Shelf life of strings?

[Krystof01]

Hi,
I heard someone say guitar strings have a certain shelf life. I had never thought of strings as going out of date before. Anyone got any thoughts on this with information of how long (if it's true).

Obviously the care you take to store strings (i.e. dont damage them) and the environment you keep them in would/may effect the length of time they last; nut anything else or any tips.

I usually buy boxes of strings for economy and like I said I had never thought of this before.

Thanks,
Krystof.

[Krystof01]

From the amount of views and the number of replies I guess I should conclude either were all as much in the dark about it or strings last until there used/damaged.

[Blue Bear Sound]

I've never heard that, nor have I experienced it - I buy boxes at a time and never had a problem.

Sounds like salesman talk to me....

Bruce

[Shreadzilla]

I use to store my strings in the freezer, someone told me that this took alot of the stretch out of them.
This seemed to work, but I found that it also made them dead & lifeless.
Now I just deal with some minor stretching, and notice alot more brilliance in the tone, etc.
go figure,

Shreadzilla

[Krystof01]

Strings in the freezer; I'm glad I posted this thread now I've heard that.

[zoetrope]

Strings are metal. Metal rusts. Rust never sleeps. Therefore, if you want to sleep better, buying strings as you need them rather than several packs at once might be a good idea. BUT, they pack the damned things pretty well these days, so if its air tight and seems like they did a good job of it, I guess a few months here or there isn't going to make any big difference.

[Pirateking]

I had always thought that there was a shelf life on strings, and this was reinforced when I bought several packs of strings from one location, and then had problems with them breaking very quickly. Of course, this probably had more to do with the way the strings were being stored rather than how long they had been there.