oscillation, technically, yess the pickups produce a signal because of the voltage induced in the coil by the strings oscillating in the magneic field of the pickup.

There is more to it though, if you notice, when you play your bass accousitically and pluck the string it produces a ''tone'', When you plug your bass in, most of the characteristics of that tone are retained.

That ''tone'' is made by layers and layers of harmonics over the fundamental frequency, different types of strings produce different types of harmonics, With an old string, the vibrations are dampened by a lot of factors, like you mentionned, corrosion, stretching, and also quite a bit of dead skin that gets caught in the windings. when the vibration of a string is dampened, a lot less higher frequency harmonics are produced, and therefore they cannot be ''picked up'' by the pickups.

You should read on the internet about the fundamental tone of a note and all the harmonics that are over it, if you look at a graphic, you'll understand how it all adds up to the final tone, and how if you gradually remove the higher harmonics the tone changes.

This might be an interesting read for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtones


Also, like I said before the things that make the biggest impact one tone are corrosion and dead skin, when a string vibrates all the outer windings also vibrate a touch each other creating even more overtones, when rust and dead skin gets in those windings, they vibrate quite a bit less, and therefore produce a lot less treble. Thats also the reason why flatwound strings produce less treble and higher mids, ther is a lot less space between the windings and the are a lot wider and therefore vibrate a lot less creating less overtones.

Here's a close-up view of a roundwound string, you'll see that there is a lot of space for dead skin and rust to hold on to:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Al Heeley]

This is along the lines I was imagining, thanks for the wiki link. So there may be some truth to the preservation of bright tone by a coating if it didn't itself dampen the oscillation of a string, and that the old boiling string thing could release all those nasty bits of dead skin fron the windings and allow the string to oscillate more freely again......hmm, unless the heat tempering of the core then hindered the elastic quality of the string like melting an old rubber band.

 

[Eric Perry]

I think it also has to due with an ongoing accumulation of dead skin cells, and other gunk clogging up the string winds, thus dampening the vibrations much, much quicker. One of the reasons cleaning strings (boiling, denatured alcohol, whatever), gives them a new, albeit short, lease on life.

 

[JustOpenYourMind]

This is along the lines I was imagining, thanks for the wiki link. So there may be some truth to the preservation of bright tone by a coating if it didn't itself dampen the oscillation of a string, and that the old boiling string thing could release all those nasty bits of dead skin fron the windings and allow the string to oscillate more freely again......hmm, unless the heat tempering of the core then hindered the elastic quality of the string like melting an old rubber band.

Most people that boil their strings say that once you boil them, they are good for a few days and then they loose all their zing and are dead for good. All that water gets everywhere, and when the strings drys it also starts to corrode very rapidly, it's like leaving a nail in half a glass of water: water, metal and air = corrosion.

There is an alternative, like using denatured alcool that does not contain any water. You'll find plenty of threads on this on talkbass.

As for the coated strings, yess coated strings like elixirs do wonders for preventing corosion and dirt accumulation, the drawback is that like you said, the coating itself chokes the vibration of the strings, in the end it's a kind of compromise. All coated strings sound less bright that uncoated ones, but they also preserve that tone longer. To some people coated strings are a miracle, I have a friend that is a guitar player, his sweat is very very acid, he litterally kills a set of string in an hour, after a week his strings are brown with rust, When i suggested he tries the elixirs, bam no more rust, he had the strings on his guitar for a month and they still sound good.

 

[Al Heeley]

Interesting...to me the effort of taking old strings off and boiling them, drying them and refitting for one or two weeks extra life is a ridiculous PITA. Just shell out the money for a new set and have done with it.
If you're getting 3x extra life from coated strings then maybe the initial reduced zzingg is what you'd get when a normal set is 2 weeks old but it will stay at the nearly-new stage far longer. Never yet tried a set of Elixirs, for example, as I was sceptical about the returns for the extra cost, my normal sets of nickel or steels last me a good 4 months without issues.

 

[rjr225]

i used to boil my strings just once before buying a new set.active electronics may play into this discussion as well. i found that the strings i was using (mostly ghs) would retain their brightness for almost as long as it took for them to go "dead " in the first place.
go figure!

 

[One Drop]

Interesting...to me the effort of taking old strings off and boiling them, drying them and refitting for one or two weeks extra life is a ridiculous PITA. Just shell out the money for a new set and have done with it.
If you're getting 3x extra life from coated strings then maybe the initial reduced zzingg is what you'd get when a normal set is 2 weeks old but it will stay at the nearly-new stage far longer. Never yet tried a set of Elixirs, for example, as I was sceptical about the returns for the extra cost, my normal sets of nickel or steels last me a good 4 months without issues.

I've saved hundreds of dollars by soaking Roto rounds in denatured alcohol. I'm on the same two sets I bought over a year ago, and they are still bright and clanky like I like them for live use. It doesn't take any longer than replacing them, I just drop them in the mason jar and let them soak instead of dropping them in the trash.

 

[Femto]

Well, I have a Sandberg bass which when I bought it had a set of Elixir coated strings on it. 18 months later, I haven't felt so far that I need to change those same strings.
I also play a Precision which I string with Ernie Ball strings. I have to change those about every 3 months.
Obviously Your Mileage May Vary but in my experience, the coated strings last loads longer and have plenty of sustain and top end.